A staple of the North Carolina music scene for two decades, Chatham County Line, introduces a new sound and line up with their ninth studio album, Strange Fascination.
Videos by American Songwriter
The album, released today via Yep Roc Records, marks a turning point in the evolution of the group. The core of CCL—Dave Wilson (guitar/vocals/songwriter), John Teer (mandolin/fiddle/vocals), and Greg Readling (bass/pedal steel/piano)—now welcome percussion to its line-up with long time friend of the band Dan Hall on drums. Strange Fascination serves as both the final release with co-founding banjo player Chandler Holt, the first line-up change since 2001, and the first to feature drums on every song.
“Our touring-life balance has always been important to the band, so Chandler’s decision to stay home with his family was welcomed by his brothers,” Dave Wilson explained of the co-founding member’s departure.
The band sowed much effort into the song placement within this purposefully produced record, start to finish. “That’s the way a record was intended to be listened to,” described Wilson of the album’s construction. The record begins sad and slow, it’s important to start that way, then build up until about halfway, then starts to come down again.” He described the forty-minute playtime as manageable to the listener, “it gives them time to sit down with a drink and focus on the work.”
Lively piano followed by a string of the warmly familiar banjo riffs, introduce “Oh Me Oh My.” A ballad for the lonely, the lyrics focus on a longingly imagined life: “Works all day long for his queen / A woman he’s never seen / Sleeps all night by his self /Don’t he long for someone else/ A bee I should’ve been.”
Harmonica whistles through into the second track, “Station to Station,” evoking a locomotive production. Train imagery ties this album to their previous work. A fixture of North Carolina’s history, the group has wielded railroad tracks in their storyline for many years. With wheels, the theme induces child-like freedom.
Slowing down into the title-track, guest vocals from Sharon Van Etten add depth to the soulful exploration of the unknown. With equal reverence and impatience for undiscovered endings, the lyrics levitate above the ethereal layer between delicate harmony and wary instrumentation.
Next is a progressive pick-up with the buoyant, “Free Again.” With a chugging rhythm, track number four addresses the ‘American Dream’ in light of both the immigrant experience and the country’s history of slavery. Bright instrumentation breaths power into the oppressed.
“The Eagle and the Boy” details a brave young mother’s valiant efforts to save her infant son from the grips of a bird of prey. The lyrics insist on the instinctual superpower held by mothers: “Woman she is King / to all of us life she brings / And when you understand / you may be a man.” Making a parable of a historical account condemns sexism, praising maternal strength.
This track concludes Side A. As it winds down, the likes of a church organ invite the listener with a soaring chorale to flip over and continue listening to “Leave This World” on Side B. Percussion shifts the track from a hushed hymnal to a more modern celebration of life. Without doom, lyrics outline the fateful judgment day to provide clarity to our earthly purpose.
“Guitar (For Guy Clark),” is a subjective perspective from an object. The track contemplates the past lives of instruments. It details an imagined experience of a string instrument passed from through many hands and the significance of its objective lifetime.
Wilson’s storytelling, mastered with subjective empathy, is demonstrated once again with moody “Queen Anne’s Gold.” His inclination toward folktales brings their album back home to North Carolina’s rich history. Creaking fiddle and crashing cymbal summon sails and stormy seas. The native pirate legend of Blackbeard unfolds in a narrative form, reaffirming the widespread fable that his shipwrecked treasure still lies somewhere beneath the sand of the Crystal Coast.
Closing us out at number nine is “Nothing.” “It’s a lazy Sunday song,” lead vocalist and writer explained of this departure from his tendency toward a more serious tone. Wilson is excited to share this uncharacteristically light track and feels it reveals his humor that doesn’t always translate in his lyrics.
The revered Bluegrass band feels the addition of drums will bring their traditionally seated audience to their feet. “For so long, we played venues seated, quiet venues where the listener could really focus on the music. Now that we have added percussion, we hope to play more clubs to involve the audience in the music and create movement,” Wilson shared.
Listen to Strange Fascination from the beloved Chatham County Line here.
