by S. Victor Aaron
Here’s a trio of African-Americans playing bluegrass, vintage country, jug and other hillbilly styled music, played the old-fashioned way. But just listen to the music and you’ll realize the appeal isn’t at all in the novelty of this setup. No, it’s because they play it so well. There’s agrarian humor (the only place where the joys of “eating beans and makin’ love” are sung in the same song), some nimble playing and wonderful singing, especially by violinist/banjo/kazoo player Rhiannon Giddens, whose a capella performance of “Reynadine” is sublime. “Hit ‘Em Up Style” even manages to inject some organic hip-hop into this century-old music, without it sounding the least bit awkward. They’ve recorded some before this record, but getting picked up by the wide-distribution Nonesuch label is turning the Chocolate Drops from more than some regional novelty act, into a national sensation for those who like their music nice and rootsy down to the bone. It’s a similar storyline to what happened with the breakout of The Low Anthem last year, so the Carolina Chocolate Drops could very well become the Low Anthem story of 2010.
- Darius Jones – ‘Legend of e’Boi (The Hypervigilant Eye)’ - November 15, 2024
- Rich Halley 4 – ‘Dusk And Dawn’ (2024) - November 13, 2024
- Vazesh [Lloyd Swanton, Jeremy Rose + Hamed Sadeghi] – ‘Tapestry’ (2024) - November 12, 2024
