The Carolina Chocolate Drops, a smash hit at SXSW last week, have returned to their home state of North Carolina and to their roots: the Black Banjo Gathering in Boone, North Carolina, where the band first met back in 2005. The Drops will join in on workshops and performances all week. Rolling Stone says that, as a result of their SXSW performances, "Their newgrass cover of 'Hit ‘Em Up Style' has been upgraded from 'must hear' to 'must experience.'"
The Carolina Chocolate Drops, a smash hit at last week's South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Conference in Austin, Texas, have returned to their home state of North Carolina and to their roots: the Black Banjo Gathering in Boone, North Carolina. The festival, held at Appalachian State University all this week, is where musicians Dom Flemons, Rhiannon Giddens, and Justin Robinson first came together and formed the band back in 2005. The Drops will be in residence at the reunion gathering all week, participating in workshops and performances throughout. For more information, visit english.appstate.edu. To pick up a copy of the Carolina Chocolate Drops' Nonesuch debut album, Genuine Negro Jig, with seven exclusive live bonus tracks, visit the Nonesuch Store.
The band is featured in a profile for The Root, in which writer Martin Johnson describes them as "proudly rural yet with virtuosic authority" and Genuine Negro Jig as complete with "twelve impressive tunes." You'll find the article at theroot.com.
The Ottawa Citizen gives Genuine Negro Jig three-and-a-half out of four stars. "Playing old-time music can be risky business," warns reviewer Patrick Langston, "Self-indulgence and slavish imitation are among the traps awaiting the unwary. No chance of that, though, with the Carolina Chocolate Drops." Read the review at ottawacitizen.com.
The Times Record News out of Wichita Falls, Texas, calls the album "earthy, charmingly old-fashioned and absolutely mesmerizing."
And speaking of Texas, Rolling Stone says that, as a result of the Carolina Chocolate Drops' SXSW performance, "Their newgrass cover of 'Hit ‘Em Up Style' has been upgraded from 'must hear' to 'must experience.'"
LiveDaily's Phil Gallo deems the Drops to be the SXSW band "that demonstrates they have moved to another level from the last time you heard them or the first album or that concert that demonstrated promise." The band members "create a high-voltage combination of entertainment and education," says Gallo, who cites "their ability to add sensuality, humor and deft musicianship [to traditional music] to give it a modern viability." Read more at livedaily.com.
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