After four Grammy nominations and years spent on the road, Christiana found himself in a rut. He wasn’t sure if the band was going to continue. The album finds him getting his groove back so to speak, and the title reflects accepting — and being grateful — for what you do have. Guests include members of Railroad Earth, Infamous Stringdusters and others. Christiana had started performing solo, getting Yarn together for the “Cocaine Bear” single  in 2023, but it was a chance meeting with producer Damian Calcagne at his New Jersey studio that ultimately brought the band back together. Ultimately, what was left of Yarn, the  rhythm section of Robert Bonhomme and Rick Bugel, wound up tracking on this recording, Guests include Mike Robinson and Johnny Grubb (Railroad Earth), Andy Falco (Infamous Stringdusters), Mike Sivilli (Dangermuffin), Heather Hannah, Elliott Peck (Midnight North) and Calcagne.

The songs on Born, Blessed, Grateful & Alive reflect the range of human experience. There’s the laconic country ballad, “I Want You,” which Christiana wrote with his long-time songwriting partner Shane Spaulding, that “loosely follows the plot of the ‘70s Willie Nelson movie, Honeysuckle Rose, about a married touring musician who finds his true love out on the road.” A road song, “Nomad Man,” glitters with ringing finger-picking and soaring steel runs as it evokes the loneliness and solitude of the moving from one place to another, while the soulful “These Words Alone,” with its driving Hammond B3 organ and gospel-inflected harmonies, sonically resembles Van Morrison’s later songs. The rollicking steel guitar on “Down at the Dancehall” introduces a twangy rambler that would be at home on any album by the Flying Burrito Brothers.