Michael Mechanic

From left: Dom Flemons, Rhiannon Giddens, Hubby Jenkins: CrackerfarmThe Carolina Chocolate Drops were on fire in the wake of their 2010 release, Genuine Negro Jig. Deemed that year's best album by veteran music writer Greil Marcus, it sold briskly, topping the folk and bluegrass music charts. The Chocolate Drops, who found a niche reviving the spirit and music of a nearly forgotten tradition of black American string bands, were critical darlings, praised by the New York Times, performing on NPR's Fresh Air, and making the rounds on BBC Radio. They would walk away with that year's Grammy for best folk album.

Passionate and multitalented, the bandmates didn't exactly come off some back porch in Appalachia. Rhiannon Giddens, a North Carolina native who plays fiddle and banjo, is a classically trained singer who attended conservatory at Oberlin. Guitarist, singer, banjo player, and percussionist Dom Flemons, the showman of the trio, hails from Phoenix, where he immersed himself in old blues and jazz and rock and roll before embracing the folk and old-time scene. The third founding member, North Carolina fiddler and singer Justin Robinson, recruited Giddens to play sessions at the house of the late, legendary black fiddler Joe Thompson. Flemons, who had been collaborating with Giddens since the two met at a 2005 national Black Banjo Gathering, joined the others at Thompson's house, and eventually the three young'uns broke out on their own.

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