Chatham County Line reinterprets music, uses one microphone

Andrew Leahey
Friday, July 11, 2008

Whenever Chatham County Line performs a live show, the band's four members hover around a single microphone. "That's how we've done it from the very beginning," explains singer/guitarist Dave Wilson, who launched the North Carolina-based quartet in 1999. "There's something about the bareness of that sound. There's nothing inserted between the instruments and what the audience hears."

Chatham County Line isn't the first group to utilize such an approach, nor are they the most famous. As Mr. Wilson eagerly points out, bluegrass legend Del McCoury popularized the single-mic method years ago. What makes Chatham County Line so unique, then, is the band's progressive sound, which marries bluegrass traditions with a number of eclectic genres. "We weren't raised in a barn," he jokes, referring to the band's mix of country appeal and street-smart city attitude.

Chatham County Line prefers to use only one microphone to project their music, which combines bluegrass with several eclectic genres.

In the mid-'90s, Mr. Wilson was a member of a twangy rock outfit named Stillhouse. The music was loud and full of electric guitars, which whetted his appetite to try something quieter. With help from several local musicians, he launched Chatham County Line as an acoustic side project. Guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolin and upright bass helped fashion the band's earthy sound. Absent from that lineup were drums and multiple microphones; the guys simply didn't need them.

Nine years later, Chatham County Line is touring in support of their fourth album, the appropriately titled IV. Chris Stamey, former member of the dB's and a longtime friend of the band, lent his production skills to the effort.

"Chris loves technology, so we couldn't get away with a single mic," Mr. Wilson says of the recording experience. "He mic'd my knees; he mic'd my head. You just can't go into a multimillion-dollar studio and tell them to use one microphone. It just goes against everything they believe in."

With Mr. Stamey's help, Chatham County Line crafted their finest album to date. Songs like "Let It Rock" sound every bit as energetic as their titles suggest, while "She" and "One More Minute" are slow, intimate love ballads. Lest anyone forget the band's roots, IV also features several instrumental numbers, where the band mates barrel through bluegrass chord progressions at lightning speed. Chatham County Line has yet to add a drummer to their ranks; they simply rely on listeners to tap their feet, which happens unconsciously during those high-octane songs.

"There's been a progression in songwriting and the uniformity of our sound," Mr. Wilson sums up, looking back at his band's nine-year history. "I think we're defining what the Chatham County Line sound really is."

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