Chatham County Line

Chatham County Line

Hailing from Raleigh, NC, Chatham County Line successfully recreates the diverse elements that Bill Monroe used in forming the classic bluegrass sound. Playing traditional bluegrass instruments – mandolin, fiddle, banjo, 3/4 bass, and acoustic guitar—with three-part vocal harmonies, CCL performs original tunes that take their inspiration from old-time pickers and players while creating a fresh, “new traditional” style of country bluegrass music.

“Well.... We got into the old time thing for a lot of reasons… ” says CCL singer-songwriter Dave Wilson. “We all love the old style music and the way that people such as Del McCoury put on a live show - definitely less emphasis on the Hee-Haw side of music and more on the professional side that respects the songs and the feelings that brought them to life.” This respect is evident in the band’s performances. “We try to add some of this into our live show by dressing the part and performing around one microphone,” Wilson says. “When we started, we knew that that was the way we wanted to go. We had all seen bluegrass & old-time shows and knew that there was a fine line between straight and corny. We wanted to be straight.” A multi-instrumentalist who’s settled on the guitar, Wilson’s early songs were written in the country vein and later adapted to the bluegrass style. It’s his distinctive vocals and exceptional flatpicking that drives CCL’s original compositions.

Wilson, who plays electric guitar with Lost Highway artist Tift Merritt (he’s a member of her band, The Carbines), enjoys the “natural feeling” of being in a 100-percent acoustic band. “It’s always nice that you can walk around with four acoustic instruments and nothing else and still get to people. In the past, we have gone to bars on off nights, or just on the street, and started playing. We refer to it as “guerilla bluegrass” because it can happen anywhere and anytime, all we need is our instruments and some real estate and we’re ready to play.”

The other three members are John Teer, on fiddle and mandolin; Chandler Holt, who plays a custom-made Nechville banjo and is as solid a 5-string picker as they come, and Ned DuRant, who plays double (or “doghouse”) bass. Both Teer and DuRant contributed tunes to the album.

Teer picked up the fiddle at age 3 and since then has gone on to master just about anything with strings. Live, he saws the fiddle with precision and intensity and bears down on the mandolin in a style reminiscent of Mr. Monroe himself. He’s also not afraid to sing some high harmonies and maybe lead on a tune or two. When he’s not playing with Chatham County Line, Teer favors a Telecaster, and you can hear his Bakersfield-flavored country leads backing pure country singer-songwriter Thad Cockrell.

Holt employs the three-finger pickin’ style that originated in North Carolina and was later popularized by Earl Scruggs. His Scruggs-style instrumentals and smoking banjo breaks are a high point of CCL’s live shows, occasionally lending his deep baritone to the vocal mix.

DuRant not only drives the band rhythmically but also completes CCL’s old-time flavored three-part vocal harmonies. A self-taught musician, Durant bought his first Harmony electric bass at the age of 14 through the Sears catalog. He went on to perform bass duties in a variety of different kinds of bands, but fell in love with bluegrass somewhere along the way. An able guitar player in his own right, he’s also been known to write a good song or two.

Chatham County Line was recorded with producer Chris Stamey (Caitlin Cary, Whiskeytown, Alejandro Escovedo) at Overdub Lane in Durham, NC. “There were a lot of wires and microphones all over the place, but we were looking each other right in the eye, which is the way to cut this music,” Wilson says. “The band has to connect with each other, and the mood that the music brings to the room.”

Overdub Lane also had a special significance to CCL as the studio John Hartford used for several of his albums. “We ‘re all huge fans of his and love his openhearted approach to playing music and having a good time doing it,” says Wilson. “I had written a song for John after he passed away and didn’t really feel that it would ever be recorded, but in that studio, you could feel his presence. So on the second day of cutting, it was getting late and we were passing around a warm-up, when we all knew it was time to cut the Hartford tune. So Chris flipped the switch and we just did it - it seemed to happen right there in the room. When we had finished the song, we all knew that we had captured the essence of what we wanted to say to John. We all wanted to say thanks.”

Along with Hartford, Wilson says, “We are all huge fans of The Band, as well as Dylan. I think that’s how “I Shall Be Released” snuck onto the record. I originally wanted to record only original tunes but Stamey had seen me do that song with the Carbines at a soundcheck and really pushed for it. He made it so pretty that we couldn’t say no.”

You’ll also hear nods to old-timers like Bill Monroe, the Country Gentlemen, Jim & Jesse, the Kentucky Colonels and Jimmy Martin.

“We all feel so lucky to have made this record. It had definitely been a dream of ours to do. I had written a lot of songs over the years and really felt like they needed a home. Now it feels like they have one.”