- [Announcer] "On The Road" is a production of PBS North Carolina, in association with "Come Hear NC", a program of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

- [Narrator] Coming up next on, "On The Road with Chatham Rabbits".

- One of the things I really miss, my favorite thing about playing music is meeting people and getting to know y'all.

Hello.

- What's up?

A Chatham Rabbit.

- [Sarah] Don't forget a tail, a little tail.

- [Nancy Jo] There are no records that show that.

- She's still talking.

You might wanna do this again.

- [Nancy Jo] Am I supposed to be out here.

Hello, hello.

- Hey grandmother, I have some projects.

- Well, the fun part's already done, picking out the fabric.

- Picking out the fabric.

- I would literally give anything to be able to do this.

You go girl!

I have to be that.

I have to join the adult version.

[upbeat music] We're Sarah and Austin, and together we're Chatham Rabbits.

A few years ago, we quit our nine to five jobs to become full-time musicians.

♪ Roosevelt told me that I could get it done ♪ - It's just a warp up.

- Just a sound check.

We've recorded multiple full length albums and we play over 150 shows each year.

And we happen to own a farm.

Oh, she's gonna get your bumper, no, no, no.

[cow moos] We are going to take you on the road with us for all of it, the good.

- Yeah, man.

- [Sarah] The bad.

- I just got an alert on my phone that said that it was an emergency flash flood warning.

- [Sarah] And the incredible people we meet along the way.

- Oh no, Sarah, give them their baby back.

- [Sarah] Okay.

So the history of the Chatham Rabbit is definitely a unique part of our story.

Back in the early 1900's, there were apparently huge rabbits all around Chatham County and they would be cooked in kitchens in DC, and New York, and Baltimore, and even in London and Paris.

And there was this very delicious roasted rabbit dish called Chatham rabbit.

To honor the cash crop of rabbits in Chatham County, lots of string bands were popping up all over the place and calling themselves different names that kind of bounced off of that.

And one of those bands was the Chatham Rabbit String Band in Bingham, North Carolina, where we lived.

And then we found out that the guitar player from the Chatham Rabbit String Band was the patriarch of the house that we had just bought.

- [Austin] The name chose us.

- [Sarah] The name chose us.

- Somebody did recommend Bingham bunnies, which I quickly said no to.

- I thought it was cute, but you know- - This show could be about the Bingham bunny, imagine that.

- It really could, that's a scary thought.

[upbeat music] All right y'all, we're here.

It's eight o'clock in the morning.

We're at the North Carolina State Fair for the Century Farms Reunion, which is this big celebration for North Carolina farmers that have owned their family farms for 100 plus years.

We're performing in the arena here at the Hunt Horse Complex.

- This is a true horse arena.

We didn't know we'd be sharing the stage with the horses today.

- This is so amazing.

- I know, this is what you wish you could do.

- I don't wanna be this girl.

I wanna be the one on the buck skin just cantering around.

- You'd rather be riding horses than playing on the show huh?

- I would literally give anything to be able to do this.

You go girl!

I have to be that.

I have to join the adult version.

- [Austin] The senior version.

- The senior games.

I tried to be really helpful and send the location on my phone to Alan and Spencer, our band mates and I accidentally dropped the pin over a mile away.

So Allen has been lugging his huge upright bass through the traffic.

- [Austin] Long journey, hey Allen?

- So I assumed we were gonna be on a tiny stage on the side of the horse complex.

I guess I didn't know what to expect, but I certainly did not expect for us to be on the back of a tractor in the center of the horse arena with horses galloping around us while we were trying to sound check.

- It was wild.

It was cool.

We were in the center of the arena.

- I'm unable to see people's faces, but I'm gonna try to connect with y'all as much as possible, even though we're a little far away.

Anyway, we're Chatham Rabbits.

We're so happy to be with you today and we're gonna play y'all some songs that we wrote.

[mid tempo music] ♪ I've been riding around in the pen ♪ ♪ Far too long ♪ ♪ Do you know where I could go ♪ ♪ To wash off ♪ ♪ I heard about a washer ♪ ♪ He can make you clean ♪ ♪ Going in two grown mules ♪ ♪ And ride with me ♪ ♪ Can I trade my silver ♪ ♪ And my silky shirt ♪ ♪ All I want from you is Summer's dirt ♪ [audience applaud] - Thank y'all so much.

We're Chatham Rabbits.

- Thanks y'all, woo, woo!

[upbeat music] - Oh, I am so hungry.

- Me too.

- If you just wanna get up in the van, I'll hand you stuff.

- Okay, eat something semi healthy before we go.

- I'm gonna go hard today.

I'm eating so much fried stuff.

- After we played at the Hunt Horse Complex, we got to go wander around the fair.

This is the classic fair Instagram.

[laughing together] - This is the main stretch of food right here.

- Babe, there's eight main stretches of food.

We didn't eat a big breakfast on purpose 'cause we wanted to stock up on fair food.

- Also, we thought there would be snacks at the show.

- Yeah, you were getting so hangry.

And to be honest- - I was hangry before we got there.

- You were were irritating me so much.

- Ooh, let's go pick out a boat.

- No, okay, this is why I'm irritated is because you're like, "I'm so hungry."

And then you're like, "Oh, let's go look at boats."

And it's not cool.

- I'm hungry, let's go get some food.

How about that?

We're getting close now.

Yeah, I wanted it all.

I didn't know where to begin.

- Yeah, I didn't know where to begin with how frustrated I was with you.

And so I'm glad that we ate and then we sat down.

- All right, here's where it's at.

- [Sarah] That looks delicious.

- [Austin] Yeah, this is what I'm getting.

I'm getting a chicken pita.

- [Sarah] Chicken pita?

- [Austin] Yeah.

- [Sarah] Love it.

- There you go, friend.

- Holy cow.

- Enjoy that, okay.

- Yes, thank you.

- [Sarah] So I think we should make our way.

- The fair is not a great place to be a vegetarian.

- I know.

- Do you want a deep fried Oreo?

- I do.

- I can go get you one.

- I wanna singe my tongue.

- Cool.

Oh my gosh.

- This is Reese's.

- Oh, sorry, it's Reese's I forgot.

I asked what I could get for $5, and this was it.

- There's just like a puddle of oil in this.

I love it.

- My heart is just closing up as we speak.

Heck yeah, I'm ready for my ice cream now.. We also got to see our friend Kate Rhudy there.

We did not know she was gonna be performing.

She's another incredible artist in the triangle.

♪ So where are you now ♪ ♪ Been looking all around town ♪ ♪ Calling out your name ♪ - It was a great time, especially after I got to eat.

It was really fun.

- You were feeling better.

You sound great, Kate.

Thanks, it's good to see y'all.

- [Austin] See ya.

- Bye.

And especially after a year of not having the fair and really missing those North Carolina traditions, it was cool to be back.

I think my favorite part was going into the agriculture buildings seeing- - The giant pumpkins.

- Yeah, seeing the massive pumpkins, the massive watermelon.

Yeah, do they taste good?

- Yes they do actually.

My favorite is cantaloupe by the way.

- Oh, is it?

- Oh, you like cantaloupe.

- I love cantaloupe.

Do you put salt on your cantaloupe?

- And pepper.

- And pepper?

- [Austin] Oh, that's cool.

- All right, they're loading it right now.

And then we did do the Ferris wheel, which was kind of a feat for me because- - Sarah doesn't like heights.

- [Sarah] I'm not a big fan.

- [Austin] Oh boy, here we go.

- This really does make me nauseous.

- I wanna go on the hang glider ride with you.

- No.

- This has been a fun day.

- It really has been.

I mean, I love the fair and I genuinely missed it, yeah.

[upbeat music] He has on here the difference between a violin and a fiddle.

One has strings, the other has strangs.

- That sounds right.

- So there you go.

- All right, let's see what I can do.

[upbeat music] - Woo hoo!

[man claps] That's all I can do.

- That's great Austin.

- Thank you.

[gentle music] - We've been running ourselves ragged the past couple of months.

- On me.

- Oh, wow!

- Have a good day.

- Thank you, thank you so much.

- But we had a really sweet moment together at the end of the fair day.

- This is the good stuff right here.

- I haven't ever really been over here.

Just to sit down, eat some homemade ice cream and not do much more than that.

This has been really fun though.

I love the fair.

- We have to have moments where we slow down at the end of a show that kind of leave the show behind as we go home.

It's really good and really important to slow down, take in a moment, reflect on it and then leave it behind so that we can also enjoy our relationship too.

[laughing together] - So my grandmother, Nancy Jo, she is so good at so many things, but one of her best talents is that she can sew incredible pieces of show clothing for both me and for Austin.

- Mostly for you.

- Yeah, mostly for me.

- She made me one shirt.

- She's my wardrobe stylist.

Have y'all noticed my cool pants?

My grandmother made them.

I was gonna say they're new.

The fabric is very old, but they're new to me.

Grandmother, wave your hand.

There's my grandmother, that's Nancy, Jo.

She made the pants.

- [Nancy Jo] There are no records.

- She's still talking.

We might wanna do this again.

- [Nancy Jo] Am I supposed to be out here?

Hello, hello.

- Hey grandmother.

I have some projects.

- Well, let's see what you have.

- We have a lot to work on today per usual.

It's a passion that I share with her 'cause I get to go over to her house and help her lay out fabric and pick and choose what we like.

And okay, what do we wanna wear for this show?

Okay, what do we need to match this?

- [Nancy Jo] Now, that does look good.

- Does it?

I haven't looked in the mirror.

I'm not a trend follower.

I'm a trendsetter.

The rest of the world is just waiting to catch up to me.

This is one of my most other favorite pieces that grandmother and I made.

I only helped a teeny bit with this one.

- It started out as a jumper that I found at I think it was the Salvation Army.

Somebody had worn it as a jumper.

- But it is a old feed sack for rabbit pellets, AKA rabbit poop.

- I don't think so.

I think it was rabbit food.

I think they fed 'em pellets.

- Okay, that's better.

- Let's tell that story.

- Okay.

- These have to be joined before we can do that.

- Okay.

- [Nancy Jo] We can do a cuff.

- Okay, we're gonna do a cuff.

- Keep this to the back so it doesn't get knotted up.

- All right, so we don't have a mess.

- We don't need a mess.

- Okay.

[sewing machine whirring] [cheerful music] Press your foot on.

Honestly, it's a lot like playing music.

People think that with music, we are practicing and then you're on the stage.

You don't think about all of the pieces that go into what it takes to actually put on a concert.

And the same is true with sewing.

You don't think about picking out the fabric, picking out the pattern, cutting it out.

There's just all these things that go on before you actually even sit down at the sewing machine.

- [Nancy Jo] That takes a lot of fun out of it too.

- It does.

- Yes.

- We just wanna get to the fun part.

- Well, the fun part's already done.

Picking out the fabric- - [Sarah] Picking out the fabric and dreaming about the outfit you're gonna wear.

- Yeah, that's the fun part.

And then it gets down to- - [Sarah] And then it gets tedious.

- Yes.

- And you know I love anytime there's texture, shiny texture, sequins, just bring it on.

It's been really fun.

I mean, it's something that we enjoy doing together, but it's also cool because no one else has what I have.

- Somebody likes to be an individual.

- I do [laughs].

- We started this when you were probably in four H. Your mother always had projects for us.

There was a dress review every year in four H. - I had to sew it, and then you had to walk in the fashion show.

So it started there in four H when I was probably eight or nine, and then- - [Nancy Jo] She would come over here and we'd get started.

And we might hit a bump, and that's when it was time to go to lunch [chuckles].

- And by bump, it means Sarah has sewed something wrong and had to take it out four times and our eyes are crossed looking at this dark thread on dark fabric.

And so it's time to go eat some peach cobbler.

- Yep, that's about it.

[upbeat music] - You're gonna eat the best Mac and cheese of your life.

I'm so glad this is part of our routine.

- Yes, it's the best part.

- Stephanie's mac and cheese in particular is, I mean, you'll think you have died and gone to mac and cheese heaven.

- My name is Rodney Hall.

I'm the owner of Stephanie's restaurant.

We've been here over 21 years now.

Well, this is just basically comfort food.

We found that it's nothing pretty much around that they could get the home cooked meals.

My mom here again, being a Southern cook, we wanted to feature some of her recipes and get those out there because over the years, people really enjoyed her food so we just wanted to be able to bring it to the public.

Over the years, I've seen Nancy Jo a lot.

I went to school with her son, but never had an idea that I would own a restaurant that she would be able to come in and sit down and enjoy, and I enjoy her company as well.

Oh, not a whole lot, how you doing?

- Good to see you.

- Good to see you.

- Thanks for letting us come and crash the restaurant for the afternoon.

- I forgot all about that too.

[laughing together] - Well, I've been telling everybody that the mac and cheese here, it's the best ever.

- [Rodney] Thank you.

- And we travel.

We try mac and cheese wherever we go, Stephanie's cannot be beat.

- May I add that you have a good quality taste.

- Thank you!

- Yes, yes.

- Thank you!

So we normally order, we like the world famous sides.

- That's mine.

- Oh my gosh, yes.

Thank you so much.

This is just like dopamine pasta.

[cheerful music] We're gonna go get some pound cake.

All right, let's go check it out.

- [Nancy Jo] There she is.

- Hello!

We have known each other for over 10 years because I had my 18th birthday party at your shop off of Elm Street.

Oh my heavens!

That crispy part needs to go in my belly.

Oh, the crust.

- It's the technique with cake.

Be careful, it'll tear off.

- This is our reward for sewing.

- [Nancy Jo] And perfect.

- It is perfect.

Oh my gosh.

- It's so hot.

[upbeat music] - We only have shirts, CDs and vinyl.

- [Austin] IBMA a is another one of those bucket list festivals.

I mean, it's the biggest bluegrass festival in America.

- It's huge.

- It's a huge bluegrass festival.

It used to be in Nashville.

Raleigh, North Carolina, which is only 50 minutes from us got the contract to do the festival.

Man, that's exciting.

- [Sarah] That sounds lovely.

Austin and I both went to college in Raleigh, and so any chance we get to play in Raleigh is cool because we'll see our favorite bartender or people that we just know from the community.

It's cool that we can see them in our old stomping grounds.

- Please welcome Chatham Rabbits.

- Thanks David, you did perfect.

[audience applaud] - Thank you so much.

- Hello everyone.

[audience cheer] Man, this is a beautiful crowd.

Thanks for sticking with us while we did a little sound check.

We're so thrilled to be with you today.

We're all also thrilled because we're the first band of the day, and y'all know what that means, clean porta johns.

[audience cheer] There is nothing like being the first person to pee in the backstage porta john, and I can wear that badge now so it's a good day.

Well y'all if we haven't met yet, we're Chatham Rabbits.

I'm Sarah, this is my husband, Austin.

This is Allen down here on bass, and Spencer over here on mandolin.

We're just gonna play y'all some tunes that we wrote and tell you back stories on them.

And we just want y'all to relax and have fun and not get too sunburnt.

[mid tempo music] ♪ I wanna see a car in east Virginia ♪ ♪ I wanna know who's behind the wheel ♪ ♪ I wanna pass on the cemetery ♪ ♪ I wanna know who's laying in the field ♪ ♪ I wanna meet you after the show ♪ ♪ There is so much that I want to know ♪ ♪ Has your garden been good this year ♪ ♪ And does the word of God bring you fear ♪ ♪ Oh, I'll change so much this year ♪ ♪ Well I stopped to pull a turtle off the middle ♪ ♪ Of the road ♪ ♪ And I'm holding off someone ♪ ♪ From where they are to go ♪ ♪ And I know my progress ain't always clear ♪ ♪ But I have changed so much this year ♪ ♪ Yeah I have changed so much this year ♪ ♪ I wanna see a car in east Virginia ♪ ♪ I wanna know who's behind the wheel ♪ [audience applaud] - [Austin] Thank y'all so much.

- Thank you, one of the things I really missed, my favorite thing about playing music is meeting people and getting to know y'all.

Oh my God, hey.

- Normally, I pack up a stage and I try and get out of there as quickly as possible.

And Sarah does the fan interactions, but this little boy wanted me to draw a rabbit on his hand.

- Hello!

- What's up?

- Your big fans are here.

- Hi, what's your name?

- Sawyer.

- Sawyer.

- Sawyer, that's such a cool name.

- Yeah, that's a cool name, dude.

- Say thank you.

You really like their music?

- Did you like the music Sawyer?

- Yeah.

- Yeah, do you have a favorite song?

- Yeah.

- Which one?

- Chad Rabbit.

- You like Chatham Rabbit songs?

- Yeah, that's the best song.

- He was wondering if you could draw what?

- A Chatham Rabbit.

- A Chatham Rabbit.

- A Chatham Rabbit on his hand.

- Do you think you could.

- I think I could.

- If mom's okay with it- - On the palm or on the top, which one?

This is a lot of pressure.

- Oh, he's going with the horizontal view.

Don't forget the tail, a tail.

A little tail there.

- There you go.

All right, one more fist bump.

Yeah, thank you.

- Good to meet you Sawyer.

Thanks for coming to meet us y'all.

- Absolutely.

- Yes.

It's rare that a little kid wants you specifically.

- I know, that was really nice.

It felt good to like- - Be wanted.

- It felt good that I was the star for once.

Oh my gosh, he's awesome.

I love him.

- [Sarah] He's so sweet.

- Oh my gosh, that baby is so fresh.

- Kate, you had a baby.

- That's insane, wow.

- Okay wait, how old is she?

- A week old today.

- Shut up!

- I look at her and cry.

- Oh God.

- I look at her and cry.

It's not even my baby.

- Oh my gosh, that is the sweetest thing I've ever seen.

Oh no.

- Oh my God.

- Is she gonna act out some point?

I really want her to.

She's being too cute right now.

- Austin, she looks like a doll.

- Oh, let me take this off.

- She looks like an actual baby doll.

- Sarah, give them their baby back.

- Okay, okay, I'm so happy for y'all.

She's perfect.

- Thanks.

[mid tempo music] - One, two, three.

[mid tempo music] Cat's Cradle is one of the coolest venues in the triangle.

It's kind of been our little home place to debut new material.

We did our first album release show there.

We're releasing a new record soon and we have some new material so we thought we'd book a show.

It's just gonna be awesome.

But there's also a lot of pressure because we sold it out once so it's like we've gotta do it again.

- We don't really know what the turnout's gonna be, but there's certainly a ton of pressure to sell it out again and it's pressure we're putting on ourselves, but if we can have it on our resume that we have sold out Cat's Cradle twice, that is a huge deal and a really great check mark to give ourselves.

[gentle music] ♪ [audience applaud] [calm music] ♪ ♪ If you see me riding by ♪ ♪ On a horse ♪ ♪ Take me down and pull me aside ♪ ♪ And tell me to check my pride ♪ ♪ Well don't you know that Jesus rode ♪ ♪ On a horse so low he dragged his toes ♪ ♪ As long as the red river flows ♪