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Lauded by SPIN for bringing “a modern sizzle to the legacy of classic African American string bands” and hailed by NPR’s All Things Considered as “a wonderful thing to watch,” North Carolina-based string band Carolina Chocolate Drops brings the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass spirit to Slim's for a very special show!
The Carolina Chocolate Drops formed after band members Dom Flemons, Rhiannon Giddens, and Justin Robinson met at the Black Banjo Gathering in Boone, NC in 2005; they have toured continuously since the band’s inception. All three trained in the Piedmont banjo and fiddle musical tradition under the tutelage of Joe Thompson, who, at age 90, is believed to be the last living performer from the Piedmont string band heyday. While old-time Southern string music is often associated with Caucasian musicians from Appalachia, Giddens pointed out in a recent NPR interview that “it seems that two things get left out of the history books. One, that there was string band music in the Piedmont, period. (And that) black folk was such a huge part of string tradition.” The Carolina Chocolate Drops seek to not only correct this misunderstanding, but to keep the centuries-old string music tradition alive and developing.
The members of Carolina Chocolate Drops all come from diverse musical backgrounds, sharing singing duties and swapping instruments throughout their sets. Flemons has immersed himself in the music of the past, with a prodigious record collection and an immense knowledge of the different playing styles of the blues, country, and string band traditions. In addition to her work with Joe Thompson, Giddens—a Piedmont native—studied opera at Oberlin Conservatory, performs with a Celtic band, and is also an avid contra dancer and caller. Robinson, the group’s main fiddler, also plays banjo; he grew up in a house full of musicians—his mother is a classically trained opera singer and cellist, his sister a classical pianist, and his grandfather a harmonica player. |
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