Blue Waters, Bluegrass Festival opens Friday at Waterfront Park

Two of the headlining acts for the 15th annual Blue Waters Bluegrass Festival, scheduled for Aug. 12-14 in Medical Lake, are Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin and Chatham County Line. Both groups have been performing for several years and will be making their first appearance at Blue Waters.

Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin

Stecher and Brislin first met at the 1974 Expo World's Fair in Spokane. Before they started singing together, Stecher gained a following as a solo act and as a member of the band "Houseboat Music," while Brislin played in bands like "Any Old Time String Band" and "The Arkansas Sheiks."

"We quickly took to each other and enjoyed singing together," Stecher said. "We met 42 years ago but 1974 feels like almost yesterday."

As a duo, Stecher and Brislin released seven studio albums and are two-time Grammy nominees.

"The two of them have this gorgeous harmony," Kevin Brown, Blue Waters music director, said of Stecher and Brislin in a July 21 Cheney Free Press story.

Stecher has also collaborated with several musicians including Krishna Bhatt, Alasdair Fraser, Bob Black, Chris Brashear, Peter McLaughlin, Ed Neff and Forrest Rose.

Over the years, Stecher and Brislin have learned their arrangements of old traditional songs and "have become the standard for younger musicians who play bluegrass," something he said was a "pleasant shock to them." Both Stecher and Brislin are "semi-retired" from touring.

"The time on stage is a joy," Stecher said. "We have gotten better at it over time. The rest of it has lost any allure it might have once had."

Stecher is currently composing new songs, teaching and writing several books about music while Brislin is studying foreign languages, learning piano and "doing a lot of reading."

Stecher said he and Brislin are looking forward to "getting a bit of summer," when they come to Blue Waters.

"The audience can expect seasoned veterans (with garlic and pepper) singing in duet in our trademark fashion and playing our usual spontaneous instrumental surprises," Stecher said.

Chatham County Line

Chatham County Line are from Raleigh, N.C. The band formed in 1999 after singer Dave Wilson and bassist Greg Readling, who were playing in the band Stillhouse, asked their good friends Chandler Holt and John Teer if they were interested in starting a bluegrass band together.

"We hung out that night and started playing together," Wilson said. "All these years later we're still playing together and still having fun."

Chatham County Line has opened for "The Carbines" and Tift Merritt. The group has toured in the United States, Canada and Europe. They have produced six studio albums and will release their seventh, "Autumn," in September.

With 17 years behind them, Wilson said he doesn't know what it is that has kept the group together for so long.

"We were friends before anything else," Wilson said.

Wilson added that he discovered bluegrass music through an old Grateful Dead record. He said "as a writer, that style of music spoke to me."

Wilson said the group is looking forward to appearing at Blue Waters because it gives them a chance to "see other acts and meet up with old friends."

"Usually when we are on tour, we get to see one show and that's us," Wilson said. "Seeing new acts is always a treat."

The band will also conduct a couple of workshops during the festival.

When Chatham County Line performs, Wilson said fans can expect," four guys wearing suits, singing into a single microphone." He added that the group does not use "technical gimmicks," and that their performances harken back to classical concerts.

"Being around a microphone keeps us close," Wilson said. "You can also hear what the musicians (and instruments) sound like before that sound goes into the microphone."

Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.