Carolina Chocolate Drops: St George's

Thursday 4th February 2010

This is a Crackerjack review of Carolina Chocolate Drops. Do you agree? Rate and review this event.

Crackerjack rating: 9 / 10.

Perhaps someone was worried that the Carolina Chocolate Drops’ exuberant African-American fiddle and banjo music might fall a bit flat in such an elegant concert hall with a seated audience.

Because the trio, making their third visit to Bristol, were introduced to the stage with the announcement that “dancing is allowed in the aisles” and, early in their set, the female member of the band, Rhiannon Giddens, took time to encourage us to dance, clap and holler.

Well, we didn’t actually dance in the aisles, but we did enthusiastically clap our hands and stamp our feet, we sang loudly and we cheered every song.It was hard not to when you’ve got three exceptionally talented multi-instrumentalists and singers playing music with strong tunes and infectious rhythms and doing so with such obvious enjoyment.And, in the case of songs like Frank Blevin’s Don’t Get Troubled In Your Mind, the traditional Sandy Boys, Black Annie and Starry Crown, often playing it at breakneck speeds.Their African-American string band music has its roots in the rural black communities, back porches, beer joints and dance halls of North Carolina but there are obvious links to the European folk music of the Appalachians and to bluegrass.But the Chocolate Drops also take in loads of other influences including blues, jazz and square dance.

Viper Mad, for instance, might originally have been a Sydney Bechet song but you wouldn't have thought so from their raw rustic interpretation of it. There was a distinct klezmer feel to the rather beautiful Genuine Negro Jig.

Rhiannon Giddens threw in a powerful updated version of Janis Joplin’s classic Mercedes Benz and went into Peggy Lee mode for a very sultry version of the jazzy Why Don’t You Do Right.They even managed to give a Twenties’ country feel to Blu Cantrell’s 2001 R&B chart hit single Hit’Em Up Style (Oops!), sung by Rhiannon Giddens to a backing of banjo, fiddle and human beatbox.

There were lots of crowd-pleasing moments like Rhiannon Giddens’ dancing around the stage during The Boatman’s Dance and Dom Felmons demonstrating his guitar juggling skills, not to mention jug and bone solos.

And we responded by singing choruses with real enthusiasm, particularly on Sourwood Mountain where the audience almost managed to drown out the band. They left the stage to a richly deserved standing ovation, returning for two more numbers including the gospel song Traveling Shoes sung with exceptionally tight harmonies, before earning themselves yet another standing ovation as they left the stage for the final time.It wasn’t quite the electrifying performance we have seen on their previous visits to Bristol. There were, for instance, times when they seemed to struggle keeping up the energy levels, some of Felmons’ guitar playing was wildly erratic and there were a couple of very weak songs, especially Justin Robinson’s own composition.

That said, it was still a real joy of a gig.

Keith Clark

This is a Crackerjack review of Carolina Chocolate Drops. Do you agree? Rate and review this event.