With their 2010 Nonesuch-label debut, "Genuine Negro Jig"–which garnered a Best Traditional Folk Album Grammy–The Carolina Chocolate Drops proved that the old-time, fiddle and banjo-based music they’d so scrupulously researched and passionately performed could be a living, breathing, ever-evolving sound. Starting with material culled from the Piedmont region of the Carolinas, they have sought to highlight the central role African Americans have played in shaping our nation’s popular music from its beginnings. The Drops' repertoire incorporates blues, jazz and folk balladry alongside crackling string-band tunes. Though often striking out in new directions, the Drops return to familiar turf with tracks like “Riro’s House,” a traditional piece they’d learned from their late mentor, North Carolina fiddler Joe Thompson. Through several changes in membership, the Drops have continued to prosper under the leadership of singer/fiddler/multi-instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens, whom super-producer T-Bone Burnett recently called the most profound musician active today. Much more than simply revivalists, The Carolina Chocolate Drops have evolved into American tradition-bearers of the first order–and their show is as much fun as anybody else's in the business.