Carolina Chocolate Drops (Advance Tickets SOLD OUT)
ADVANCE TICKETS FOR THIS SHOW HAVE SOLD OUT; A LIMITED NUMBER OF TICKETS WILL BE RELEASED FOR SALE AT THE DOOR ON SATURDAY EVENING. TO ENSURE YOU GET TO A CHOCOLATE DROPS SHOW THIS WEEKEND, WE RECOMMEND YOU PURCHASE TICKETS FOR SUNDAY'S PERFORMANCE BY THE CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS. To say the Carolina Chocolate Drops take an old-school approach would be an understatement. The Durham-based trio -- Dom Flemons, Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson -- plays traditional string band music found in rural black communities in the South. The band's take on traditional songs is garnering attention and praise from around the world.
The band started three years ago when they met at the Black Banjo Gathering at Appalachian State University. At that time, the band members were doing other things -- Giddens was involved with dancing and a Celtic group, Robinson was playing fiddle at square dances and Flemons was performing at blues and country gigs. It was at the event that they met each other and also met Joe Thompson, who is said to be the last black traditional string band player.
While the band is starting to get the reputation of keeping an entire music genre alive, Flemons says they try not to let that overtake them. "The ego hasn't gotten to us," he says. "The nice thing is that people aren't asking us to change. Change would be the hardest thing to do. As far as we're concerned, all we have to do is go to the gig and play a solid set. Some people see us as re-enactors, but we're not. We're just normal folks who play an old style of music."
Part of that notion of being re-enactors led them to an appearance in the movie The Great Debaters. The band is briefly featured in the film and also fills the soundtrack. Flemons isn't quite sure how much interest in the band the appearance has sparked, but can't imagine that it would hurt the band, noting that everyone is familiar with Atlantic Records, who released the soundtrack, and Denzel Washington.
Tickets are on sale now from Cedar Ticketline (612-338-2674 ext 2), Cedar outlets, and online at Ticketweb.
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With their 2010 Nonesuch debut, Genuine Negro Jig—which garnered a Best Traditional Folk Album Grammy—the Carolina Chocolate Drops proved that the old-time, fiddle and banjo-based music they’d so scrupulously researched and passionately performed could be...
