When you are a band like Chatham County Line, touring North America and Europe since its debut album in 2003, coming home to Raleigh, NC can mean three things: sleeping in your own bed, seeing the ones you love, and recording a new album.

The collection of 14 original new songs on Speed of the Whippoorwill captures the live show excitement that Chatham County Line has honed on the road. It is through touring that the band has perfected their blend of instrumental prowess, harmony singing, and original composition. It is this combination of songs for the drinking man and songs for the thinking man that drives the originality of this four piece acoustic band. You get the impression that if you sat next to these guys at the bar, not only would you have a good time, but you might actually learn something.

The title track on Speed of the Whippoorwill is a story of a railroad worker and what motivates him to keep working the rails. Dave Wilson elaborates, "A laborer works and with every swing of the hammer, he thinks about how much closer he is to getting home and to the ones he loves. It's a lot like when we are on the road and every time your arm swings across your guitar, you are that much closer to being home."

Chatham County Line's songwriting revisits constant egalitarian themes in their music. Notably found in "Company Blues," "By the Riverside" and "Lonesome in Caroline," the latter of which was captured live at a show in Drammen, Norway. The quartet also brings historical references to a song like "Confederate Soldier." For the first time on a Chatham County Line album, banjo player and harmonizer Chandler Holt, sings lead on a song he penned called "Coming Home."

The old saying says you can never return home, but it is lucky for us that Chatham County did go home and record Speed of the Whippoorwill.

Chatham County Line are Dave Wilson (vocals, acoustic guitar), John Teer (vocals, mandolin, fiddle), Chandler Holt (banjo, vocals), and Greg Readling (bass, vocals, pedal steel).

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