AccuRadio Song Of The Day-The Carolina Chocolate Drops

Artist:The Carolina Chocolate Drops

Song:Hit 'Em Up Style

Album:Genuine Negro Jig

The Carolina Chocolate Drops (CCD) were a contemporary incarnation of what was known in the Southern US as an Old Timey String Band. The 2010 album Genuine Negro Jig won the Best Traditional Folk Album Grammy. It was their major label debut. An Old Timey String Band was a Carolina thing mostly with blacks. It's a mix of folk, blues and other musical styles. Most listeners have never heard of this and when I saw CCD live a few years ago, I fielded many questions about their music as I don't think most folks understood the music. Dom Flemons is from Phoenix. He grew up listening to folk music and he moved to North Carolina with Sule Greg Wilson and they met fiddler Rhiannon Giddens. At first the group was called Sankofa Strings but was changed to the more marketable Carolina Chocolate Drops. The music was a mix of country, blues, early jazz and other black music styles that were performed at 19th century minstrel shows. Flemons played banjo and other instruments and came up with a lot of business to explain the music. Rhiannon played fiddle and banjo and is a great singer. After releasing a couple of independent albums, CCD appeared in the 2007 film The Great Debaters. And that led to a contract with Warner's Nonesuch label. As I said the 2010 album Genuine Negro Jig won a Grammy. The music is a mix of traditional and original songs. The exception to this is their version of Blu Cantrell's hip hop classic Hit 'Em Up Style. This was the only time they did this. It must have been a gag to prove that they could do any kind of music in Old Timey style. By the time I saw them, Justin Robinson had been replaced by Hubby Jenkins and Adam Matta. And cellist Layla McCalla joined. Flemons left after the 2012 album Leaving Eden and that was the beginning of the end for CCD. Flemons has released three albums and is still interested in music history. Rhiannon has released four albums on Nonesuch and was a regular on the final two seasons of Nashville. Hubby Jenkins and Leyla McCalla have released solo albums. Leyla is currently signed to ANTI- Records. Here's The Carolina Chocolate Drops performing Hit 'Em Up Style at St. Louis radio station KDHX Sept. 26, 2009.