Carolina Chocolate Drops continued their US tour over weekend with two sold-out shows and could be heard far and wide all over the public-radio airwaves, on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday and PRI's Here and Now discussing their new album, Leaving Eden, and on PRI's Studio 360. "The Carolina Chocolate Drops put new life into old-timey music with their 2010 release Genuine Negro Jig, put a contemporary spin on southern string tunes from the late 19th and early 20th centuries," says Weekend Edition's Scott Simon. "And that collection went on to win a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album. Now, the Chocolate Drops have returned with their banjos, bare bones and fiddles."
Carolina Chocolate Drops continued their US tour over weekend with a stop in Brownfield, Maine, for two sold-out shows at the Stone Mountain Center, featuring music from their new album, Leaving Eden. At the same time, band members Rhiannon Giddens and Dom Flemons could be heard far and wide all over the public-radio airwaves this weekend, appearing on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday and PRI's Here and Now on Friday and Studio 360, to talk about the music they make and what brought them to it.
"The Carolina Chocolate Drops put new life into old-timey music with their 2010 release Genuine Negro Jig, put a contemporary spin on southern string tunes from the late 19th and early 20th centuries," says NPR Weekend Edition host Scott Simon. "And that collection went on to win a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album. Now, the Chocolate Drops have returned with their banjos, bare bones and fiddles ... There's some awfully nice singing on this CD." Hear clips from that CD, Leaving Eden, and hear what the Chocolate Drops have to say about it in the Weekend Edition piece at npr.org.
On Here and Now, public radio's daily news magazine out of Boston, Flemons and Giddens spoke with host Robin Young about the roots of the music on Leaving Eden. The album, says Young, is "a collection of 15 originals and covers that continues this group's mission of not just playing old time music, but playing with it." Listen to the segment at hereandnow.wbur.org.
Carolina Chocolate Drops could also be heard on the latest episode of Studio 360 from PRI and New York NPR member station WNYC. This week's show includes an encore presentation of the band's 2010 interview with Studio 360's Alana Harper. You can listen to the segment here:
The band is in New York City this week to perform at a special benefit concert in Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium Tuesday night. The concert features a panoply of artists including the Chocolate Drops, Marianne Faithfull, Art Garfunkel, Ricki Lee Jones, Rosanne Cash, Steve Earle, TV on the Radio, Jackson Browne, and others performing songs from the Rolling Stones best-of collection Hot Rocks 1964-1971. Proceeds go to support music and arts programs for underprivileged youth. For more information, click here.
The band heads out to the West Coast at the end of the month, starting with a show at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland on March 30. For details on this and other upcoming Carolina Chocolate Drops shows, go to nonesuch.com/on-tour.
To pick up a copy of Leaving Eden, head to the Nonesuch Store, where orders include high-quality, 320 kbps MP3s of the complete album at checkout.
- Log in to post comments
