Chatham County Line has never exactly been puritanical about bluegrass, which you'd expect from its members' rock backgrounds. But for a long time, the group had a rule: no covers, especially rock songs.
"We don't do rock covers because Hayseed Dixie has ruined my life," frontman Dave Wilson told No Depression magazine in 2006. "There are some cool songs I'd love to cover, but I'm afraid it would just turn into a parody."
A few years down the line, however, Chatham County Line has loosened up a good bit about that. Last year's "Live in Caroline" included a bluegrass arrangement of the Beatles classic "Something," and all the indie-rock in the air around here is starting to creep into the band's songwriting.
"For some reason, every day around noon I seem to wind up doing something in the basement or the garage, and listening to the 'Local Lunch' show on WKNC," Wilson says. "It's almost like a folk process, soaking up sounds around me geographically by listening to local music and getting into it. So I feel like I've been influenced a lot by that lately."
You'll be able to hear that sometime next year, whenever Chatham County Line's next album emerges. It will be the follow-up to last year's "IV," which was CCL's most pop-leaning record to date. The group has been recording in Asheville this month, and Wilson pronounces the results "killer so far."
"The new songs really follow the direction of the last album," Wilson says. "Just applying all the things we've learned over the years to different styles of songs. I just hope we can still get booked at the bluegrass festivals. But it's a growing process, from whatever we decided we were when we started to where we are now. If you come to the live show, we do bluegrass-style songs but also some stuff that sounds different. I was telling [bandmate] Chandler [Holt], 'I don't know about these songs, but what I do know is they don't sound like anything I've ever heard before.'"
Chatham County Line's next album ought to sell well in at least one place: Norway, where the group has enjoyed a profitable association with singer/songwriter Jonas Fjeld. CCL has collaborated on two gold records in Norway, and one of them (this year's "Brother of Song") is close to reaching platinum.
Of course, platinum is only 30,000 copies in Norway, compared to the million copies you have to sell to go platinum in America. But there's still hardware involved, framed gold and platinum records.
"... they gave us our gold records over there, and three out of four of them got all smashed up on the way home," Wilson says. "So I want my platinum record to be made of titanium. I put the gold record off in a corner, so I won't rest on my laurels. I mean, I think I'm good and all - but not that good."
CCL is scheduled to reconvene with Fjeld in 2011 to make another record. In the meantime, there's the in-progress CCL album to finish. And if there's time, Wilson would love it if the very fine rock bands various CCL members have on the side - Wilson and Greg Readling's Stillhouse, Holt and John Teer's Jackets - could do some recording.
Rock will also be in effect at CCL's fourth annual Ho Ho Holiday Party on Saturday night at the Pour House in Raleigh. The evening will open with an acoustic Chatham County Line set, followed by an electric CCL set with drummer Zeke Hutchins and bassist Jay Brown (both from Tift Merritt's band) sitting in.
"Rocking up the CCL tunes was a lot of fun last year," Wilson says. "We get so sick of people talking during the acoustic set, which happens every year. It's why we charge so much, hoping the talkers won't show up. And yet they do.
"But the rock, it's in our blood, man," Wilson concludes. "My first guitar was electric. This will be something special for the holidays, some classic tunes. We're gonna tear it up."
