Chatham County Line says that there’s no “sexy hook to fuel the hype machine” for their latest release, Autumn (Yep Roc). Instead, the veteran North Carolina-based ensemble sticks to what they do best — performing traditional, roots-influenced, story-driven songs with agile acoustic arrangements and their trademark three- and four-part harmonies, sung around a single microphone.
That’s exactly what they delivered when they visited the AG studio recently. Dave Wilson played guitar, harmonica, and sung lead vocals, with John Teer on mandolin, Chandler Holt on banjo, and Greg Readling on upright bass.
Watch above as the band performs “Rock in the River” and “All That’s Left” from Autumn (their seventh studio album). Wilson said he got the idea for “Rock in the River” while on vacation, based on a metaphor from a stranger’s conversation. He overheard a guy talking about the mistakes he’d made with a girl he thought was “the one,” but he’d heard that her mother said to her: “Don’t worry, he’s just another rock in the river.”