Carolina Chocolate Drops September 21, 2012

North Carolina’s own Grammy winning Carolina Chocolate Drops kick off PineCone’s Down Home Concerts at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts. Their latest release, Leaving Eden, has received widespread critical acclaim, and they’ve also penned a tune titled “Daughter’s Lament” for The Hunger Games soundtrack. The current band line-up features founding members Dom Flemons and Rhiannon Giddens with Hubby Jenkins, and New Orleans-based cellist Leyla McCalla also joins them on their latest tour. The Drops formed after founding members Flemons and Giddens met Piedmont fiddler Joe Thompson at the Black Banjo Gathering in Boone, NC in 2005. They traveled to his home once a week to learn from him and jam with him, and they started performing as a tribute to Thompson, a chance to bring his music back out of the house again and into dance halls and public places. Today, their music carries on Thompson’s old-time Piedmont music legacy and proves that the music of the past is as alive and vibrant today as it ever was. Join PineCone for a night celebrating North Carolina Piedmont music!

Tickets on sale for PineCone members from May 14-16; on sale to the general public on Thursday, May 17. Call the PineCone Box Office 919-664-8302, order through www.ticketmaster.com, or in person at the Progress Energy Center.

Official Website: http://www.pinecone.org