In case you were wondering, this isn't any museum piece or something to be dismissed as a quaint little historical recreation. This is a genuine attempt to regenerate an almost lost art form. The music is alive and vibrant, with the band members' enthusiasm for their material decidedly infectious. They play at festivals all throughout America now, and if the included video on this enhanced CD is anything to go by, their reception is enthusiastic no matter who their audience, although the sight of people step-dancing, or clogging, in plastic fluorescent pink and green clogs may cause some more traditionally minded people to wince.
With so many bands laying claim one way or another to the now fashionable label of "roots music", simply because they're happening to play rock and roll like it was supposed to be played, it's awfully refreshing to come across music that is genuinely one of the tap roots of a good chunk of what's played today. What's really interesting is how the stripped down nature of these songs gives them an edge even the most basic of rock and roll lacks today.
There's a quality to this music that only seems to come about when songs are played in a back porch state of mind. By that, I mean when people get together for the love of playing and no other reason, and play anything that comes to hand that can contribute to the song. Back porch music is straight from the heart of the singer to the heart of the listener, without interference from any of the normal accoutrements of the music business.
It's simple without being simplistic in that it speaks of things that are important to the people singing and the people listening without innuendo or conceit. To the ears of today's sophisticated audience, the songs on Dona Got a Ramblin' Mind may seem primitive due to their lack of sophistication and production values, but that's what makes this music so wonderful as far as I'm concerned.
What's great about the Carolina Chocolate Drops is their willingness to simply be the folk singing and performing the music instead of letting themselves become more important than what is being sung and played. What you get when listening to their disc is the music played as it has been for the last hundred years, and hopefully as it will be now for the next hundred years.
Article comments
1 - Joan Hunt
Ah, Richard, you've been missing out on some fantastic music if you've never listened to Roy Book Binder (who frequently plays Piedmont style) and Nathan James & Ben Hernandez. I know many artists who embrace country blues and make a living playing it. We need to get you hooked up with some quality music, my friend.