Hailed by Paste as ”bluegrass innovators,” Raleigh, NC-based quartet Chatham County Line will release their eighth studio album, Sharing The Covers, March 8 on Yep Roc Records. The video for the first single, Wilco’s “I Got You (At the End of the Century),” premiered today at The Bluegrass Situation. The track is now available at all streaming services.
Paying homage to Wilco on the first single, the band revitalizes the song with a bluegrass vibe complete with a splash of banjo and underscored by the twang that immediately marks the song with Chatham County Line’s signature stamp.
“This Wilco tune,” says Dave Wilson, “is a prime example of how Sharing the Covers pulls covers directly from our set lists through the years. We had performed this tune back in 2005 at the release show celebrating our second album, Route 23, and hadn’t really revisited it since. When we were setting up in the studio to record some new material, the engineer asked us to test the levels on the microphones and somehow this song came out. We are still in awe of the great job Wilco does in creating moments in the studio…they are a great inspiration for any band attempting to weather the years.”
Recorded at Durham, NC’s Overdub Lane studio, where they cut their first album, where 2010’s Wildwood was mixed, and where a few tracks from 2016’s Autumn were recorded, the 13-track collection was engineered by Chris Boerner, who also engineers the band’s live shows. Taking the familiar and adding a touch of bluegrass, the band creates an inventive collection of classic covers by Tom Petty, John Lennon, The Rolling Stones, The Louvin Brothers, Beck, and more.
Formed in 1999, Chatham County Line—Dave Wilson (guitar/vocals/songwriter), John Teer (mandolin/fiddle/vocals), Chandler Holt (banjo), and Greg Readling (bass/pedal steel/piano)—acquired their name after one of their very first practices when the then—unnamed group—were trying to find Holt’s place in Chapel Hill and got lost. “We crossed the Chatham County line, and we never looked back,” Wilson says. “Just saw the sign, and said that’d be a good idea for a name, and the next thing you know.”
Having toured hundred of thousands of miles playing North American venues and folk festivals to elegant European concert halls, “what sets Chatham County Line apart from other eclectic acoustic bands are its live shows” (City Beat).
Sharing The Covers is now available for pre-order.
Tracklisting:
- I Got You (At the End of the Century) – Wilco
- People Gonna Talk – James Hunter
- Walk Don’t Run – Johnny Smith
- My Baby’s Gone – Hazel Houser
- Bumblebee – Leo Kottke
- Think I’m in Love – Beck
- You Don’t Know How it Feels – Tom Petty
- Girl on the Billboard – Walter Haynes/Hank Mills
- Think of What You’ve Done – Carter Stanley
- Watching the Wheels – John Lennon
- Tear Down the Grand Ole Opry – John Hartford / Tut Taylor
- The Last Time – Mick Jagger / Keith Richards
- Lay Down My Old Guitar – Alton Delmore
