Chatham County Line, Wildwood
Featured Album
Now with drums, but the singing's still the thing
It's rather easy to spin Wildwood a couple of times without even noticing that contemporary roots string band Chatham County Line has added a drummer to the proceedings. Because, minor instrumental adjustments aside, from a songwriting standpoint Wildwood is squarely in keeping with the North Carolina ensemble's four previous efforts, owing as much to folk-rock tunefulness as to bluegrass traditionalism. Banjo, mandolin, fiddle, upright bass and guitar help to lay down the foundation, but the key component of the quartet's identity has always been its vocal approach. While high, lonesome has its place in their aesthetic (as is clear when leader Dave Wilson reaches for the stratosphere at the end of the sorrowful "Alone In New York"), their singing is generally more likely to recall the SoCal '70s country-rock heyday (as on "Crop Comes In"), or perhaps the backwoods soulfulness of The Band (see "Saturdays And Sundays").
The group's effortless melodic grace is bolstered with a chugging rhythmic bounce on "Out Of The Running" and "End Of The Line," though arguably the album's finest moment is when they slow things down and let the voices carry the day on "Blue Jay Way" — not a cover of the Beatles tune, but equally resplendent in its own right.
