#dom flemons

Album Review: Carolina Chocolate Drops - Genuine Negro Jig (15th Anniversary Edition)

Unlike most expanded reissues, Carolina Chocolate Drops’ Genuine Negro Jig (15th Anniversary Edition) is more like an extension of the 2010 LP.

There are no rough mixes. No unfinished scraps of songs. And no demos. The nine additional tracks - seven previously unreleased plus a remaster and remix of non-album cuts “City of Refuge” and “Memphis Shakedown” - are merely extra steps in the original Jig, produced by CCD mentor Joe Henry and capturing Rhiannon Giddens, Dom Flemons and Justin Robinson - plus percussionist Sule Greg Wilson - in their youthful prime.

The uninitiated listener will have no idea where the album proper ends and the bonus tracks begin.

Multi-instrumentalists and vocalists all, Giddens (banjo, fiddle, kazoo), Flemons (bones, banjo, jug, percussion) and Robinson (beatbox, fiddle, percussion) sound just as down home singing and playing old songs like “Your Baby Ain’t Sweet Like Mine,” modern covers like Tom Waits’ “Trampled Rose” and originals like the freshly unearthed “Avalon.”

“Avalon” and the other post-production additions continue the flow rather than providing a view of Genuine Negro Jig’s construction, leading to the question of why these songs were abandoned in the first place. Whether by choice or necessity - no one knows how the tracking was done - it’s a brilliant move 15 years later that sets this anniversary edition apart from the generally used formula of adding leftovers that don’t merit repeated spins.

And given the Carolina Chocolate Drops were anything but formulaic, that tracks.

Grade card: Carolina Chocolate Drops - Genuine Negro Jig (15th Anniversary Edition) - A

Dom Flemons – “What Got Over”

Song Review: Carolina Chocolate Drops - “Here Rattler”

Dug up after 15 years, “Here Ratter” sounds 100 years old.

Banjo picker Justin Robinson sings into an old-time mic. Dom Flemons clicks the rhythm bones and voices the titular canine. Rhiannon Giddens saws her fiddle with abandon. And the elements coalesce into a quintessential Carolina Chocolate Drops porch-stomper that echoes across time.

“Here Rattler” is one nine bonus tracks and seven previously unreleased numbers that’ll appear on the 15th-anniversary reissue of the Drops’ Genuine Negro Jig, scheduled for release Jan. 23, 2026.

It’s sad the band broke up. But it’s good to know there’s still music squirreled away in the vaults - particularly when it sounds like this.

Grade card: Carolina Chocolate Drops - “Here Rattler” - B

Dom Flemons forms Revolving-member Traveling Wildfires

- “This band symbolizes a fresh new chapter in my music career,” former Carolina Chocolate Drop says

Former Carolina Chocolate Drop Dom Flemons has a new band.

Modeled, he said, after Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys and named after Flemons’ 2023 solo album, the Traveling Wildfires will feature a revolving lineup that initially includes former Chocolate Drop Sule Greg Wilson with Gangstagrass’ Brian Farrow; Dante’ Pope, formerly of Old Crow Medicine Show; and Tray Wellington from New Dangerfield.

“This band symbolizes a fresh new chapter in my music career and for the longest time I’ve always wanted to create a rotating roster of musicians to join as a supergroup so I’m proud to finally make it happen,” Flemons said in a statement.

The group debuted at the Arkansas Country Blues and String Band festival and will soon announce 2026 gigs “all across the country” including an appearance at Merle Fest in April Flemons said.

Meanwhile, Flemons’ solo American Songster tour is slated to run through February ’26.