IV - Chatham County Line

Not surprisingly given its title, IV is the North Carolina quartet's fourth album and their most commercial to date. While the band have certainly not abandoned their bluegrass roots they have successfully crossed over into something more accessible, a kind of 'newgrass' if you like. I'd only vaguely heard of the band before their appearance on BBC's Later with Jools Holland earlier this year and I'm not sure that reviews of their previous albums would have enticed me to give them a listen. I've never been much of a bluegrass fan but I was so taken with the songs they performed on the show that I had to buy this album. They are an acoustic band ...  Read the complete review

IV is the latest offering from contemporary bluegrass band Chatham County Line, who comprise of Dave Wilson (vocals, acoustic guitar), John Teer (mandolin, backing vocals), Chandler Holt (banjo), and Greg Readling (double bass). The record is full of brilliantly written songs like Chip of a Star, The Carolina, and my personal favourite, Country Boy/City Boy, which is a song about the differences in the way people from the country and the city think about things and the way in which they do things differently. This song contains lyrics such as "Country boy at the races, bets his horse to win, city boy at the races, he bets just to spend". The musical ...  Read the complete review