Threadsachusetts Saga

The Free Rock Saga is the collection of albums and videos released under Pink Hat Records following Jacob Keplinger and Justin Siegel's move to Massachusetts in July 2019. Similarly to how the Threadsboro Saga 's title plays off of New Threads' hometown of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the Free Rock Saga includes the albums released by The Free Rock Trio and related projects throughout their time in Massachusetts. The lingering theme of the saga tells the story of Mafia runaway Rock Anderson.

If the Threadsboro Saga is phase 1, then the Free Rock Saga is phase 2 of the PINK HAT® Collection. With the closing of PINK HAT® Boston in May 2021, it appears that the Free Rock Saga will be coming to an end with July's New Threads is Dead.

Releases

 * Bootleg Series (Season 1), PINK HAT® Studios [October 7, 2019 - November 13, 2019]
 * Bootleg Live, Vol. 1, The Free Rock Trio [November 29, 2019]
 * Free Rock, The Free Rock Trio [February 21, 2020]
 * Buford, The Free Rock Trio [April 10, 2020]
 * "Schlitz," The Free Rock Trio [May 25, 2020]
 * "Downtown," Jacob Keplinger [May 29, 2020]
 * Bootleg Series (Season 2), PINK HAT® Studios [March 16, 2020 - July 9, 2020]
 * Bootleg Live, Vol. 2, The Free Rock Trio [July 9, 2020]
 * Jazz Music, Seymour Butts [July 25, 2020]
 * Gone Wild Podcast, PINK HAT® Studios [September 6, 2020 - September 27, 2020]
 * Gone Wild, The Free Rock Trio [October 2, 2020]
 * "Hardship", Jacob Keplinger [February 12, 2021]
 * New Threads is Dead, The Free Rock Trio [July 16, 2021]

The Free Rock Story
The basis of the lyrics in the Free Rock Saga are based on the five themes presented in the final track of the Threadsboro Saga, "Way Back Home." The five themes were (''I). Return to Threadsboro, (II). Atlantis I, (III). Space Jamaica, (IV). Atlantis II, (V). Home''. The events of that song are the catalyst for the entire story, which is written in full detail below.

While out on a cash-drop for their thriving Sudafed business, Threadsboro Mafia captain Russel Anderson discovers an odd occurrence in the basement of Shay's Mini Mart, a typical meeting location for the captains of the family. He discovers a portal called ATLANTIS I, which is guarded by three guardians disguised as the shop workers. Russ asks to enter the portal, but is denied, so he murders all three of the guardians. Doing so immediately causes the portal to implode, and Russ barely gets out alive. He returns to Threadsboro, Maine. Here, he tells his brother, fellow mafia captain Rock Anderson that he's got to lay low for a few weeks due to the portal situation. Rock can't believe he killed the guys at Shay's, and this argument spirals out of control, resulting in Rock accidentally killing his brother. The other two captains bear witness, and Rock kills them, too. This particular group of captains were known as the 'new threads,' as they were the newest and youngest generation of captains. Most of the mafia turns on Rock, and he escapes town under a new identity- Shawn Crawford, a resident Rock murders in his escape from Threadsboro.

Rock escapes to the mafia hideout island of Bongo, located in the Caribbean. He manages to hide out here for a number of days, until he is ratted out not to the mafia but to the police, and he escapes the island by the skin of his teeth. He goes from here to his casino property in Las Vegas, the Pogo Hotel + Casino. But he is ambushed, and arrested on the spot. Charged on crimes of murdering the three guardians, murdering his brother (and the two other mafia captains), murdering Shawn Crawford, and 11 police officers in the shootout escape from Bongo. He is sentenced to death row, and waits his death date in a jail cell. However, a small band of mafia members who side with Rock, known as the Free Rock Trio, trek to the prison in Texas where Rock is being held and break him out. With them they've carried the severed heads of the New Threads.

From here, they escape a massive wave of police heading for Mexico. They near the border in the El Paso region and head into a small range of mountains on the Mexico side, hoping to lose police. While trekking through, the quartet meets a guardian. He is the leader of the Blind Men Brotherhood, and knows about what Rock has done. Rock tells the guardian the truth- that his brother murdered the other guardians and destroyed Atlantis I. To prove it, Rock pulls the three severed heads of his brother and two captains out of a sack they've been carrying. Sirens are heard in the distance, and Rock asks if the guardian if there's a portal nearby- to which the guardian reveals that indeed there is, deep within these caves. Rock asks for passage, and the guardian wants to trade for the three heads. It's a deal, and they head into the caves.

The guardian tells the quartet that only Rock can come- they must stay behind. He then tells them to pray for Bagman, that he would be their only chance to follow Rock on his new quest. The Trio escapes the mountains and returns to Threadsboro, which is now a ghost town. They proceed to rebuild the town without a mafia presence, and it becomes known as New Threadsboro.

Meanwhile, Rock arrives in a large room with three guardians surrounding a portal, this one titled SPACE JAMAICA. The Brotherhood offers Rock passage through the portal in trade for the three heads, and they make the deal. Rock passes through the portal, and immediately is transported into a speeding 1977 Pontiac Trans Am. He has no controls over the steering or brakes, and the car is accelerating through what looks like a wormhole or a warped image of the universe. It melts into a white umbrella, until Rock must shield his eyes as to not burn them from the light. He passes out.

Rock wakes up in the Trans Am, crashed into a street sign for Fagen Street. He gets out, no injuries (miraculously), and begins to walk down the seemingly endless highway. The sky is purple- not as in a sunset, but purple the way ours is blue- and other than the road and a distant stretch of mountains, Rock is walking through a desert wasteland. He walks for a while- probably eight to ten miles- before he comes upon a girl ahead of him who is walking in the same direction. Rock catches up to her, and her name is Ida. She just escaped from Baytu, the capital city here on the supercontinent of Guyamar. She's on her way to a commune known as The Hills, and Rock joins her on her quest. They hitchhike with a man from the city of Ferris named Jimmy.

Upon arriving in The Hills, Rock and Ida are exposed to cannibals, various human-animal hybrids, and other atrocities that begin to turn Rock off from Guyamar entirely. They live in The Hills for about a month, and become romantically involved, in a free-commune sort of way. Rock becomes friends with a mechanic named Finlo, and they fix up the Trans Am. Ida tells Rock about King Buford, the ruler of Guyamar who lives in the castle at Baytu. She wants to start a revolution and take King Buford down for good, but Rock wants nothing to do with it. This spirals into a larger argument, causing Rock to leave The Hills entirely...

Trivia

 * Jazz Music and Gone Wild share three tracks- "Off the Wall," "The Law is Goin' Home," and "Raisin Man;" the latter of which was re-titled "New Threads..." for the Gone Wild release.
 * Bootleg Series Season 1 and 2 feature music entirely from the Threadsboro Saga (with the exception of episode five "Bringing Me Down" and nine "Head in the Sand").
 * There are only a handful of tracks here written in Tennessee: "Gone Wild," "Bringing Me Down," "Figure," and "Hardship."