Artist:   Carolina Chocolate Drops
Song:   "Georgie Buck"
Album: Dona Got A Ramblin’ Mind
Label:   Music Maker
Year:    2007

Of all the different styles of blues, Piedmont might be the least heard. It comes mainly from the Carolinas, and the banjo is often the featured instrument. It’s not as low-down as Mississippi Delta blues by any stretch, and has an air of beauty to it that makes it feel like it’s floating on air. Maybe it’s the mountains it was first created near, or that the lives of the people there weren’t quite as desperate as those in the Deep South, but either way Piedmont blues, once you hear it, is unforgettable. The Carolina Chocolate Drops are a young African-American string band who got bit by the music bug early, and now are doing their damnedest to spread this sound around the world. After forming in 2005 and performing at festivals and clubs, their music was featured last year in Denzel Washington’s The Great Debaters film. Still in their mid-twenties, Dom Flemons, Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson are like musical pioneers, working their way backwards to the source of a sound they clearly love. Banjos, fiddles and guitars merge together so effortlessly, it’s like the three were born playing together. For some, “Georgie “Duck” will evoke a time and place that appears to be long gone. To others, the Carolina Chocolate Drops will sound brand new. And like all great music, that’s exactly the way it’s supposed to be.