Chandler Holt spent almost twenty years playing banjo with Chatham County Line, Raleigh, NC’s hometown newgrass band. As a founding member of the group, he had been along for the ride as they grew from a local group to a major touring act, taking the show on the road all across the US, and around the world.
But in the fall of 2019, he left the band and moved his young family to Longmont, CO. Chatham County Line had been moving steadily away from a bluegrass sound for some time, and with Chandler’s departure, they made the decision to step away completely, and go electric with drums.
But Holt is a banjo man, so how far is he going to go from the fold? His solo album, Cover More Ground, finds him on the five, with Eric Wiggs on guitar, and former CCL bandmate John Teer on mandolin.
We are happy to premiere his new video, for an instrumental track called Thundering Herd, which Chandler says brought western vistas to his mind.
“The more I thought about this tune, I realized that it reminded me of the west. I kept envisioning a buffalo herd charging across the wide-open landscape of the Rocky Mountains. Soon after, Thundering Herd just popped into my head and I knew it was a perfect fit. John Teer and Eric Wiggs’ instrumental prowess perfectly captures the wild spirit of the tune.”
So he set the finished tune to footage of the great beasts of the plains, and it just works.
Cover More Ground is available now wherever you stream or download music online, and on CD directly from Robust Records.
