Bones and a Kazoo

- A very good friend of mine and myself recently visited our favorite little local record store and while browsing the vinyl selection we found ourselves tapping our shoes to a familiar but different sound. We questioned the co owner about what was playing and he said, "That is part of my personal vinyl collection, a band called The Carolina Chocolate Drops". We listened to a couple more tracks on the album and we were hooked. Unfortunately I did not have my record player yet so I did not buy a copy of the vinyl, but he did.

- Here is an exert from the full bio on their website:
The band began in the summer of 2005. Dom Flemons, Rhiannon Giddens, and Justin Robinson, made the commitment to travel to Mebane, N.C., every Thursday night to sit in the home of old-time fiddler Joe Thompson for a musical jam session. Joe was in his 80’s, a black fiddler with a short bowing style that he inherited from generations of family musicians. He had learned to play a wide ranging set of tunes sitting on the back porch with other players after a day of field work. Now he was passing those same lessons on to a new generation.

When the three students decided to form a band, they didn’t have big plans. It was mostly a tribute to Joe, a chance to bring his music back out of the house again and into dance halls and public places. They called themselves The Chocolate Drops as a tip of the hat to the Tennessee Chocolate Drops, three black brothers Howard, Martin and Bogan Armstrong, who lit up the music scene in the 1930’s. Honing and experimenting with Joe’s repertoire, the band often coaxed their teacher out of the house to join them on stage. Joe’s charisma and charm regularly stole the show.

Here is a few videos of this amazing group of musicians, see for yourself:
Hit em up style
Cornbread and Butterbeans
Your Baby ain't sweet like mine (yes that is a sweet kazoo)

“Tradition is a guide, not a jailer. We play in an older tradition but we are modern musicians.”

—Justin Robinson

Visit their website