Carolina Chocolate Drops

Formed in November 2005, following the members' attendance at the first Black Banjo Gathering, held in Boone, North Carolina, in April 2005, the group grew out of the success of Sankofa Strings, an ensemble that featured Dom Flemons on bones, jug, guitar, and four-string banjo, Rhiannon Giddens on banjo and fiddle and Súle Greg Wilson on bodhrán, brushes, washboard, bones, tambourine, banjo, banjolin, and ukulele, with Justin Robinson as an occasional guest artist. All shared vocals. The purpose of Sankofa Strings was to present a gamut of African American musics: country and classic blues, early jazz and "hot music", string band numbers, African and Caribbean songs, and spoken word pieces.{{Cite news|url=http://nodepression.com/article/carolina-chocolate-drops-digging-back-driving-forward|title=Carolina Chocolate Drops - Digging back, driving forward|date=April 30, 2008|work=No Depression|access-date=September 3, 2017}} The Carolina Chocolate Drops' original three members: Giddens, Flemons, and Robinson, were all in their twenties when the group formed after Flemons' move from Phoenix (where he and Wilson lived), to North Carolina, home of Giddens and Robinson. Wilson, nearly a generation older than the other members, was occasionally featured with the group into 2010, including contributions to the recordings, Dona Got a Ramblin' Mind, CCD and Joe Thompson, Heritage (with songs culled from Sankofa Strings' independently-released CD, Colored Aristocracy) and nearly half of Genuine Negro Jig. All of the musicians sing and trade instruments including banjo, fiddle, guitar, harmonica, snare drum, bones, jug, and kazoo. The group learned much of their repertoire, which is based on the traditional music of the Piedmont region of North and South Carolina,{{cite web |url=http://www.roisindubh.net/ccd/index.php?pageID=71 |title=Carolina Chocolate Drops: African-American String Band |access-date=May 27, 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080603234000/http://www.roisindubh.net/ccd/index.php?pageID=71 |archive-date=June 3, 2008 }} from the eminent African American old-time fiddler Joe Thompson, although they also perform old-time versions of some modern songs such as Blu Cantrell's R&B hit "Hit 'em Up Style (Oops!)."

The Carolina Chocolate Drops have released five CDs and one EP and have opened for Taj Mahal and, in 2011, Bob Dylan.{{cite web|url=http://pas.appstate.edu/tajmahal.php |title=Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts {{pipe}} Appalachian State University {{pipe}} Boone, North Carolina |website=Pas.appstate.edu |access-date=May 27, 2017}} They have performed on Mountain Stage,{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99047558 |title=Carolina Chocolate Drops On Mountain Stage |website=Npr.org |access-date=May 27, 2017}} MerleFest, and at the Mount Airy Fiddlers Convention. Additionally they have performed on A Prairie Home Companion, Fresh Air, and BBC Radio in early 2010, and at the 2010 Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee,{{cite web |url=http://www.bonnaroo.com/Artists.aspx |title=Bonnaroo - Artists |access-date=May 27, 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100531053401/http://www.bonnaroo.com/Artists.aspx |archive-date=May 31, 2010 }} and at the 2011 Romp,{{cite web |url=http://www.bluegrass-museum.org/general/home.php |title=International Bluegrass Music Museum International Bluegrass Music Museum |access-date=November 30, 2006 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090502142523/http://www.bluegrass-museum.org/general/home.php |archive-date=May 2, 2009 }} in Owensboro, Kentucky. On January 17, 2012, they appeared live on BBC Radio 3.{{Citation|last=Carolina Chocolate Drops|title=Carolina Chocolate Drops Live at BBC Radio 3 "In Tune" on 2012-01-17|date=January 17, 2012|url=https://archive.org/details/ccd2012-01-17.flac16|access-date=September 3, 2017}} They have performed on the Grand Ole Opry several times. They have also performed on the UK's BBC Television program, Later... with Jools Holland.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nonesuch.com/journal/carolina-chocolate-drops-perform-on-later-with-jools-holland-tour-california-2009-11-05|title=Carolina Chocolate Drops Perform on "Later ... with Jools Holland," Tour California - Nonesuch Records|website=Nonesuch Records Official Website|date=November 5, 2009 |language=en|access-date=September 3, 2017}}

On February 7, 2011, the band announced that beatboxer Adam Matta and multi-instrumentalist Hubby Jenkins would be joining the band, while Justin Robinson was departing.{{Cite news|url=http://nodepression.com/article/justin-robinson-leave-carolina-chocolate-drops-new-lineup-emerges|title=Justin Robinson to Leave Carolina Chocolate Drops; New Lineup Emerges|date=February 3, 2011|work=No Depression|access-date=September 3, 2017}} In early 2012, they announced that the New Orleans–based cellist Leyla McCalla was joining the band on its next tour.{{Cite news|url=https://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/only-one-original-member-of-the-carolina-chocolate-drops-remains-but-the-groups-mission-spreads/Content?oid=3927728|title=Only one original member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops remains, but the group's mission spreads|last=Lawrence|first=Jordan|work=Indy Week|access-date=September 3, 2017|language=en}} CCD contributed a track, "Political World," to the Bob Dylan tribute compilation, Chimes of Freedom (album) released in January 2012. Their next album, Leaving Eden, followed soon afterward in February 2012. In an interview, Jenkins said,

"Leaving Eden was an interesting album because [fiddler] Justin [Robinson] had just left the group, and they had already decided to record with Buddy Miller, and had even picked the recording dates. It was an interesting time to be coming in, because they were ready to do different things with the new members. So it was a trial-by-fire period."{{cite news|last1=Palmer|first1=Brian|title=Crash Course: New Carolina Chocolate Drops lineup gets a baptism by fire|url=http://www.gtweekly.com/index.php/santa-cruz-area-music/music-features-reviews-interviews/5744-crash-course.html|access-date=3 July 2014|work=Good Times|date=24 June 2014}}

They toured with Josh Ritter & the Royal City Band in 2012.{{Citation|url=https://www.ideastream.org/programs/sound-of-applause/carolina-chocolate-drops-and-josh-ritter |title=Carolina Chocolate Drops and Josh Ritter}} Later in 2012, the Drops were nominated for numerous awards by the Chicago Black Theater Alliance for their work in Keep a Song in Your Soul: The Roots of Black Vaudeville.{{Cite news|url=https://www.goshen.edu/news/2015/09/30/rhiannon-giddens-will-bring-carolina-chocolate-drops-to-goshen-oct-13/|title=Rhiannon Giddens will bring Carolina Chocolate Drops to Goshen Oct. 13 {{!}} Goshen College|date=September 30, 2015|work=News & Events|access-date=September 3, 2017|language=en-US}} Staged by the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, written by Lalenja Harrington (Rhiannon Giddens's older sister) and Súle Greg Wilson, and featuring veteran hoofer Reggio MacLaughlin, and ragtime pianist and MacArthur Fellow Reginald R. Robinson, the program examined the hopes and realities, music, and dances of the Great Migration.{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/keep-a-song-in-your-soul/Event?oid=4955937|title=Keep a Song in Your Soul|website=Chicago Reader|access-date=September 3, 2017|last=Kenny |first=Heather|date=September 23, 2009 }}

Also in 2012, the Carolina Chocolate Drops contributed a song, "Daughter's Lament", to The Hunger Games soundtrack.

In 2013, they were nominated for a Blues Music Award for 'Acoustic Artist'.{{cite web|url=https://blues.org/#ref=bluesmusicawards_nominees|title=Blues Music Awards Nominees - 2013 - 34th Blues Music Awards|publisher=Blues.org|access-date=March 20, 2013}}

Also in 2013, the Carolina Chocolate Drops contributed a song, "Day of Liberty", to the two-CD album 'Divided & United.

On November 12, 2013, the Carolina Chocolate Drops announced that Dom Flemons would be leaving to embark on his own solo career,{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2014/07/30/336577946/dom-flemons-holds-onto-that-old-time-root|title=Dom Flemons Holds On To Those Old-Time Roots|website=NPR.org|access-date=September 3, 2017}} and introduced two new members: cellist Malcolm Parson and multi-instrumentalist Rowan Corbett.{{cite web|url=http://carolinachocolatedrops.fanbridge.com/campaigns/show.php?id=1042389|title=Carolina Chocolate Drops' Fan Bridge Newsletter|publisher=Fanbridge.com|access-date=November 12, 2013}}

In 2014 the Carolina Chocolate Drops worked with choreographer Twyla Tharp and dancers Robert Fairchild and Tiler Peck to create Cornbread Duet.{{r|Seibert}}

In 2014, the group stopped regularly performing together, and members have pursued solo work and other projects since.{{cite news |last1=Kater |first1=Kaia |title=Rhiannon Giddens Is The 21st Century's Revelator |url=https://www.npr.org/2018/11/02/662261895/rhiannon-giddens-is-the-21st-centurys-revelator |publisher=National Public Radio |date=November 2, 2018 |quote="The group eventually wound down its shows in 2014 and the members went their separate ways after nearly ten years, thousands of shows, millions of miles and their original goal achieved: the near-singlehanded revival of the black string band tradition in American consciousness. With it, they'd played a small part in the righting of history."}} Hubby Jenkins left the band in 2016.{{Cite web |title=Bio |url=http://www.hubbyjenkins.com/bio |access-date=June 12, 2020 |website=Hubby Jenkins |language=en-US}} Rhiannon Giddens has released a number of solo recordings and was recently named as the artistic director of the Silk Road Project.{{cite news |last1=Woolfe |first1=Zachary |title=Rhiannon Giddens to Lead Silkroad's Musical Explorations |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/arts/music/rhiannon-giddens-silkroad.html |access-date=September 28, 2020 |work=New York Times |date=July 28, 2020}}

File:Carolina Chocolate Drops play Mirror Lake, Lake Placid, NY.jpg, Rhiannon Giddens, Hubby Jenkins]]

;Members in 2014

• Rhiannon Giddens: 5-string banjo, dance, fiddle, kazoo, voice
• Hubby Jenkins: Guitar, mandolin, 5-string banjo, bones, voice
• Rowan Corbett: Guitar, bones, snare drum, cajon, djembe
• Malcolm Parson: Cello, melodica

;Previous

• Dom Flemons: 4-string banjo, guitar, jug, harmonica, kazoo, snare drum, bones, quills, voice
• Adam Matta: Beatbox, tambourine
• Leyla McCalla: Cello, tenor banjo, voice
• Justin Robinson: Fiddle, jug, beatbox, dance, voice
• Súle Greg Wilson: 5-string banjo, banjolin, bodhrán, brushes, bones, dance, gourd, kazoo, tambourine, ukulele, voice, washboard

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite news

| last =Seibert

| first =Brian

| title =Fouéttes and Pirouettes to the Southern Banjo and Fiddle

| newspaper =New York Times

| location =New York, United States

| date =April 13, 2014

| url =https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/14/arts/dance/carolina-chocolate-drops-and-twyla-tharps-cornbread-duet.html

| access-date = July 7, 2020}}

}}

• [http://www.myspace.com/carolinachocolatedrops Carolina Chocolate Drops MySpace page]
• [http://www2.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/f/Flemons,Dom.html Dom Flemons Papers, Southern Folklife Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]
• [{{Allmusic|class=artist|id=p824118|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic discography]

{{Rhiannon Giddens}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Carolina Chocolate Drops}}

Category:Musical groups from North Carolina

Category:Old-time bands

Category:Nonesuch Records artists

Category:Musical groups established in 2005

Category:Culture of Durham, North Carolina

Category:Performing arts pages with videographic documentation

Category:Piedmont blues musicians

Category:2005 establishments in North Carolina

Category:Grammy Award winners