Carolina Chocolate Drops at Canyons November 18

Story by Anna Oakes

The infectious, toe-tappin’ tunes of stringband the Carolina Chocolate Drops will fill the room at Canyons in Blowing Rock on Wednesday, November 18.

Want To Go?

Date: Wednesday, November 18
Time: 10:00 p.m.
Location: Canyons, Blowing Rock
Cost: $15

At the tail end of a national fall tour that has included sold-out shows in Chicago and Ann Arbor, Mich., North Carolina’s own Carolina Chocolate Drops return to the High Country for a performance at Canyons in Blowing Rock on Wednesday, November 18, at 10:00 p.m.

Tickets are $15, and advance tickets are available by calling Canyons at 828-295-7661. The show is 18 and up.

Based in the Triangle area, the Carolina Chocolate Drops are an African American stringband who play banjo and fiddle music in the Carolina Piedmont tradition. The band is comprised of North Carolina native Rhiannon Giddens on five-string banjo, fiddle and voice; North Carolina native Justin Robinson on fiddle and voice; and Arizona native Dom Flemons on guitar, five-string banjo, jug, harmonica, snare and voice.

The Chocolate Drops’ rapid ascension to regional and national renown began here in the High Country—when Giddens and Flemons met at the inaugural Black Banjo Gathering held at ASU in April 2005.

The trio has studied under the tutelage of Joe Thompson of Mebane—said to be the last black traditional stringband player—and has developed a sound that echoes the traditions of Piedmont stringband and old-time music and influences such as Odell and Nate Thompson, Dink Roberts, John Snipes, Libba Cotton and Emp White.

The band’s high-energy, authentic sound has endeared them to diverse audiences and venues across the nation. In a measure of the Americana world’s enthusiastic embrace of the band, the Carolina Chocolate Drops have been featured in the MerleFest lineup three years since forming in 2005—appearing on the festival’s revered Watson Stage this past April. The band has also opened for Taj Mahal and performed on NPR’s Mountain Stage.

According to band members’ posts on the Chocolate Drops website, the band is currently finishing work on a new recording, with some of the new material making its way into the fall set lists.

For more information about the Carolina Chocolate Drops and to hear music by the band, click to www.carolinachocolatedrops.com or www.myspace.com/carolinachocolatedrops. For more information about the show at Canyons, call 828-295-7661.