collapse

* Member Info

 
 
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
I haven't been this nervous since that whore walked into church - Carl Rutherford, Port Townsend 98

Author Topic: Carolina Chocolate Drops  (Read 7216 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline outfidel

  • Member
  • Posts: 344
Re: Carolina Chocolate Drops
« Reply #15 on: August 23, 2007, 10:36:18 AM »
imho, 3 reasons the Carolina Chocolate Drops are getting so much attention is that they're 1) young, 2) black, and 3) very, very talented

take away any of those reasons, and CCD would be "just another" old-time group
Support musicians in need - join the Music Maker Relief Foundation

Offline Rivers

  • Tech Support
  • Member
  • Posts: 7274
  • I like chicken pie
Re: Carolina Chocolate Drops
« Reply #16 on: August 24, 2007, 03:13:16 AM »
One of the nice things about living in the USA is I can pick up Dirty Linen for $5 instead of $19.95-type prices overseas. Current issue guess who's on the cover?


Offline Buzz

  • Member
  • Posts: 187
  • Howdy!
Re: Carolina Chocolate Drops
« Reply #17 on: August 26, 2007, 09:26:49 PM »
HAve seen the OCMS twice, both times were underwhelming. Then they were on Prairie Home Companion several months ago, and they played a slower tempo tune, with banjo and sounded terrific.

Live, they opened for Gillian Welch and David Rawlings.  Some good material. High energy, too fast tempo too many times in a row for my taste, especially as openers for GW. I sort of got the feeling that , as separate musicians they have skill, that as a group were they to slow down and play the music, not try to keep up a frenzied pace with double-time "Cover of the Rolling Stone'"-type tunes, they might sound really, really good, or better than they did to me. But they never seem to slow down and play soulfully--except for that time on PHC.

I would see them again, if they open for someone else I want to hear. But they just don't do much for me. 

Buzz

Do good, be nice, eat well, smile, treat the ladies well, and ignore all news reports--which  can't be believed anyway,

Buzz

Offline CF

  • Member
  • Posts: 899
Re: Carolina Chocolate Drops
« Reply #18 on: August 28, 2007, 07:22:28 AM »
I have been trying to watch all the CCDs stuff on youtube & have been liking much of it but the clip of them doing Ma Rainey's 'Black Eye Blues' on the Ghost of Gus Cannon trailer didn't do much for me . . . the singer couldn't capture Ma's 'lowdowness' & has  kind of a modern sounding voice which doesn't do jug music any justice . . . still, really great to see/hear people playing these tunes.
Stand By If You Wanna Hear It Again . . .

mississippijohnhurt1928

  • Guest
Re: Carolina Chocolate Drops
« Reply #19 on: September 04, 2007, 04:12:16 PM »
I have been trying to watch all the CCDs stuff on youtube & have been liking much of it but the clip of them doing Ma Rainey's 'Black Eye Blues' on the Ghost of Gus Cannon trailer didn't do much for me . . . the singer couldn't capture Ma's 'lowdowness' & has  kind of a modern sounding voice which doesn't do jug music any justice . . . still, really great to see/hear people playing these tunes.

Ick, I didn't like the singer's voice on that tune either.
« Last Edit: September 06, 2007, 02:26:54 PM by mississippijohnhurt1928 »

Offline git-fiddle

  • Member
  • Posts: 13
  • Slide ON.
    • Darrenscottjohnston.com
Re: Carolina Chocolate Drops
« Reply #20 on: April 06, 2009, 01:31:37 PM »
...Hi guys I know this tread is a bit old but the new guy would like to weigh in here...being a black man myself who actually likes this music and recognizes and appreciates the tradition of the style of music being played, I must say the drops rock, technically I think they do have more then a bit of chops... and remember this music was played mostly for dancing, hence the speed of some of the tunes. They are also, from what I read, learning directly from Joe Thomson and probably playing it in the manner he did or suggests. As for media attention, I think it justified, yes because they are black and playing a form of music most young black people ( and probably even some old ones ) don't even know they had anything to do with culturally. I won't say it's bringing the music 'back to it's roots', both BLACK and WHITE people are heirs to the string band tradition in this country. As for Old Crow Medicine Show and Gillian Welch, hey I love them too.   
''...My road is rough and rocky on my way...'' Cryin' Sam Collins.

Offline uncle bud

  • Member
  • Posts: 8306
  • Rank amateur
Re: Carolina Chocolate Drops
« Reply #21 on: April 06, 2009, 01:59:35 PM »
Hi git-fiddle - No problem reviving an old thread, ignore any warnings from the software.  :D

Re. the speed/tempo issue. I think that comment was about Old Crow Medicine Show (which Buzz referred to as OCMS), not the Chocolate Drops.

Offline Mr.OMuck

  • Member
  • Posts: 2596
    • MuckOVision
Re: Carolina Chocolate Drops
« Reply #22 on: April 06, 2009, 08:09:49 PM »
Check out New York City's own  Ebony Hillbilly's while you're at it.

My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music.
Vladimir Nabokov (1899 - 1977)

http://www.youtube.com/user/MuckOVision

Offline git-fiddle

  • Member
  • Posts: 13
  • Slide ON.
    • Darrenscottjohnston.com
Re: Carolina Chocolate Drops
« Reply #23 on: April 07, 2009, 07:38:45 AM »
NICE!!! Thanks Mr. Omuck! I think I have seen these guys in NYC...
''...My road is rough and rocky on my way...'' Cryin' Sam Collins.

Offline Slack

  • Administrator
  • Member
  • Posts: 9213
Re: Carolina Chocolate Drops
« Reply #24 on: April 07, 2009, 08:11:44 AM »
ha, terrific! - and glad they finally showed the washboard player - that is quite a rig!

Offline Mr.OMuck

  • Member
  • Posts: 2596
    • MuckOVision
Re: Carolina Chocolate Drops
« Reply #25 on: April 07, 2009, 09:27:28 AM »
And..is that not the greatest name for a band ever?
My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music.
Vladimir Nabokov (1899 - 1977)

http://www.youtube.com/user/MuckOVision

Offline Slack

  • Administrator
  • Member
  • Posts: 9213
Re: Carolina Chocolate Drops
« Reply #26 on: April 07, 2009, 09:32:00 AM »
And..is that not the greatest name for a band ever?

Sums it up nicely!

Offline git-fiddle

  • Member
  • Posts: 13
  • Slide ON.
    • Darrenscottjohnston.com
Re: Carolina Chocolate Drops
« Reply #27 on: April 08, 2009, 09:10:21 AM »
LOL! I agree!!! A lot of my friends call me ''A black hillbilly''! On another note I picked up a Butch Cage album the other day at JR music in NYC...great stuff!! And the fiddle player sounds like he's playin' with a HACKsaw! Awesome!
''...My road is rough and rocky on my way...'' Cryin' Sam Collins.

Offline uncle bud

  • Member
  • Posts: 8306
  • Rank amateur
Re: Carolina Chocolate Drops
« Reply #28 on: April 08, 2009, 09:20:17 AM »
LOL! I agree!!! A lot of my friends call me ''A black hillbilly''! On another note I picked up a Butch Cage album the other day at JR music in NYC...great stuff!! And the fiddle player sounds like he's playin' with a HACKsaw! Awesome!

I love that sound he has. Those guys are brutally wonderful.

Offline DanceGypsy

  • Member
  • Posts: 96
    • Side Street Steppers
Re: Carolina Chocolate Drops
« Reply #29 on: April 29, 2009, 02:53:52 PM »
Just curious, and I mean absolutely nothing disrespectful towards the CCDs, but I was wondering if anyone knows why they have sorta been singled out for national prominence when many other bands of equal or better talent seem to languish in regional obscurity?

Here's what I know:

Several years back the 'Drops attended the national Folk Alliance Conference and just blew up.  For those who don?t know, the FA annual conference brings together artists, presenters, labels, managers, lawyers, etc. and just basically gets everybody in the same place at the same time.  Artists submit recordings/bios, and a bunch are selected for official showcases.  The rest are free to privately showcase in rooms on the top three floors of the hotel that hosts the conference.  At any rate, there was a small buzz about the 'Drops at the beginning of the conference the year they showed up, and after their official showcase there were presenters and festival reps lined up all the way out the door to book them.  It was just one of those things, and they haven't been back since - haven't needed to, as they've had more work than they can handle ever since.

This history came to me from Louis Meyers, the then & current national director of the Folk Alliance organization.

My first exposure to the Carolina Chocolate Drops was at the Lake Eden Arts Festival (LEAF) held at Black Mountain, North Carolina just outside of Asheville.  I enjoyed their show, bought their CD and even had the dubious luxury of having Dom snatch my guitar away from me in a chow hall line to demonstrate the "proper" tempo of Deep River Blues.  One thing the 'Drops do that keep them in work is doing lots with kids.  They go to lots of schools, and they have a way of connecting with kids and bridging the gap between modern music and older traditions (as anyone who has seen Rhiannon doing the "soldier boy" dance can attest).  These guys are hard working, and Dom Flemmons is an impressive interpreter of CB and other old-time music.  I had them sign the head of the first banjo I built last time they came through Memphis, right next to Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn's signatures, and I believe they are all in good company with one another.

Regarding Old Crow Medicine Show, they were kind of discovered by Gillian Welch's music partner, Dave Rawlings, who went on to produce their first CD or two.  In my very own, personal opinion, I liked what they were doing right up until their newest release and lineup change.  They now play material they have written with electric guitars and whatnot, and it's just not my thing.  But the old stuff they do and the early stuff they wrote, now that was some good stuff.  Saw 'em once on Beale Street and they 'bout brought the house down.

Tags: string bands 
 


anything
SimplePortal 2.3.7 © 2008-2024, SimplePortal