Raleigh, NC bluegrass quartet Chatham County Line visited Club Helsinki in Great Barrington, MA on Friday, April 11th. The venue is the perfect place for intimate acoustic performances, so taking the short trek from the Albany area was a no-brainer.

Having first seen Chatham County Line last August at Pickathon, I was a little concerned that the magic of that amazing weekend may have left a little “spiked memory”. However that fear was unsubstantiated as their wonderful humor, excellent songwriting, and virtuostic playing brought us right back to that beautiful weekend in Oregon.

The band is currently touring behind their new album, “IV“. Over the two sets of music at Helsinki, they performed most of the album – most notably “Birmingham Jail“, “Chip of a Star“, and the solo mandolin piece “Paige“. My favorite moment was opener “Down By the Riverside” (from their album Speed of the Whippoorwil) which I remember vividly from Pickathon. Something about that three-part harmony chorus that leads into the very special resolving chord on the lyrics “as I lay by the riverside“. Nice.

Chatham County Line will be back in the area for Grey Fox and Middlebury, VTs Festival on the Green in July and we will be seeing them out at Pickathon X in August.

Head over to eMusic to download some songs from each of their four albums with their 25 FREE mp3 offer.