Dom Flemons, a founding member of Carolina Chocolate Drops, has announced that he is leaving the Grammy Award-winning African-American string band following a final round of shows with the group in December.
Dom Flemons
The Durham, North Carolina-based string band – whose music is a mix of minstrel songs, rural folk and work songs, pre-World War II country blues, early jazz, southern black music from the 1920s and 30s, and old-time fiddle and banjo-based tunes — is known for its energetic live shows punctuated with stories about the origins and history of the tunes they play.
The band has played Bonaroo and the Newport and Philadelphia Folk Festivals, among others, as well as such renowned venues as the Grand Ole Opry. Carolina Chocolate Drops received a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album in 2011 for Genuine Negro Jug, while the band’s 2012 Buddy Miller-produced Leaving Eden also garnered extensive critical acclaim and a Grammy nod.
Carolina Chocolate Drops co-founder Rhiannon Giddens, the last remaining original member of the band (vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Justin Robinson left in 2011) announced plans to tour throughout 2014 with guitarist-banjo player Hubby Jenkins and two new band mates – cellist Malcolm Parson and multi-instrumentalist Rowan Corbett.
“Dom and I have been a tremendous team for the last eight years, and I wish him all the best on his new solo endeavor,” said Giddens in a prepared statement. “I know he will be enriching the landscape of American music wherever he goes. Carolina Chocolate Drops lives on, and honors all past members who have added so much over the years; we wouldn’t be where we are without each and every one. I’m looking forward to introducing new, talented musicians to the ever-expanding Chocolate Drop family.”
Giddens drew accolades recently for her performance at the T Bone Burnett and Joel and Ethan Coen-produced Another Day, Another Time: Celebrating the Music of Inside Llewyn Davis concert at New York’s Town Hall that will be broadcast on Showtime beginning Dec. 13. Variety called her “the breakout star of the evening’s second half… who held the capacity crowd spellbound,” while The Wall Street Journal noted that she “channeled gloriously the spirit of Odetta.”
Carolina Chocolate Drops will be featured in a new hour-long music documentary Nashville 2:0: The Rise of Americana that begins airing later this month on PBS stations across the U.S. Sprinkled with performances by a number of notable artists and laced with insightful interviews with musicians and music critics, the documentary takes a look at how the Americana genre is burgeoning in the country music capital of the world. Carolina Chocolate Drops, who record for Nonesuch, also perform a rendition of “Days of Liberty” on a just-released ATO Records compilation of Civil War tunes entitled Divided & Untied.
As for Flemons, who also has released solo albums with Music Maker Relief Foundation, he plans to kick off 2014 with a tour of Australia and will perform stateside throughout the year. The multi-instrumentalist – who plays banjo, guitar, harmonica, fife, drums and quills – is focused on creating music that is rooted in history while taking a contemporary approach. In doing so, he hopes to re-examine what traditional music can become and instill interest in old-time folk music among new audiences.
Here’s a link to a video of Dom Flemons performing “Milwaukee Blues”:
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