Chatham County Line
IV
Yep Roc Records
By Mike Randall
Despite the ease in which bands seem to be categorized as alt-country with just a hint of pedal steel in the mix, it’s alt-grass that’s a more fitting descriptor for North Carolina quartet Chatham County Line. With traditional percussion-less roots instrumentation, CCL use bluegrass as a jumping off point into a rustic blend of all things Americana. Whereas they’ve toured and won acclaim on the bluegrass circuit, on this their fourth album (the appropriately-but-drab titled IV), their sound has shifted from the front porch to the saloon without sacrificing its down-home sincerity.
The imagery conjured when one thinks of a guitar-bass-banjo-mandolin-fiddle combo isn’t all that far-fetched from the majority of the record’s content. CCL recall loves that waited (the Neil Young/Gram Parsons-esque “She”), and loves that didn’t (“The Carolinian,” which finds frontman Dave Wilson wallowing about how his heart and body are moving in opposite directions), while waxing poetic about the perils of life on the road (the mournful ballad “One More Minute,” with harmonic help from Whiskeytown’s Caitlin Cary). It wouldn’t be a string band without a slew of tunes about struggle, and on “I Got Worry,” CCL deliver a gem that wouldn’t have sounded at all out of place on Ryan Adams’ Gold.
Other than the topical nature of ”Birmingham Jail,” an ode to the days of the pro-segregationist former governor of Alabama George Wallace, it’s CCL’s musicianship that is at the forefront of their evolution. “Let It Rock” is a barroom brawler in the ilk of some of Exile on Main Street’s more stripped down and countrified moments; if Chandler Holt’s banjo solo doesn’t get your toes tapping, check your pulse. “Whipping Boy,” the standard ‘don’t treat me this way’ romp, is a rollicker begging for a pub to call home, while tears fall into the whiskey jar on the aforementioned “The Carolinian,” one of two straightforward bluegrass tunes (the sizzling instrumental “Clear Blue Sky” is the other).
No one is ever going to label Chatham County Line as being original even in the slightest, but that’s not the point. It takes a special band to execute such a timeless brand of music so effortlessly, and there’s no reason to revamp an art form that’s existed mostly unchanged for decades. It’s about staying true to the style and adding your own stamp without faking, which they’ve done by applying quintessential bluegrass, folk and honky-tonk elements to make an album that flows like a finely tapped keg. The only thing missing from IV is the clanking of beer bottles and the gurgling of murky brown liquor.
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