Tag: Carolina Chocolate Drops

Mountain Song at Sea: Bluegrass cruise set for 2013

 in Americana Music, Reviews

We’ve raved about Cayamo, the annual cruise featuring top Americana artists. Now Sixthman, the company behind Cayamo, has announced a new cruise called “Mountain Song at Sea,” featuring top bluegrass performers.

Already booked: The host Steep Canyon Rangers, The David Grisman Sextet, Del McCoury Band, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Tim O’Brien and Bryan Sutton, the Kruger Brothers, Peter Rowan, Larry Keel and Natural Bridge, the Travelin’ McCourys, Shannon Whitworth, Della Mae and Town Mountain.

The cruise, scheduled for Feb. 1-4, 2013, will travel from Miami to Great Stirrup Cay.

If you’ve considered booking a trip on Cayamo, but wanted a shorter and less expensive trip, Mountain Song at Sea should be a good bet. Details are available here.

New on chart: Carolina Chocolate Drops, Joan Osborne,Sugar + the High-Lows

 in Americana Music, Reviews

The top three positions on the Americana music airplay chart remain steady this week, with Darrell Scott’s Long Ride Home, the Guy Clark tribute This One’s For Him and the Little Willies’ For the Good Times remaining first through third.

Lyle Lovett’s Release Me jumps into #4 in just its second week. It’s also one of the three most-added albums, with 15 stations picking it up this week.

New to the chart this week: The Carolina Chocolate Drops Leaving Eden at #27 (also the most added), Sugar + the High-Lows’s self-titled album at #31, Joan Osborne’s Shake Your Hips at #35, Otis Gibbs’ Harder Than Hammered Hell at #37 and Tommy Womack’s Now What! at #40.

Carolina Chocolate Drops at the Ryman Auditorium

 in Americana Music

The biggest surprise for most attending tonight’s Grace Potter show at the Ryman was opening act the Carolina Chocolate Drops. Give a mini-skirted rocker credit for counter-programming.

You don’t expect to hear string tunes from the 19th century or an Ethel Waters cover at most rock shows. The audience seemed pleasantly surprised – and mesmerized. The show was outstanding.

During their Nashville stay,  Chocolate Drops member Dom Flemons did an interview with the Star-Telegram. An excerpt:

The North Carolina-based quartet, one of just two known African-American “string bands” in existence, traffics in a style more evocative of Will Rogers than Lady Gaga, or what multi-instrumentalist Dom Flemons calls simply “old-time fiddle and banjo music.”

“What we do, as a whole, branches off in a lot of different directions,” Flemons says by phone from a Nashville tour stop. “There are a lot of different strains that are in there. It’s such a huge breadth of material.”