For several years now, singer/songwriter Darin Yorston has been playing his uniquely twisted blend of country, folk and blues in and around Toronto and southern Ontario. It's a sound that defies easy categorization, and fuses the sounds of the past with modern influences while staying true to the roots and appealing to a wide range of audiences. His debut solo album, "Back Home.", which was released in December 2008, has been well-received by several college/community radio stations across Canada, and has charted in several places, including Toronto, where it reached #7 on the Top 30 at CIUT 89.5 FM. Simplicity is a key ingredient, in opposition to the histrionics and flashiness that clutter so much of today's country music. This is real, honest music that's equally suited to the back porch or the local tavern; the city or the country; the good times or the bad. The album is an entirely home-grown production, performed and produced by Yorston in his home studio, playing guitar, banjo, mandolin, and harmonica, and featuring only two guest musicians on two of the fifteen tracks, avoiding excessive studio trickery in favour of a more natural sound that keeps the spirit of the music intact. The songs reflect a variety of moods, feelings, experiences, and states of mind, while conjuring up a cast of characters from lovers and leavers to losers and liars, all longing for that elusive place in time and space that so many of us call back home, which is often just out of reach.
