(Watch video: YouTube, Dotsub, or download MP4.)
A quick little goodie from Boing Boing Video. Last night, I sat in on a live recording session at Santa Monica's Village Studios with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, described as "African-American string band revivalists." They were amazing: I have never been so emotionally moved by someone playing a musical jug (and banjos, fiddles, cow bones, and kazoos). Their performance was witnessed by a handful of music biz folks and oldtime music enthusiasts, and made me feel deeply homesick for Appalachia (I'm also craving cornbread and butterbeans today - there's a song for that).
The Chocolate Drops have a new record coming out in 2010, and Boing Boing will be all over it like gravy on grits. If you dig R. Crumb, Smithsonian Folkways recordings of pre-blues and pre-bluegrass banjo music, and love folks who bring new life to authentic American music, you will flip out.
So, the video above: after the Drops' performance and recording session ended, Dom Flemons (of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, seated in center in the video), Blind Boy Paxton (seated at left in the video), and Frank Fairfield (seated far right) sat down together and jammed pure, sweet magic for a spell. I wasn't prepared with a proper camera or crew, but I grabbed my iPhonetraption out of my pocket and got to shootin'. I hope you enjoy it as much as everyone in the room did. Pure magic, these guys.
(Special thanks to Joe Henry; Jeff Greenberg of Village Studios; Tom Osborn, Warner Bros. Records; David Bither, Nonesuch Records, and to Boing Boing Video's tireless editor, Eric Mittleman.)
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This is great! It is neat to see "fore-arm style" fiddle playing! It sounds a bit different and is not usually seen nowdays... very nice combination of sounds in this tune!!
Had the pleasure of seeing the Carolina Chocolate Drops at the Great Lakes Folk Fest a couple years back: for a trio, they kick some string band butt. This vid's got me hankerin' for some corn meal mush fried in bacon grease. Ok, some butterbeans, too.
Luv it!
btw, not to be a stickler but that's in West LA, not Santa Monica. :-)
Aren't the Carolina Chocolate Drops amazing? I heard them a couple of years ago at Rockygrass.
I was lucky enough to run into Dom when I was in Northampton, MA before a Chocolate Drops show and what a nice guy! I also managed to shoot a few videos of the show too and threw them up on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/danwarning
Enjoy!
I do own a copy of Hobart Smith's Smithsonian Folkway's collection-- I am flipping out already. Thank you for spreading the word of this amazing band!
The Chocolate Drops have a new record coming out in 2010, and Boing Boing will be all over it like gravy on grits. If you dig R. Crumb, Smithsonian Folkways recordings of pre-blues and pre-bluegrass banjo music, and love folks who bring new life to authentic American music, you will flip out.
I LIKE IT.
Frank will be playing a string of shows heading north to Oregon and Washington starting this week!
Check his myspace for more details.
http:// www.myspace.com/frankfairfield
or
http:// www.facebook.com/editevent.php?eid=160140713930&step=2
I heard these folks in concert at Dartmouth in Hanover NH - everything you said is the Gospel truth and more. If you have the chance go hear these people!!!
This is a great article. I had the pleasure of attending college for a stint with Mr Jerron Paxton, and that man is not only entertaining with his music, but also his sense of humor. Never in my life have I seen a blind man walk smack into the side of a door and then laugh about it with the entire room.