Chatham County Line Confirm West Coast Tour Dates; 'Hiyo' Out Now

Chatham County Line is set to tour the West Coast, kicking off May 16 at Mississippi Studios in Portland, OR, with stops at the Sunset Tavern in Seattle, WA, and Freight and Salvage in Berkeley, CA, among others.

They will embark on an east coast tour beginning March 1 at The Earl in Atlanta, GA. A complete list of dates is below; tickets are now on sale. They are touring in support of their 10th album, Hiyo, which is out now; listen/purchase here.

Recorded at Asheville's Echo Mountain, the album was co-produced by Dave Wilson and Nashville-based Rachael Moore (Kacey Musgraves, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss), whom the band befriended during a stint serving as the backing band on the Showtime series George & Tammy, shot in Wilmington, NC.

“I could tell the guys were ready to go somewhere new, and I wanted to see how far we could stretch the boundaries,” offers Moore. “We agreed we'd still do things thoughtfully and be true to who they were, but this felt like a chance to explore some springs that they maybe hadn't gotten to tap into before.”  

“The best music is made with complete total freedom,” says singer/guitarist Dave Wilson. “We spent a lot of years pushing at the fences, but with this album, we've finally busted out of the corral.”

Fueled by new sounds, collaborators, and experimenting with fresh sonic palettes and innovative approaches to instrumentations, Hiyo marks an evolution for the band, who spent 15 years performing around a single microphone and chose to add a drummer to their touring lineup after the 2020 departure of their banjo player.    

The resulting album takes Chatham County Line's enduring sound and injects it with an adventurous spirit of discovery and vitality, incorporating synthesizers, drum machines, and more electric guitar and percussion than ever before, rounded out by Dave Wilson's classic songwriting – rich, evocative tales of love and heartbreak, joy and sorrow, revenge and righteousness.

“There's this liberating element to getting rid of all the preconceptions about who we are and what we sound like, and I think it shows in these songs,” says Dave Wilson.  

The album's rousing opener, “Right On Time,” is a rollicking, harmony-driven ode to young love and the open road, balancing nostalgia with the contemporary setting the stage for the band's first album in four years. “Magic,”  an enchantingly optimistic tune lined with a slightly psychedelic twang and a heavenly vocal performance, blending the Everlys and Wilburys. Fusing past and present in reimagining the old-school murder ballad, the eerily cinematic “Way Down Yonder” traces the tale of a young couple, a taunting phrase, and ultimately, revenge. The swampy “B S R” conjures up the sweltering heat of the Delta with an open-tuned Stratocaster pulled from the muddy depths.   

A roots music staple for over two decades, Chatham County Line – Dave Wilson (vocal, guitars, harmonica, synthesizer, banjo); John Teer (mandolin, fiddle, guitars, vocal); and Greg Readling (bass, pedal steel, piano, clavinet, organ, vocal) – built a devoted following on the strength of their genre-bending live show before breaking out internationally in 2003 with their self-titled debut.

Since then, the band's critically acclaimed albums have topped Billboard Bluegrass charts four times, they've shared the bill with the likes of Lyle Lovett and Guy Clark to The Avett Brothers and Steve Martin & Martin Short, and have collaborated with Judy Collins, Sharon Van Etten, and Jonas Fjeld.   

Chatham County Line Tour Dates

March 1 - The Earl - Atlanta, GA 

March 2 - The Grey Eagle  - Asheville, NC

March 7 - The Ramkat - Winston-Salem, NC

March 8 - Charleston Pour House - Charleston, SC*

March 9 - Bourgie Nights - Wilmington, NC

April 4 – Jammin’ Java – Vienna, VA

April 5 – Richmond Music Hall – Richmond, VA

April 6 – Hub City Vinyl – Hagerstown, MD

April 9 – Caffe Lena – Saratoga Springs, NY

April 11 – Mauch Chunk Opera House – Jim Thorpe, PA

April 12 – Stoltz Listening Room – Easton, MD

April 13 – The Southern Cafe and Music Hall – Charlottesville, VA 

April 26 - MerleFest - Wilkesboro, NC

May 3 – BirdFest 2024 – Pinewood, SC

May 11 – Points of Sanctuary – Roanoke, VA

May 16 – Mississippi Studios – Portland, OR

May 17 – Sunset Tavern – Seattle, WA

May 18 – Trout Lake Hall – Trout Lake, WA

May 19 – Volcanic Theater Pub – Bend, OR

May 22 – The Dip – Redding, CA

May 24 – Chico Women’s Club – Chico, CA

May 25 – Freight and Salvage – Berkeley, CA

September 20 – Bourbon & Beyond – Louisville, KY

*w/Maya de Vitry

photo credit: York Wilson

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