While they modestly claim, on their website, to "have sought to keep the oldtime African-American string music tradition alive," the truth is that The Carolina Chocolate Drops pack enough power into their performances to revivify whole galaxies of music! Playing rousing foot-stompers and more from the repertoire of black string band and jug band musicians of the 1920s and '30s, the Drops honor the memory of artists like Odell and Nate Thompson, Dink Roberts, Libba Cotten, and Emp White with the pure, electrified joy of their performances—not to mention their considerable virtuosity.

In performance, as on their CD, Dona Got a Ramblin' Mind, Rhiannon Giddens (fiddle, banjo), Justin Robinson (fiddle), and Dom Flemons (guitar, jug, harmonica, percussion, banjo), explore the rich tradition of fiddle and banjo music in the piedmont area of the Carolinas. (Piedmont string band music focuses on the banjo as lead instrument, with the fiddle as accompaniment; the opposite is generally true of the Appalachian tradition.) The trio has been playing under the tutelage of Joe Thompson of Mebane, North Carolina, said to be the last living African-American traditional string band player of his generation. Make sure to come check them out—and don't forget your dancing shoes!