Carolina Chocolate Drops -- Genuine Negro Jig CD Review

Went CD shopping the other week with the idea that I'd get something unfamiliar and bring it home to review here on NME (HA! just thought of that!) This caught my eye out of the folk section. It fits in to my personal fascination with identity, hits my string band sweet tooth, and had a pretty cover. I didn't realize it until later, but I've actually seen them live at Old Songs Festival 2006.

As I thought about this purchase more, I began to feel a little uneasy about the fact that they blazon themselves with the "genuine black string band music" label, but over time and with multiple listens to the CD, I've become more comfortable with the idea. They win me over with their facility with the string band music style, as evidenced by this performance of one of the songs from the CD -- "Cornbread and Butterbeans" for a show from North Carolina called "Blue Plate Special"



They also have won me over with their eclecticness. They may be waving a particular banner right there in your field of vision, but they cover a lot of ground on this 12 song CD. Here's another example from the same program, a pop song called "Hit "Em Up Style"



What you're getting as examples are from the first half of the CD. Worth noting that that half of the CD pretty much sets you up with fine examples of what you'd expect from such a band as they are, so what's revelatory here is the second half of the CD. English folk balladry, a Tom Waits cover, beautiful modal love songs. They cover a lot of territory in that single CD, lots of switching instruments happens (as you can tell by the two performances here), and yet a single throughline of unified sound emerges.

As a commentary on identity, I find it really comforting and affirming. Everything can find its way into a particular context, a whole world can be explored from pretty much any point of view, and that point of view can remain intact.