By: David Schultz

When one envisions the musicians drawn to the traditional music of the Carolina foothills and mountain country, the stereotypical picture would likely not include the African-American string band, Carolina Chocolate Drops. The trio, made up of Carolina natives, Rhiannon Giddens (banjo, fiddle) and Justin Robinson (fiddle) and the multi-talented Arizona born Dom Flemons (guitar, banjo, jug, harmonica, snare), formed after meeting at the Black Banjo Gathering in Boone, North Carolina. Coming under the tutelage of fiddler Joe Thompson, one of the influential elders in the legacy of African-American string bands, the Drops quickly gelled as a group. A year after forming, they entered the studio and over a two day period recorded their debut album, Dona Got A Ramblin' Mind, a wonderful compilation of traditional Carolina music.

Carolina Chocolate Drops remain true to their roots: they refrain from taking liberties with the traditional arrangements producing an album that sounds transported from another era. They even offer a straightforward instrumental cover of "Dixie." The twenty-something Drops sing with voices well beyond their years evoking an age that passed long before they were born. Giddens' vocal turn on "Little Margaret" gives the song a haunting dimension. The vocals echo the hillbilly feel of the music but the real thrill of Dona Got A Ramblin' Mind lies within the magnificent fiddle, banjo and jug (yes jug) playing. In covering "Dona Got A Ramblin' Mind," "Black-Eyed Daisy" and "Ol' Corn Likker," traditional songs also played by Thompson, they admirably honor their mentor. In the same manner that Bruce Springsteen instinctively provided the proper feel to Pete Seeger's material on We Shall Overcome, the Carolina Chocolate Drops evoke the late nineteenth century with the same impeccable skill that will make you wonder whether they come right out of David Milch's Deadwood.

Labels: Carolina Chocolate Drops