Carolina Chocolate Drops

SECOND CHANCE TO CATCH THE CHOCOLATE DROPS IN A FULL CONCERT! 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. Its 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.