The Low Anthem, Carolina Chocolate Drops, and Punch Brothers are all included in the new SPIN magazine article inviting readers to "Meet the New Stars of Americana." As distinct as their music is, "the idea uniting these bands is their joint pursuit of Americana 'feeling' a warm-and-friendly guilelessness that's been largely absent from the pop landscape for years," says SPIN. "They may borrow from ancient strains of folk music, but their sepia-toned approximation of those sounds is almost incidental: It's all about the heart."

Carolina Chocolate Drops are performing on the Grand Ole Opry tonight, broadcast live from the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee. Tonight's special star-packed show, dubbed Play On, Nashville!, marks the first anniversary of the flood that devastated much of Nashville. Among tonight's other performers are Alabama, Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley, and Charlie Daniels Band. The band has chosen the top five finalists in the search for a new logo. Now's your chance to vote on the winner.

Carolina Chocolate Drops were featured on Wisconsin Public Television's 30-Minute Music Hour last Saturday. You can watch the performance here. The band is launching a worldwide campaign to find the perfect Carolina Chocolate Drops logo to be included in their new summer merchandise. Everyone is encouraged to enter; fans will be able to vote on the top five designs.

Natalie Merchant and Carolina Chocolate Drops performed at the 45th annual Cambridge Folk Festival in England last summer to great acclaim. The Guardian said "Merchant was on classic form." The Daily Telegraph described the Carolina Chocolate Drops as "Cambridge naturals, playing their banjo and jug-band music with such irrepressible joy you can well imagine they’ve arrived on the main stage direct from last night’s camp fire." Now, a two-hour DVD of the 2010 festival has been released, capturing songs from these performances.

The complete lineup for the 2011 Newport Folk Festival won't be revealed till Wednesday, and tickets won't go on sale to the general public till the following day, but we can now reveal that Emmylou Harris, Wanda Jackson, and the Carolina Chocolate Drops will be performing at the Newport Folk Festival on Sunday, July 31, and fans now have access to special pre-sales and discounts starting right now through an exclusive promo code.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops' and Luminescent Orchestrii's performance of "Knockin'," off their self-titled, four-song EP, has been named Song of the Day by NPR. "Knockin'' is the perfect song to capture the two groups' individual and combined gifts," says NPR. It "offers a new way to hear the Carolina Chocolate Drops. The group has long bridged the sounds of American roots music for modern audiences, but between 'Knockin'' and 'Hit 'Em Up Style,' it's exciting to hear [Rhiannon] Giddens sing with so much verve and conviction."

The Carolina Chocolate Drops and Punch Brothers will be among the performers at the first Dave Matthew Band Caravan, a series of three-day, multi-artist festivals taking place this summer. Atlantic City, New Jersey, will host this first Caravan, which will take place June 24–26 at Bader Field, formerly the site of the Atlantic City Municipal Airport. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, March 25.

Congratulations to the Nonesuch artists who were presented with Grammy Awards at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, held Sunday, February 13, in Los Angeles: The Black Keys, Carolina Chocolate Drops, and World Circuit / Nonesuch Records artists Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté. Together, these artists' 2010 releases garnered a total of six awards.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops have added two new musicians to the band: human beatboxer Adam Matta and multi-instrumentalist Hubby Jenkins. The two join the group as founding member Justin Robinson departs to take up new challenges. The Chocolate Drops’ winter/spring tour began earlier this week with a performance at Lincoln Center’s prestigious American Songbook series and continues through April 14.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops’ launch their 2011 tour with a special engagement on Lincoln Center’s prestigious American Songbook series at The Allen Room in New York City tonight. The show follows last week's release of their new four-song EP, a collaboration with the New York City–based Romanian gypsy punk band Luminescent Orchestrii, along with human beatboxer Adam Matta. Another 20 shows follow in the coming months, with Matta and multi-instrumentalist Hubby Jenkins joining the band on the road.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops released a new EP collaboration with the New York City–based Romanian gypsy punk band Luminescent Orchestrii and beatboxer Adam Matta earlier this week. All of the performers played together at New York's Bowery Ballroom late last year; Paste magazine premiered a video of "Short Dress Gal" from that concert earlier today. You can watch it here. There's also a short documentary about the making of the EP.

Carolina Chocolate Drops have been named among the year's best in the 2010 Nashville Scene Country Music Critics' Poll. Their album Genuine Negro Jig comes in at No. 7 on the Best Album list. The band itself is also listed among Best Groups (as are Punch Brothers), Best New Acts, and Artists of the Year, and Rhiannon Giddens among Best Female Vocalists. Nashville Scene says that "no country act rocked harder or shouted more contagiously in 2010 than this one."