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Chatham County Line, "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[ AMG entry] Allmusic; Retrieved on 2007-09-11), and have become popular in EuropeKevin Crowe, "Chatham County Line Plays a Modern Kind of 'Grass," Metro Pulse, 2007; Retrieved on 2007-09-11. Accessed at the Internet Archive, 2 October 2015. 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.CMT Biography, Cmt.com; Retrieved on 2009-11-24
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.
The band's latest album Hiyo was recorded at Asheville’s Echo Mountain and was co-produced by Dave Wilson and Rachael Moore, who they met on the set of George & Tammy, where Moore worked as a music producer. Chatham County Line portrayed the Nashville A-Team on the series George & Tammy, with Teer as Harold Bradley and Wilson as Pig Robbins.
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 Title Album details Peak chartpositions US Grass US Heat Chatham County Line Release date: June 3, 2003 Label: Bonfire Records — — Route 23 Release date: February 22, 2005 Label: Yep Roc Records 12 — Speed of the Whippoorwill Release date: May 30, 2006 Label: Yep Roc Records 13 — Amerikabesøk (with Jonas Fjeld) Release date: February 26, 2007 Label: Sony Music Norway IV Release date: March 4, 2008 Label: Yep Roc Records 6 — Brother of Song (with Jonas Fjeld) Release date: February 23, 2009 Label: Sony Music Norway Wildwood Release date: July 13, 2010 Label: Yep Roc Records 3 33 Sight & Sound Release date: July 10, 2012 Label: Yep Roc Records 10 — Western Harmonies (with Jonas Fjeld) Release date: October 7, 2013 Label: Sony Music Norway Tightrope Release date: May 20, 2014 Label: Yep Roc Records 3 47 Autumn Release date: September 2, 2016 Label: Yep Roc Records 1 — Sharing The Covers Release date: March 8, 2019 Label: Yep Roc Records 1 — Winter Stories (with Judy Collins and Jonas Fjeld) Release date: November 29, 2019 Label: Cleopatra Records 1 — Strange Fascination Release date: April 24, 2020 Label: Yep Roc Records 1 — Hiyo Release date: January 26, 2024 Label: Yep Roc Records 1 — "—" denotes releases that did not chart
References
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