Chatham County Line

I should first say that Chatham County Line is an up-and-coming band from North Carolina that shows tremendous promise. Their first three albums are firm examples of how bluegrass instrumentation can be applied to forms alt-country forms with varying degrees of success. And, like most bands on their third or fourth album, Dave Wilson and company have attempted to stretch their wings by teaming up with Chris Stamey, an indie rock producer who has worked with such notables as Yo La Tengo, among others.

Unfortunately, IV doesn’t quite hit the mark.

All of the variables seemed to be aligning for Chatham County Line, as this project was shaping up to be a breakout record for them on the Americana scene. They certainly have the talent and experience, and the new vision they tried to capture in this set of songs nearly solidified into a great album…nearly. The instrumentation is tasteful, the vocal melodies are not bad if not great and the writing is better than much of today’s alt-country fare, but they have neglected the intangibles that make Americana music magical.

Even with well-placed mandolin lines, neatly timed fiddle inserts and pleasurable chord progressions, the songs lack a degree of substance, fire and, for back of a better term, balls. It’s almost as if the need to consummately put all the pieces in the right place has overridden the knowledge that any great record must first convey the emotions and experience that produced the songs to begin with. Certainly these songs reflect life to a degree, but they do so with less vigor than the oh-lordy-damn-help-me-now-God-awful Dixie Chicks.

Maybe I’m just disappointed because I was really looking forward to this record. Maybe I’m disappointed because I hear the tremendous potential here that has come up short. “Birmingham Jail,” for instance, is by far the best song on IV and a great track by most any standard. Passion comes through in Wilson’s voice and is matched by accompanying wail of the fiddle and harmonic layers, telling a story of George Wallace and integration better than most could ever dream, but nowhere else on the album is that fire kindled again. 

Overall: C

Why a C?  It’s not bad, but it’s not great either. The musicians of Chatham County Line are obviously tremendously talented, and the arrangements on the album are nice, but the lack of any real conviction gives the whole record a neutered, lackluster feel. I would wager that a few fifths of cheap, gutrot whiskey, a shot of despair, some strong Marlboros and another try would bring lots of positive changes to bear on IV, but if the boys are “health conscious,” a good dose of The Avett Brothers and old school Jay Farrar just might do the trick. But I’m the kind of guy who’ll take a heartfelt, screaming brawl of a song over manicured posturing any day of the week.