Chatham County Line aka "CCL" is an American Americana musical group. Formed in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1999 from members of the band Stillhouse, the band has released ten albums on the Yep Roc label (whom they were linked with by the producer Chris Stamey^[1]), and have become popular in Europe^[2] as well as their native United States.

The members met in 1996 when lead singer-songwriter Dave Wilson led the Country-Rock band Stillhouse. Wilson is the son of Charlotte poet Dede Wilson and was living in the Blue House, a Raleigh crash pad and romper room for the area's hottest young musicians. The other original CCL members are mandolin/fiddle player John Teer, upright bassist/pedal steel wiz Greg Readling, and banjo picker Chandler Holt (since retired). Wilson and Readling were playing in the Blue House as "Stillhouse" when Teer and Holt became intrigued "to hear these guys playing original country music that didn't suck" as Holt recalls. Holt and Teer befriended Wilson at the Blue House and began sitting in with the band. Wilson, over a beer one night, asked the others if they were interested in starting a bluegrass band.^[3]

Chatham County Line frequently opened shows for Tift Merritt's band The Carbines as both Greg and Jay Brown (original Stillhouse Bassist) were members. Chris Stamey saw them open a show, offered to record them, and landed them a record deal with Yep Roc Records. The band then went on to create seven original studio albums, one live film/audio collection, and an album of covers: Chatham County Line in 2003, Route 23 in 2005, Speed of the Whippoorwill in 2006, IV in 2008, Wildwood in 2010, Sight & Sound in 2012, Tightrope in 2014, Autumn in 2016 and Sharing the Covers in 2019 before the retirement of original member Chandler Holt. The Album Strange Fascination arrived in 2020 and features Sharon Van Etten singing harmonies on the title track. The band, which used to perform gathered around a single microphone, now performs live with a drummer and features pedal steel and electric guitar on stage.

2024 will see the release of their new album "Hiyo" on Yep Roc Records. Recorded at Asheville’s Echo Mountain, the album was co-produced by Dave Wilson and Rachael Moore (Kacey Musgraves, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss), whom the band befriended during a stint serving as the backing band on the Showtime series George & Tammy, shot in Wilmington, NC. “I could tell the guys were ready to go somewhere new, and I wanted to see how far we could stretch the boundaries,” offers Moore. “We agreed we’d still do things thoughtfully and be true to who they were, but this felt like a chance to explore some springs that they maybe hadn't gotten to tap into before.”

The resulting album takes Chatham County Line’s enduring sound and injects it with an adventurous spirit of discovery and vitality, incorporating synthesizers, drum machines, and more electric guitar and percussion than ever before, rounded out by Dave Wilson’s classic songwriting–rich, evocative tales of love and heartbreak, joy and sorrow, revenge and righteousness. “There’s this liberating element to getting rid of all the preconceptions about who we are and what we sound like, and I think it shows in these songs,” says Dave Wilson.

The IV album includes a track, "Birmingham Jail", that tells the story of Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley, who were killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing. In The Washington Post, Allison Stewart writes:

The Raleigh-based bluegrass upstarts stock this tale of the 1963 Birmingham bombing with such gut-wrenching imagery, it's like they're trying to be depressing. You won't hear a more moving song all year.^[4]

In addition to their eleven solo studio and live albums, Chatham County Line have recorded three albums with Norwegian country musician Jonas Fjeld and were additionally brought on as the backing band on Winter Stories Fjeld's collaborative album with American singer Judy Collins. To date, the band have achieved four number one albums on the Top Bluegrass Albums chart.

Discography

References

External links

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