UMS Teacher Resource Guide - Carolina Chocolate Drops

U M S Y outh E ducatio n Program

Caro l i na C hocol ate D ro ps

TEACHER RESOURCE GUIDE 2010–2011 UMS 10-11

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SUPPORTERS

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation University of Michigan Anonymous Arts at Michigan Arts Midwest’s Performing Arts Fund The Dan Cameron Family Foundation/Alan and Swanna Saltiel CFI Group Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Endowment Fund DTE Energy Foundation The Esperance Family Foundation David and Jo-Anna Featherman Forest Health Services David and Phyllis Herzig Endowment Fund JazzNet Endowment W.K. Kellogg Foundation John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Masco Corporation Foundation Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs THE MOSAIC FOUNDATION [of R. & P. Heydon] National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts National Endowment for the Arts Prudence and Amnon Rosenthal K-12 Education Endowment Fund PNC Bank Target TCF Bank UMS Advisory Committee University of Michigan Credit Union University of Michigan Health System U-M Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs U-M Office of the Vice President for Research Wallace Endowment Fund

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This Teacher Resource Guide is a product of the UMS Youth Education Program. Special thanks go to Bruce Conforth for his contributions to the development of content for this guide.

Additionally, UMS appreciates Sarah Suhadolnik, Emily Barkakati, Britta Wilhelmsen, Matthew Mejia, Pam Reister, the University of Michigan Museum of Art, Linda Grekin, and Omari Rush for their feedback and support in developing this guide.

U M S Y o u t h EDUCAT IO N P RO G RA M

Carolina Chocolate Drops Friday, December 3, 2010 • 11 AM – 12 NOON • MICHIGAN THEATER

Sponsored by CFI Group and David and Jo-Anna Featherman.

Funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts as part of American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius.

Teacher Resource Guide 2010-2011 UMS 10-11

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TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S

Short on time?

If you only have 15 minutes to review this guide, just read the sections in black in the Table of Contents.

Those pages will provide the most important information about this performance.

Attending the YOUTH PERFORMANCE 6 Coming to the Show 8 Map + Directions 9 Michigan Theater 10 Being an Audience Member

CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS 29 Ensemble History 31 Individual Bios 34 CCD on String Bands 35 Repertoire 36 Visual + Performing Arts

ABOUT AMERICAN ROOTS MUSIC 12 What is American Roots Music?

13 Piedmont Region 16 Timeline 20 Musicians of the Piedmon 25 String Band Instruments

RESOURCES 38 National Standards 39 Curriculum Connections 42 Lesson Plans 44 Other Resources

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ABOUT UMS 46 What is UMS? 47 Youth Education Program 49 Contacting UMS

AT T E N D I N G T H E Y O U T H P E R F O R M A N C E

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D E TA I L S

COMING TO THE SHOW We want you to enjoy your time with UMS! PLEASE review the important information below about attending the Youth Performance:

TICKETS TICKETS We do not use paper tickets

DOOR ENTRY A UMS Youth Performance

DURING THE PERFORMANCE At the

for Youth Performances. We hold school

staff person will greet your group at your bus

start of the performance, the lights will

reservations at the door and seat groups

as you unload on Washington Street. You will

dim and an onstage UMS staff member will

upon arrival.

be escorted by the usher through the Michi-

welcome you to the performance and provide

gan Theater alley/walk-way and enter through

important logistical information. If you have

the front door of the Michigan Theater, which

any questions, concerns, or complaints (for

faces Liberty Street.

instance, about your comfort or the behavior of surrounding groups) please IMMEDIATELY

ARRIVAL TIME Please arrive at the Michigan Theater between 10:30-10:50pm to allow you

USHER

report the situation to an usher or staff member in the lobby.

time to get seated and comfortable before the show starts.

SEATING & USHERS When you arrive at the front doors, tell the Head Usher at the door the name of your school group and he/ she will have ushers escort you to your block

PERFORMANCE LENGTH 60 minutes with

of seats. All UMS Youth Performance ushers

no intermission

wear large, black laminated badges with their

DROP OFF Have buses, vans, or cars drop off

names in white letters.

students on the south side of East Washington Street (BEHIND the Michigan Theater). If there is no space in the drop off zone, circle the block until space becomes available. Cars

AFTER THE PERFORMANCE When the

may park at curbside metered spots or in the

performance ends, remain seated. A UMS staff

Maynard Street parking structure.

member will come to the stage and release

BEFORE THE START Please allow the usher

each group individually based on the location

to seat individuals in your group in the order

of your seats.

that they arrive in the theater. Once everyone is seated you may then rearrange yourselves and escort students to the bathrooms before the performance starts. PLEASE spread the adults throughout the group of students.

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BUS PICK UP When your group is released,

SENDING FEEDBACK We LOVE feedback

ACCESSIBILITY Courtesy wheelchairs are

please exit the performance hall through the

from students, so after the performance please

available for audience members.

same door you entered. A UMS Youth Perfor-

send us any letters, artwork, or academic

mance staff member will be outside to direct

papers that your students create in response

PARKING There is handicapped parking

you to your bus.

to the performance: UMS Youth Education

located in the South Thayer parking structure.

Program, 881 N. University Ave., Ann Arbor,

All accessible parking spaces (13) are located

MI 48109-1011.

on the first floor. To access the spaces, drivers

AAPS

need to enter the structure using the south (left) entrance lane. If the north (right) entrance lane, the driver must drive up the ramp

AAPS EDUCATORS You will likely not get

and come back down one level to get to the

on the bus you arrived on; a UMS staff mem-

parking spaces.

ber or WISD Transportation Staff person will put you on the first available bus.

NO FOOD No food or drink is allowed in the theater.

WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBILITY Michigan Theater is wheelchair accessible with a completely ramped concessions lobby. The auditorium has wheelchair accessible seating locations two thirds of the way back on its main floor.

LOST STUDENTS A small army of volunteers staff Youth Performances and will be

PATIENCE Thank you in advance for your

ready to help or direct lost and wandering

patience; in 20 minutes we aim to get 1,700

students.

people from buses into seats and will work as efficiently as possible to make that happen.

BATHROOMS ADA compliant toilets are available.

ENTRY The front doors are not powered, however, there will be an usher at that door opening it for all patrons.

LOST ITEMS If someone in your group loses an item at the performance, contact the UMS Youth Education Program (umsyouth@umich. edu) to attempt to help recover the item.

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→

E Huron St

→

RACKHAM

MICHIGAN THEATER Front/Enter

Fletcher St

Thayer St

Alley/Walkway

E Washington St

E Liberty St HILL

State St

Maynard St

Thompson St

Division St

Public Parking

N University Ave

William St Mall Parking & →

(ONE-WAY NORTH!!)

N

MAP + DIRECTIONS This map, with driving directions to the Michigan Theater, will be mailed to all attending educators three weeks before the performance.

MAP

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VENUE

M I C H I G A N T H E AT E R The historic Michigan Theater opened January 5,1928 at the peak of the vaudeville/movie palace era. Designed

by Maurice Finkel, the 1,710-seat theater cost around $600,000 when it was first built. As was the custom of the day, the theater was equipped to host both film and live stage events, with a full-size stage, dressing rooms, an orchestra pit, and the Barton Theater Organ. At its opening, the theater was acclaimed as the best of its kind in the country. Since 1979, the theater has been operated by the not-for-profit Michigan Theater Foundation. With broad community support, the Foundation has raised over $8 million to restore and improve the Michigan Theater. The beautiful interior of the theater was restored in 1986.

In the fall of 1999, the Michigan Theater opened a new 200-seat screening room addition, which also included expanded restroom facilities for the historic theater.

The gracious facade and entry vestibule was restored in 2000.

MICHIGAN THEATER 603 E Liberty Ann Arbor, MI 48104 Emergency Contact Number: (734) 764-2538 (Call this number to reach a UMS staff person or audience member at the performance.)

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D E TA I L S

BEING AN AUDIENCE MEMBER When preparing students for a

members from hearing. Often in large

on stage or whether they will miss

live performing arts event, it is impor-

rock concerts or in movie theaters,

something because of the sound and

tant to address the concept of “concert

the sound is turned up so loud that

movement you are making. Given this

etiquette.” Aside from helping prevent

you can talk and not disturb anyone’s

consideration, it’s often best to wait

disruptive behavior, a discussion of concert

listening experience. However, in other

until a pause in the performance (a

etiquette can also help students fully enjoy

concerts and live theater experiences,

pause of sound, movement, or energy)

the unique and exciting live performance

the sound is unamplified or just quite,

or to wait until the performer(s) bow to

experience. The following considerations

and the smallest noise could cause

the audience to share your enthusiasm

are listed to promote an ideal environment

your seat neighbor to miss an impor-

with them.

for all audience members.

tant line of dialogue or musical phrase.

Your Surroundings • Concert halls and performing arts venues are some of the most grand and beautiful buildings you might ever visit, so be sure to look around while you follow an usher to your group’s seats or once you are in your seat.

Movements or lights (from cell phones) may also distract your audience neighbors attention away from the stage, again, causing them to miss important action...and there’s no instant replay in live performance!

• At a performance, you are sharing the physical components of the performance space with other audience

• UMS Ushers will be stationed through-

members. So, consider whether you

out the building and are identifiable

are sharing the arm rest and the leg

by their big black and white badges.

room in such a way that both you and

They are there to help you be as

your seat neighbors are comfortable.

comfortable as possible and if you have a question (about the perfor-

• As an audience member, you are

mance, about where to go, or about

also part of the performance. Any

what something is), please ask them,

enthusiasm you might have for the

and don’t feel shy, embarrassed, or

performance may make the perform-

hesitant in doing so.

ers perform better. So, if you like what you are seeing make sure they know it!

Sharing the Performance Hall

Maybe clap, hoot and holler, or stand

with Other Audience Members

up and cheer. However, when express-

• Consider whether any talking you do during the performance will prevent your seat neighbors or other audience

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• Out of respect for the performer(s), if you do not like some part of the performance, please do not boo or shout anything derogatory. Remember, a lot of hard work went in to creating the performance you are watching and it takes great courage for the performer to share his or her art with you.

Share your Experience with Others • An important part of any performing arts experience is sharing it with others.

This can include whispering to your seat neighbor during the performance, talking to your friends about what you liked and didn’t like on the bus back to school, or telling your family about the performance when you get home.

More Information • For more specific details about coming

ing your own personal enjoyment of

to the concert (start time, bathroom

the performance, consider whether

locations, length), see pages 6-8 of this

your fellow audience members will be

guide.

able to see or hear what’s happening

ABOUT AMERICAN ROOTS MUSIC

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ABOUT

A merican R oots M usic

Most of our identification with

grew, sheet music publishers and early

music is seen as any music (bluegrass,

American popular musical styles comes

record companies needed to expand

blues, jazz, country, gospel, ol-timey,

from the names given to its genres.

their list of products to keep up with the

folk, Cajun, Native America, etc.) that

Throughout American history, the nam-

developing styles, and to make it easier

served as the musical and cultural basis

ing of a musical style was always associ-

for consumers to identify a style they

for the American musical styles (rhythm

ated with its consumption; the style’s

liked. This led to the development of the

and blues, rock and roll, soul, even rap)

name was a way of both marketing the

categories of folk, country, race records

that would come after it. “Roots music”

music and allowing the consumer to

(replacing “Coon Songs”), blues, jazz,

emphasizes diversity in American music

know what they were buying. At the turn

and ultimately rock and roll, pop, rap,

and culture, whereas the genre-oriented

of the twentieth century, these popular

and other such genres. The more recently

approach emphasized homogeneity.

categories were fairly limited: Waltz, Two-

developed term “roots music” attempts

“Roots music” celebrates cross-cultural

Steps, Marches, Rags or Ragtime, etc.,

to break free from this generic world and

sharing, the tradition of musical and

and when dealing with African-American

place music within its cultural and histori-

cultural lineages, and the innovation of

–inspired pop tunes the derogatory titles

cal framework. Root music, by its nature,

those artists working today to keep this

“Coon Songs” or “Ethiopian Melodies”

includes a much wider range of music

rich heritage alive.

were used. As the twentieth century

than can ever exist within any one of

developed and as the music industry

the aforementioned genres. Today, roots

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ABOUT

T he P iedmont R egion The Birthplace of Black String Band Music Synonymous with East Coast blues and string band music was the area known as the Piedmont Region of the United States. Geographically, this area runs along the Appalachian hills all the way from New Jersey to Alabama. It stretches as far west as the foothills of Kentucky and Tennessee and as far east as Raleigh, North Carolina and Richmond, Virginia. Some of the major cities included within this area are Birmingham, Alabama; Columbia and Atlanta, Georgia; Greenville, South Carolina; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Durham, and Raleigh, North Carolina; Lexington, Kentucky; Roanoke and Lexington, Virginia. The range of this region makes it accessible to seaports like Norfolk,

urbane, fluid, contemporary style of music

Virginia; Charleston, South Carolina;

than they had known in their homes in the known as a quintessentially white Ap-

Savannah, Georgia; and of course New

deep south.

Orleans. And all of this means one thing: cultural diversity!

Whites had already settled in these areas prior to the Great Migration and found

During the Great Migration of African-

work in textile mills, factories, or coal

Americans out of the South from 1910-

mines, bringing with them the Anglo

1930 many individuals and families chose

ballad tradition as well as fiddle jigs and

to come to these eastern cities instead

reels. Because the Piedmont was neither

of heading to the northern industrial

as isolated nor severely racist as places

centers of Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh,

like the Mississippi Delta there was a great

etc. These migrants brought with them

deal of cultural interplay between African-

jazz from the southland and hard blues from the Mississippi Delta. The urban industrial cities throughout this region were already immersed in the pop tunes and ragtime of the day and these new migrants would infuse this music with their own unique styles creating a more

ment of bluegrass music. Bluegrass is palachian musical style, and yet its roots are a remarkable hybrid. The “father” of bluegrass music – Bill Monroe, a white musician – was taught to play guitar and mandolin by Arnold Schultz - an AfricanAmerican musician. The banjo, an instrument closely associated with bluegrass, is actually an African instrument, originally called a “banjar” and brought to America by slaves. Dock Boggs, a white

musician credited with helping create the American and white musicians in this area. bluegrass style of banjo playing, develWhite musicians would teach fiddle tunes oped his style by trying to emulate the and Anglo traditions like the waltz to

blues guitar technique of the AfricanAfrican-Americans, and they in turn would American musician Mississippi John Hurt. teach the blues to whites. One of the most It was precisely this type of close cultural interesting bits of musical cross-breeding

interaction that made the music of the from this region is the case of the develop- Piedmont so unique. White and African-

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American string bands shared similar

handful of important recordings of white

such as these would form the crux of a

repertoires, played for each others’ par-

string bands and solo artists from the

great tradition on Race Records and in

ties and dances, and were often believed

1920s and early 30s exist – a testament

cultural history. In the 1960s they would

to be of the opposite race. But it was the

to the cultural traditions and sharing

serve as some of the great influences of

African-American musicians who rose to

mentioned above – the primary artists to

the folk/blues revival. And today they are

prominence in the commercial recordings

emerge from this region were African-

being rediscovered and celebrated by a

that were to come out of the Piedmont.

Americans. String bands emerged from

host of new artists such as the Carolina

Georgia - Peg Leg Howell and His Gang;

Chocolate Drops.

Because whites had greater access to mainstream economic resources, however, they tended to use music more for social purposes than professional advancement. Dock Boggs, for instance, was offered several recording contracts but he chose to hold on to the relative economic safety of a coal mining job to the caprice of a career in music. While a

Tennessee - The Tennessee Chocolate Drops, The Memphis Jug Band; North Carolina – The Three ‘Bacca Tags; and Mississippi – The Mississippi Sheiks. Individual artists like Blind Willie McTell, Rev, Gary Davis, Blind Boy Fuller, and Blind Blake ruled the six string guitar and took the instrument into new and innovative directions. Throughout the 1930s artists

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TIMELINE

M usic + M usicians of the P iedmont

F ield R ecordings + C ollections

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Date

1911

Genre

Folk Songs

Region

Georgia

Artist(s)

Unknown

(Newton County) 1925

Work Songs

North Carolina

Unknown

1934

Work Songs, Blues,

Georgia (Atlanta, Milled-

Prisoners:

Folk Songs

geville) & North Carolina

(Reece Crenshaw (Black)

(Raleigh)

Blind Joe Walker (Black)

Blues,

Georgia

Robert Davis (Black)

Dance Pieces,

(Frederica)

John Davis (Black)

1935

Breakdowns,

Bill Tatnall (Black)

Two-Steps

Brewster Davis (Black) John Brewster (Black) Henry Blue (Black)

1936

Blues

Virginia

Jimmie Strothers (Black)

(Lynn, Richmond)

Willie Williams (Black) 1937

Folk Songs

South Carolina

Unknown

Songs

One More Rounder Gone,

Instrumentation

Unknown

Collected By

Howard Odum

Honey Take a One on Me none listed

Vocal

Robert Winslow Gordon forthe Library of Congress

Trouble,

Guitar

John Lomax

John Henry and In Trouble

Guitar

for the Library of Congress

Poor Joe Breakdown

Guitar

John and Alan Lomax,

John Henry

Guitar

Zora Neale Hurston

Fandango

Guitar

for the Library of Congress

Guitar

Keep Away from the

Banjo

Bloodstained Banders,

John Lomax for the Library of Congress

We Are Almost Down to the Shore, Red River Runs Guitar John Henry, Corrina

Guitar, Washboard, Washtub Bass

John Lomax for the Library of Congress

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Date 1924

Genre Blues

Region Georgia (Atlanta);

Artist(s) Unknown

Ed Andrews (Black)

1926

Blues

Georgia (Atlanta)

Peg Leg Howell (Black) & His Gang (Fiddler Eddie Anthony & Guitarist Henry

C ommercial R ecordings

Williams)

1927

Blues

Florida (Jacksonville)

Blind Blake (Arthur Phelps)

Georgia (Atlanta)

Barbecue Bob Hicks (Black)

Blind Willie McTell (Black) The Cofer Brothers(White) Leon (guitar) Paul (fiddle), The Georgia Crackers (the Cofer Bros w/ Ben Evans- guitar) 1928

Blues

1929

Blues

1930

Blues

Georgia (Atlanta),

Curley Weaver (Black)

South Carolina (Greenville)

Pink Anderson (Black)

Tennessee

Howard Armstrong (Black)

Georgia (Atlanta),

Georgia Cotton Pickers

Tennessee (Knoxville)

(Black) (Barbecue Bob, Curly Weaver guitar, Buddy Moss harmonica) Tennessee Chocolate Drops (Howard Armstrong, Roland Armstrong, Carl Martin) (added Ted Bogan – guitar)

1933

Blues

Georgia (Atlanta)

Buddy Moss – guitar (Black) w/ Fred McMullen guitar & Curley Weaver

1935

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Blues

North Carolina,

Blind Boy Fuller (Fulton Allen)

South Carolina

Rev Gary Davis

Songs

Time Ain’t Gonna Make Me Stay

Instrumentation

Collected By

Guitar

Unknown

String Band

Unknown

(reputed to be the first commercially recorded country blues) Fo’ Day Blues, Too Tight

Diddie Wa Diddie

Guitar

Barbecue Blues,

12 String Guitar

Unknown

Mississippi Heavy Water Blues Statesboro Blues

12 String Guitar

Keno the Rent Man

String Band

Diamond Joe,

String Band

The Georgia Black Bottom No No Blues, Tippi’ Tom,

Guitar

I Got Mine, In the Jailhouse Now

Guitar

none listed

Fiddle, Mandolin, Guitar

Unknown

Diddle Da Diddle,

String Band

Unknown

Unknown

Sittin’ On Top of the World

State Street Rag, Ted’s Stomp

String Band

Bye Bye Mama, Red River Blues

String Band

Unknown

Step It Up and Go, Rag Mama Rag I

Guitar

Unknown

Am the Light,

Guitar

Cross and Evil Woman Blues UMS 10-11

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PEOPLE

M usicians of the P iedmont String Bands Tennessee Chocolate Drops (Howard

World’s Fair, then settling in that city.

string band music. Howell first recorded

Armstrong, violin, mandolin/ Carl

Martin and Armstrong were also virtuoso

solo for Columbia in 1927 but for his

Martin, bass/ Ted Bogan, guitar)

players in their own right: Martin hav-

return visit to the recording studio later

ing such a wide array of plucking and

that same year brought “His Gang” with

bowing techniques on the bass that his

him. Their music was based heavily in

playing was considered to be a tour de

dance tunes and Anthony’s fiddling style

force of bass styles. Ted Bogan was an

is unique in string band music: biting,

extremely skilled flatpicker with an ap-

and wild in its attack on the strings. They

proach to chording that would equal any

issued a number of highly successful re-

jazz guitarist. Their playing was consid-

cordings (Beaver Slide Rag and Lonesome

ered so dynamic that it was often said

Blues among them) but Anthony died

about them “if they played any faster

prematurely in 1934 and Howell gave up

they’d catch on fire!”

performing.

braced the entire spectrum of African-

Peg Leg Howell and His Gang (Peg

The Georgia Cotton Pickers (Barbe-

American and white American popular

Leg Howell, guitar/ Henry Williams,

cue Bob Hicks, guitar/ Curly Weaver,

music while still retaining elements of

guitar/ Eddie Anthony, violin)

guitar/ Buddy Moss, harmonica)

The Tennessee Chocolate Drops em-

minstrel shows, country dance music, ragtime, blues, vaudeville tunes, and jazz.

Throughout their peak years they played extensively across the whole of the Appalachian region. Howard Armstrong was a virtuoso fiddle and mandolin player who was raised in a family of eight performing brothers and sisters. He began recording in 1929 with the great black songster Sleepy John Estes and perhaps the greatest pure blues mandolinists Yank Rachell.

In 1930 Armstrong joined with bassist Carl Martin and guitarist Ted Bogan to form the Chocolate Drops. They were an instant success on the medicine show circuit and toured with such blues greats as Big Bill Broonzy and Memphis Minnie.

In 1933 they appeared at the Chicago

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Peg Leg Howell and His Gang called Atlanta, Georgia their home and represented the rougher, bluesier side of

Barbecue Bob

Bob Hicks was born in rural Georgia

well as performing widely for white

to whether one considers the Mississippi

in 1902 but moved to Atlanta around

audiences. Their repertoire consisted of

Sheiks or the Memphis Jug Band to have

1923. He got his nickname as a cook

pop tunes, parlor songs, “hokum” pieces

been the greatest string/jug band ever re-

in Tidwell’s Barbecue and entertained

(humorous songs generally with sexual

corded, for they both crossed many musi-

patrons with his guitar. He was one of

overtones), dance music, waltzes, and

cal genres from pop to blues, ragtime

the earliest African-American males to

country blues. Their first “hit” – “Sit-

to country, dance to ballads. Will Shade

record, beginning in 1927 and estab-

ting on Top of the World” – became a

had already played guitar in various

lished a successful solo career. In 1930

blues standard and has been covered by

medicine and minstrel shows by the time

he established the Georgia Cotton Pick-

innumerable artists. Lonnie Chatman

he got the idea to assemble a string band

ers, one of the finest small groups of the

(aka Chatmon) came from a family that

around 1926. Shade and Will Weldon

pre WWII era. Joining him were guitarist

produced several giants of the country

(Shade’s first partner) played guitar duets

Curly Weaver, who like Hicks had already

blues. Brother Armenter “Bo” Chatmon

on street corners in Memphis until they

enjoyed a solo recording career, and

(better known as Bo Carter) was one of

began to add other musicians and record

Buddy Moss on harmonica. Moss was

the most prolific of all Mississippi blues

in 1927. Musically their large member-

only 16 when he joined the Cotton Pick-

musicians, brother Sam enjoyed a career

ship pool allowed the Memphis Jug Band

ers and after Hicks died in 1931. He went

that extended well into the 1970s, and

the flexibility to play a mixture of many

on to create his own career as a singer/

the legendary Charley Patton – the

genres. Interestingly, a number of their

guitarist. The Cotton Pickers recorded a

“Father of the Delta Blues” – has always

songs mentioned hoodoo magical beliefs,

number of versions of previous hits (such

been rumored to be either an illegitimate

and some members also contributed to

as Blind Blake’s “Diddy-Wah-Diddy”) but

brother or some close relative. Walter

gospel recordings, either uncredited or as

turned them into newer-sounding rock-

Vinson was a neighbor of the Chatmans

part of the Memphis Sanctified Singers.

ing ensemble pieces.

and started playing guitar when he was

Although their final recordings as a group

six. The Sheiks were actually discovered

were in 1934, Shade kept them together

by recording artists while playing for a

and working well into the 1940s.

Mississippi Sheiks (Walter Vinson, vocal and guitar/ Lonnie Chatman, violin)

white square dance.

Memphis Jug Band (Will Shade [aka

The Baxters (Andrew Baxter, violin/ Jim Baxter, vocal and guitar)

Son Brimmer] vocal and guitar/ Ben Ramey, kazoo/ Charlie Burse, guitar and vocal/ Jab Jones, jug/ Charlie Pierce, fiddle/ et. al.)

Although not physically from the Piedmont region, the Mississippi Sheiks were arguably the most successful string band of the 1930s and their presence was certainly felt on the East Coast, both through their touring and record-

The Memphis Jug Band was organized

Andrew and Jim Baxter hailed from

ings. They also recorded briefly as the

in the late 1920s by Will Shade and over

Calhoun in Gordon County, Georgia.

Mississippi Mud Steppers, adding banjo/

its lifetime contained a wide variety of

Andrew was a well-known fiddler in the

mandolinist Charlie McCoy to the group).

musicians from the Memphis, Tennes-

area and teamed up with his son Jim,

They were the most sophisticated of

see area (even including such notables

an excellent guitarist and singer, in the

bands of their ilk, utilizing complex

as the legendary Memphis Minnie). It is

1920s. They were much in demand for

chords and playing in various keys, as

only a matter of personal preference as

dances performing country, blues, and

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gospel songs. Indicative of the cultural

from southwest North Carolina.

exchange between musicians of different races in the Piedmont region the Baxters

The Carolina Twins - Fletcher and

often performed with the white string

Foster (Gwin Foster, guitar and har-

band The Yellow Hammers (Charles

monica/ David Fletcher, guitar)

Moody, Jr. on guitar; Bud Landress on banjo; Phil Reeve on guitar; and Bill Chitwood on fiddle). Their first recording session in 1927 was shared by both groups, an extremely unusual interracial event even given the informal mixed-race performances in the area. The Baxters were the first group to record the now standard folk tune “K.C. Railroad Blues”.

a great affinity for Black blues and string Gwin Foster began his music career in

The Three ‘Baccer Tags (George

North Carolina as a harmonica virtuoso

Wade, mandolin and vocal/ Luther

and guitar player. Although he was

Baucom, mandolin and vocal/ Reid

white, Foster was dark complexioned and

Summey, guitar and vocal)

was often mistaken for being of mixed race. By the late 1920s he had teamed with David Fletcher who originally played the upright bass. The duo began playing for parties and dances throughout North Carolina and in 1928 had a regular halfhour radio show on WBT-Charlotte. They were billed as the Carolina Twins and recorded some 21 sides between 1928 and 1930. While the majority of their

The Three ‘Baccer Tags were a white

songs stayed within the typical string

string band from Gastonia, North

band style, two of their recordings were

Carolina that first recorded in Charlotte

particularly noteworthy for their unique-

in 1931. Their name came from RCA

ness: Charlotte Hot Step and Red Rose

Victor’s recording engineer Ralph S.

Rag, the latter a version of the 1911 rag-

Peer who was alleged to have told the

time hit by the same name. They were

group that if their records didn’t sell he’d

never able to make music their full-time

drop them like “the tin tags on plugs of

pursuit and like so many other musicians

tobacco.” Fortunately they enjoyed a

of this period, Black and white alike, fell

great deal of success mixing sentimen-

victim to sel;f-destructive drinking and

tal ballads with pop tunes and comic

difficult lifestyles.

novelty numbers.

The three members

of the group all met while working at the

The Allen Brothers (Austin, banjo and

Seminole Cotton Mills and soon began

vocals/ Lee, guitar and kazoo)

to play for church picnics and other social events in the area. By 1930 they were regularly featured on radio station WRBU in Gastonia. They were the most widely recorded pre-WWII white string band

22

UMS 10-11

The Allens were another example of the cultural interplay between Blacks and whites in the Piedmont region. Although young white musicians they developed

band music and by the 1920s were performing throughout the Appalachians in coal towns and in medicine shows.

While not a terribly original group they are important for their cultural impact.

In 1927 they cut their first records for Columbia: a remake of the venerable bluesman Papa Charlie Jackson’s “Salty Dog,” “Chattanooga Blues,” “Coal Mine Blues,” and “Laughin’ and Cryin Blues.”

When the recordings were sent to Columbia’s New York offices it was assumed that given the sound and themes of the songs that the Allen Brothers were Black and an advertisement for “Laughin’ and Cryin’ Blues” was sent out to national newspapers with a drawing of the two performers as being Black. Whether or not this confusion was in any way responsible, the record met with great success, as did the others in the issue, with “Salty Dog” selling 18,000 copies.

Solo Artists

Fiddlin’ John Carson

Blues” with the ragtime-inspired “West Coast Blues” on the B-side. Both are considered excellent examples of his ragtimebased guitar style and prototypes for the Piedmont blues. Little is known about his life or death but his complex and intri-

revival of the 1960s, and spent much of his later life playing at various folk music festivals and recording for Folkways Records.

Blind Willie McTell, guitar

cate finger picking inspired generations of musicians to follow: Reverend Gary Davis, Jorma Kaukonen, Ry Cooder, and Carson was born in Fannin County, Georgia in 1868, and as such his music

many others.

Dock Boggs, banjo

was indicative of the earliest examples of American roots music. He started to play fiddle while in his teens on an instrument that had been brought to the United States from Ireland. He combined making music with working in a textile

Blind Willie McTell was born in 1898 in

plant until it went on strike in 1913

Thompson, Georgia. He was a twelve-

leaving him with no other option than to

string finger picking Piedmont blues

play on the street for nickels and dimes.

guitarist, and was one of the very few

Between 1914 and 1922 he was named

country bluesmen to play the guitar in

Champion Fiddler of Georgia 7 times. He

both the complex, fingerpicking ragtime

began to record in 1923 and eventually produced over 150 sides of music.

Blind Blake (aka Arthur Blake, Arthur Phelps) guitar

Boggs’ style of banjo playing, as well as his singing, is considered a unique combination of Appalachian folk music and African-American blues. He was born in southern Virginia in 1898 and learned much of his music from an African-American guitarist named “Go Lightning” who would “hobo” up and down the railroad tracks between Norton and Dorchester.

Boggs’s style is, as many other artists of the time, a hybrid of Anglo and AfricanAmerican musical traits. He is considered a seminal figure in part because of two of his recordings from the 1920s, “Sugar Baby” and “Country Blues. Boggs was initially recorded in 1927 and again in

Blake’s first recordings were made in 1926 and his records sold very well. His first solo record was “Early Morning

1929, although he worked primarily as a coal miner for most of his life. He was “rediscovered” during the folk music

style indicative of the Piedmont guitarists, and a heavier bottleneck blues style. His playing in both idioms is masterful, fluid and inventive. McTell was also an excellent accompanist, and recorded many songs with his longtime musical companion, Curley Weaver; their recordings are some of the most outstanding examples of country blues guitar duets. He began recording in 1927 and had one of the longest careers of any artist in his style, recording his last sessions in 1949.

Pink Anderson, guitar Pinkney “Pink” Anderson was born in South Carolina in 1900 and started playing medicine shows as early as 1914. He made his first recordings for Columbia in 1928. Anderson’s musical style on the guitar was a combination of the typical

UMS 10-11

23

Piedmont fingerpicking and the Anglo-

Reverend Gary Davis, guitar, banjo

styled ballads common to the Appalachians. Although not as well-known as many of his contemporaries, his few recordings still stand out as some of the best examples of the Piedmont blues.

Blind Boy Fuller (Fulton Allen), guitar

Gary Davis was born in Laurens, South Carolina in 1896. Blind from infancy he early on developed a unique two-finger (thumb and index finger) style of fingerpicking on the guitar that enabled him to create a four-part harmony sound. In the mid-1920s he moved to Durham, North Fulton Allen was born in Wadesboro, North Carolina in 1907 and became one of the most popular Piedmont blues guitarists of all time. He learned to play guitar as a boy and quickly picked up traditional songs and chants, ragtime pieces, and blues. By 1927 he had lost his sight and began studying the recordings of Blind Blake in earnest. It was also at this time that he became associated with Reverend Gary Davis. He began playing on the streets of Durham, North Carolina and developed a large following, eventually leading to a record contract in 1935. It was at his first recording session that the American Recording Company decided that Blind Boy Fuller would be a more commercial name.

Over the next five years he recorded over 150 songs and became known as one of the foremost of the Piedmont blues guitarists. Many of his songs included the double-entendre and, unlike virtually any other Piedmont guitarist, he favored playing his complex fingerpicking on a National “steel� guitar, giving his playing and recordings a unique sound.

24

UMS 10-11

Carolina and met, and apparently mentored, Blind Boy Fuller. At the same time he was becoming an ordained Baptist minister. Davis was perhaps the most sophisticated of all the Piedmont guitarists and his repertoire ran the gamut of folk ballads, ragtime pieces, military marches, pop songs, lullabies, and blues (which he was generally reluctant to perform in public). He moved to New York City to become a street preacher in the 1940s and was extremely influential in the folkrevival of the early 1960s.

ABOUT

B anjo , F iddle , and G uitar : A T ypical S tring B and Fiddle The fiddle is the oldest and most

Americans and Mexican-Americans also

as 1781 when Thomas Jefferson named

basic instrument of roots music. Perhaps

developed unique fiddle styles in the

the banjar as the “instrument proper to

due in part to its flexibility and sheer

Southwest, likely picking up the instru-

them,” meaning his African slaves. The

loudness, the fiddle is the dominant

ment from early frontiersmen.

early banjars were made out of gourds

melodic instrument for old-time tunes.

It is accompanied by a variety of other stringed instruments such as banjo,

Fiddling has often been associated with classic American heroes. George Washington had his favorite fiddle tune (“Jaybird Sittin’ on a Hickory Limb”), as did Thomas Jefferson (“Grey Eagle”).

Davy Crockett was a fierce fiddler, and

with fretless necks, likely with heavy strings, producing a deep, mellow sound.

By 1847, there are accounts of the fiddle and banjo being played together; it was the beginning of the modern string/bluegrass band.

Andrew Jackson’s victory over the British in the War of 1812 is still celebrated with the popular “Eight of January.” In more modern times, Henry Ford started a series of fiddling contests in the 1920s to help preserve the old American values.

Though the fiddle was the main instrument in early country music in the 1920s, it was gradually replaced by the steel guitar and electric guitar. It re-emerged guitar, mandolin, and bass. The fiddle was virtually the only instrument found on the early frontier. In the South, written accounts of fiddle competitions can be traced as far back as 1736. Even though the fiddle is heavily rooted in Scottish and Irish tradition and is therefore often considered a “white instrument,” in the 19th century, a strong tradition began among African-Americans. This occurred because slave-owners would send slaves away to learn traditional fiddle tunes for the purpose of entertainment upon their return. All of this translated into an eventual blues fiddling style that would persist from the 1800s into the 1930s. Native

in popularity in the 1940s as Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, and Lester Flatt developed bluegrass. Innovators like Chubby Wise, Scotty Stoneman, Kenny Baker, and Benny Martin turned the fiddle into a driving vehicle for improvisation.

Eventually, this early Black folk tradition was adopted, quite popularly, by whites, heavily in the Appalachians. It became

Banjo The banjo is instrument that finds

the focus instrument in minstrel shows

its roots in Africa, originally known as

(typically a show done by whites, high-

the “banjar.” Where the fiddle can be

lighting African-(American) culture, often

called the most significant instrumental

performed in blackface), which began

contribution from Northern Europe, the

to gain popularity in the early-to-middle

banjo is the equivalent from Sub-Saharan

19th Century. African-Americans certainly

Africa. It can be traced back to 13

influenced the sound and repertoire of

century African culture and was being

these early minstrel groups by teaching

written about here in America as early

the first generation of white banjoists

th

UMS 10-11

25

how to play. Even after the minstrel

tives reveals a number of memories of

tory in 1900 reported that over 78,000

shows fell out of popularity, the banjo

guitar-playing by blacks in pre-Civil War

guitars had been manufactured that year.

remained prevalent among Southern,

times, almost all of them located in the

Throughout the 1920s, American musi-

whites. In the 1920s, several regional

Mississippi River delta. While it is unclear

cians set about inventing new ways to

styles emerged. Masters of the banjo, like

the style with which these guitars were

tune and note these instruments.

Uncle Dave Macon, could play as many

played, the location of these recounts is

as 17 styles. The “banjo entertainer”

significant: it would later be the center

emerged with the rise of Vaudeville and

for the classic delta blues

early radio, where the banjo would be

The first generation of country or “hillbilly” musicians tended to play a style with loud, percussive strokes designed to provide little but rhythm. But soon, key

used by singers who told jokes, did comic

players, like blind Riley Puckett, a north-

songs, and generally “cut up.”

ern Georgia native who made hundreds

It was in 1945 that the banjo was taken

of records as a singer and band guitarist,

in a different direction by a young Earl

showed the guitar was capable of adding

Scruggs, from North Carolina. He per-

melody lines as well as rhythm. And in

fected the three-finger roll, which allowed

1927, at the famous Bristol sessions in

him to play a rapid-fire cascade of notes.

northeast Tennessee, Maybelle Carter (of

With this, the banjo was capable of hold-

the Original Carter Family) introduced

ing its own in the driving tempos of the

what would become known as “the

emerging bluegrass music. Scruggs be-

Carter Scratch,” playing a melody on

came probably the single-most influential

the bass strings and brushing the higher

instrumentalist in American roots music,

strings for rhythm. It would become the

as generations of younger musicians took

quintessential lick for country music.

his style and built on it, even taking it into

Down in Tennessee, a brash young man

the realms of jazz and formal music.

named Sam McGee, the traveling partner of Uncle Dave Macon, watched with fas-

Guitar America’s archetypal instrument is

cination as black section hands near his

undoubtedly the guitar. While important

farm in middle Tennessee played a blues

figures such as Benjamin Franklin and

finger picking style. He would soon com-

Andrew Jackson’s wife played the guitar or guitar-like instruments, the guitar did not gain widespread popularity or usage until the 20th century. As early as the 1600s, Spanish settlers had brought to the New World a European-style guitar with five sets of double-strings. By 1800, the six-string instrument we are familiar with today had developed and was also brought over from Europe. The instrument was popular enough by 1816 that the first guitar instruction book was published. Early guitars were smaller than today’s modern style, were strung with gut strings, and were finger-plucked (as opposed to today’s popular style of using a pick). A study of ex-slave narra-

26

UMS 10-11

By the turn of the 20th century, improved

bine this with ragtime he had learned

guitar-making techniques allowed manu-

from a parlor guitar teacher in nearby

facturers like Martin (founded 1833) and

Franklin to create some of the first solo

Gibson (founded 1894) to offer steel-

records featuring the guitar: “Buck

string guitars. When played with picks,

Dancer’s Choice,” “Railroad Blues,” and

this allowed a much brighter, louder

“Knoxville Blues.”

sound and let the guitar hold its own in a string band and as a solo instrument in its own right. It was about this time that the singer Lead Belly discovered an inexpensive Stella 12-string with steel strings and as loud as a piano. Soon mail-order catalogue stores like Wards and SearsRoebuck were adding inexpensive guitars to their catalogues. Sears’ models ranged from $2.70 to $10.20, and one inven-

O ther S tring B and I nstruments While the banjo, fiddle, and guitar are the instruments of a typical string band, other complementary instruments often augment this core ensemble, including the following:

Bones

Harmonica

Jug

Kazoo

Washtub Bass Spoons

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27

C A R O L I N A C H O C O A LT E D R O P S

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ABOUT

E nsemble H istory “Tradition is a guide, not a jailer. We play in an older tradition but we are modern musicians.”—Justin Robinson In the summer and fall of 2005, three young black musicians, Dom Flemons, Rhiannon Giddens, and Justin Robinson, decided to travel to Mebane, North Carolina, every Thursday night to sit in the home of old-time fiddler Joe Thompson for a musical jam session. Joe was in his 80’s, a black fiddler with a short bowing style that he inherited from generations of family musicians. He had learned to play a wide ranging set of tunes sitting on the back porch with other players after a day of field work. Now he was passing those same lessons on to a new generation.

When the three students decided to form a band, they didn’t have big plans. It was mostly a tribute to Joe - a chance to bring his music back out of the house again and into

Asheville, N.C., he flew east and ended up

The connection turned out to be a great

dance halls and public places. They called

moving to the Piedmont where he could get

match. While the young “Drops” were

themselves the Chocolate Drops as a tip of

at the music first hand.

upstarts in a stable of deep tradition, they

the hat to the Tennessee Chocolate Drops,

were also the link between past and future.

the three black brothers - Howard, Martin

The Chocolate Drops started to play around,

They began to expand their repertoire, taking

and Bogan Armstrong - who lit up the music

rolling out the tunes wherever anyone would

advantage of what Dom calls “the novelty fac-

scene in the 1930s. Honing and experiment-

listen. From town squares to farmer’s mar-

tor” to get folks in the door and then teaching

ing with Joe’s repertoire, the band often

kets, they perfected their playing and began

and thrilling them with traditional music that

coaxed their teacher out of the house to join

to win an avid following of foot-tapping,

was evolving as they performed. They teased

them on stage. Joe’s charisma and charm

sing-along audiences. In 2006, they picked

audiences with history on tunes like “Dixie”,

regularly stole the show.

up a spot at the locally-based Shakori Hills

the apparent Southern anthem that musicolo-

Festival where they lit such a fire on the Being young and living in the 21st cen-

gists suggest was stolen by the black-face min-

dance tent floor that Tim and Denise Duffy of

tury, the Chocolate Drops first hooked up

strel Dan Emmert from the Snowden family,

the Music Maker Relief Foundation came over

through a yahoo group, Black Banjo: Then

black Ohio musicians who missed their warm,

to see what was going on. The band was still

and Now (BBT&N) hosted by Tom Thomas

sunny home. The “Drops” gave new energy

figuring out who they were, yet Duffy offered

and Sule Greg Wilson. Dom was still living in

to old tunes like John Henry and Sally Ann,

to house them with people like Algie Mae

Arizona, but in April 2005, when the web-

adding blues songs, Gaelic acappella, and flat-

Hinton, musicians who were not pretenders

chat spawned the Black Banjo Gathering in

footing to the show.

to a tradition, but the real thing.

UMS 10-11

29

Yes, banjos and black string musicians first got here on slave ships, but now this is everyone’s music.

The band moved up through the festival

Off-stage, their connection to the Music

Rolling Stone Magazine described the Carolina

circuit, from the Mt. Airy Fiddler’s Convention

Maker Relief Foundation meant a place to

Chocolate Drops’ style as “dirt-floor-dance

to MerleFest. They shared the stage with a

record. In 2007, Music Maker issued “Dona

electricity”. If you ask the band, that is what

new fan, Taj Mahal, and traveled to Europe. In

Got a Ramblin’ Mind” and, in 2009, “Carolina

matters most. Yes, banjos and black string

2007 they appeared in Denzel Washington’s

Chocolate Drops & Joe Thompson.” In 2010,

musicians first got here on slave ships, but

film The Great Debators and joined Garrison

with the release of their Nonesuch recording

now this is everyone’s music. It’s OK to mix it

Keiler on Prairie Home Companion. In 2008,

“Genuine Negro Jig,” the group confirmed its

up and go where the spirit moves.

they received an invitation to play on the

place in the music pantheon. With its tongue

Grand Ole Opry. “The Drops were the first

in cheek, multiple-meaning title, the album

black string band to play the Opry,” Duffy

ranges boldly from Joe Thompson’s “Cindy

notes. “The Opry has a huge black following

Gal” to Tom Waits’ “Trampled Rose” and Rhi-

but you don’t see that on stage.” Opry host

annon’s acoustic hip hop version of R&B artist

Marty Stewart pronounced the performance a

Blu Cantrell’s “Hit ‘Em Up Style.”

healing moment for the Opry.

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UMS 10-11

PEOPLE

D om , R hiannon , + J ustin Dom Flemons “I left Arizona because I knew the music would take me somewhere - but I had no idea!”

You don’t have to be born in the Piedmont to feel the music in your blood.

It may even be fair to say that Dom Flemons’ journey has been a trip from instinct to action. It all began with a PBS documentary about the history of rock and roll. “There was an episode on the folk music revival that got me wanting to do it,” Dom explains. “At the time, Dylan albums were inexpensive so I started buying them. From there I read about the folk scene in New York City and I tried to do that in Phoenix. I began busking and playing in coffee houses.”

Dom calls this a natural progression backwards. From writing short stories and poetry slams he moved to music, from a fascination with the 60’s and playing guitar he collected recordings of the early masters and used them as teachers.

Finally, Dom added banjo to the mix, going for the sound of the old-time players. While still a student in Arizona, he headed off for Encanto Park in Phoenix and jumped into Wednesday night music jams. If he was the only young player and the only black man with a banjo, Dom didn’t care. He did find his way to a website, blackbanjo.com, and learned about plans for a Black Banjo Gathering in North Carolina.

After the success at the Banjo Gather-

On stage Dom rolls from one instrument

ing, Dom decided to move to the Pied-

to another with a fearless attitude toward

mont. Here, he hooked up with Rhian-

tradition and repertoire. As the Carolina

non Giddens and followed her to Joe

Chocolate Drops push Joe Thompson’s

Thompson’s house where Justin Robin-

classics into new territory, Dom remem-

son was playing. Without even planning,

bers his idol, Mike Seeger, who died in

Dom’s music revival dream was real. “It

2009. “Mike is the person who changed

gave me a different perspective” Dom

my outlook – he got me trying to do

reflects, “going from being someone

what he was doing, taking traditional

who was learning from recordings – it

things and smashing them together and

was very different to learn sitting next

making something different.”

to the artists and hearing them talk and seeing how mannerisms are translated into the music.”

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31

Rhiannon Giddens

“We’re first and foremost entertainers and musicians. The other stuff enriches, deepens the experience - but if you can’t enjoy the music, we aren’t doing our job.”

It’s hard to contain the energy and enthusiasm of Rhiannon Giddens. Her life story reads like a post-modern novel with overlapping plots. Talents and fascinations, whims and obsessions tumble over each other and pour out in a fiery stage performance rooted in disciplined virtuosity. It’s the training of opera overflowing into the unchained world of old-time music.

At age 16, Rhiannon began her vocal training at Oberlin College choral camp, where she took on the deepest part of the classical vocal river - opera. “I did five operas and three main roles,” Rhiannon summarizes, “I got into it pretty hardcore.” So hardcore that she decided to take some time off. That’s when Rhiannon “eased into the folk world,” as she puts it, although the sequence is not quite so clean. Rhiannon had already been sparked by a flyer at Oberlin advertising English Country Dancing. “I’m a Jane Austin fan and that’s what they do in her books. Turned out to be contra.”

Back home with a day job in graphic design, Rhiannon began to attend weekly contra dances, moving rapidly from just

32

UMS 10-11

dancing to calling. It was one quick step

After witnessing an inspiring banjo

more and a slippery slope into playing

performance by Joe Thompson, Rhian-

the music. “I decided I wanted to play

non heard about blackbanjos.com and

fiddle” Rhiannon says in a matter of fact

hooked up with Sule Greg Wilson and

voice, “so I went into a store in Greens-

Tom Thomas doing web work for the

boro and picked one off the wall, gave

Black Banjo Gathering. She also followed

it a draw and bought it. It was a cheap

up on an invitation from Daniel Laem-

Chinese fiddle – hard to play, but that

ouahuma Jatta to visit Gambia, got a

toughens you up.”

gig as a singing hostess at the Macaroni Grill and saved up the money for a trip to

Hands on the fiddle, Rhiannon began

Africa. By 2006 the Carolina Chocolate

to mix it up, singing as always with her

Drops were moving to the top of the

sister, Lalenja Harrington, joining up with

list. In 2010, the band was a full-time

Cherise McCloud (“who is a Mezzo”),

job – along with a new daughter who is

forming a Celtic band, Gaelywand, and

already a veteran road warrior.

entering Scottish music competitions.

Justin Robinson

“Some people say you should play one instrument, but I feel a need for a change of pace.”

While early string band musicians trace their roots to front porches and frolics, Justin Robinson began his musical education with the careful discipline of classical violin. “I was about 8 years old when I started violin,” Justin recalls. “It was my parents’ idea, but I wanted to play. They were into classical music. At the time, my mother was not performing yet, but later she sang with Opera Carolina in Charlotte.”

While Justin showed promise, as a teenager he made the all too familiar turn from practice to “other things”. He was an avid listener, but it wasn’t until the end of college that actually playing the music became important again.

While Justin made a deliberate choice to pick up the old instrument, violin, he had made a second deliberate decision; He was going to use the instrument to fiddle. If there is one word that fits Justin’s music, it has to be eclectic. If there’s a second word, it has be determined.

Asked how he ended up at the 2005

banjo-playing friends and began to go

and began to hone their own sound.

Black Banjo Gathering, Justin puts it

to Joe’s every week. Rhiannon started

Justin and his new young black musi-

straight. “I invited myself,” he says. “I

coming along a month or two later and,

cian friends had inherited an unexpected

went there with the intention of meet-

in October, Dom joined in. Soon Justin’s

role as a new generation’s voice in black

ing Joe [Thompson]. I knew he lived in

quest became a regular apprenticeship

string music.

Mebane [N.C.] so I went up there with

with a man tied by blood and time to

the intention of meeting him and going

the origins of black string players. The

to his house to play.” Justin collected

Chocolate Drops were formed as a band

UMS 10-11

33

PEOPLE

C C D on S tring B ands The Carolina Chocolate Drops

works in this way, always playing his

are the newest and youngest players in

fiddle in the company of a banjo.

a long lineage of Black String Bands. The tradition traces its roots to musicians from Africa who came to the Americas in the holds of slave ships. The anchor instruments were made of gourds with a neck and a variety of string combinations. The same basic gourd banjo, called the ekontone, is played today in Gambia.

Alongside the banjo gourd, musicians devised a number of fiddles, Americanborn relatives of the African ritti or one-stringed fiddle. Eventually, perhaps under the influence or orders of masters who wanted Irish jigs played in their parlors, black fiddle-players picked up the European violin, taking that instrument back to their cabins, adding classical-style fiddle to banjo and percussion; so the blurring of boundaries began.

All three of the Carolina Chocolate Drops can switch instruments, playing banjo and fiddle, trading leads and playing along with a stock of other instruments.

This mixing-it-up comes from the traditional black string band where the banjo takes the lead, trading off with fiddle, while any number of other instruments join in around them. Joe Thompson

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While string bands and old-time music are often grouped with bluegrass at festivals, the sound is very different. Bluegrass has a fast-paced style and draws more on the guitar and the mandolin. It rarely includes the home-made instruments common to string band players like bones (or spoons), quills, and jugs. That said, more and more bluegrass musicians are opening up their style. Banjo players like Béla Fleck and Tony Triska are just as likely to show up around jazz musicians as they are to play at a bluegrass festival.

Audiences expect a string band to stick closer to home.

The string band, with its panoply of

ers and contemporary players like Joe

instruments, is also a socially open form.

Thompson, it’s clear that the music kept

It says anyone can play or dance or sing.

going, passed down by family members

It’s about getting together. Some suggest

and played for dances and gatherings in

that black string bands disappeared after

both the white and the black community.

the Civil War because the musicians no

As Rhiannon likes to tell her skeptical

longer wanted to play music associated

fans, square dancing and string music is

with forced performances for white

all about African roots and black folks’

plantation audiences. The immediacy and

traditions.

self-taught quality of the music makes it more likely that the documentation, not the music, disappeared. Looking back from early twentieth century play-

In the end, it’s all about serious fun and traditional innovation.

REPERTOIRE

L ikely T o B e P erformed While the Carolina Chocolate Drops will decide which pieces to perform much closer to the date of the Youth Performance (they will announce the titles from stage), they are likely to play the following four pieces: “Little Rabbit,” “Georgie Buck,” “Dona Got a Ramblin’ Mind,” and “Sourwood Mountain.” Below are video links to the Carolina performing each piece as well as lyrics for the three songs with vocals.

“Georgie Buck”

“Sourwood Mountain”

“Dona Got a Ramblin’ Mind”

Video: http://www.youtube.com/

Video: http://www.youtube.com/

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v

watch?v=8yTijiKUUV8

watch?v=5v4ATabf07M

=N3CM5WOaJZ4&playnext=1&list=PL75

Georgie Buck is dead

CHORUS:

The last thing he said

Roosters a-crowin’ on Sourwood Mountain,

Dona got a ramblin’ mind (x4)

“Don’t put no shortnin’ in my bread.”

Hi ho fiddle, I ay

Dona gone jump the fence

So many pretty ones you can’t count ‘em,

Dona gone down the line

0203F197682997&index=9

Georgie Buck is dead The last thing he said “Don’t put no shortnin’ in my bread.”

CHORUS:

Hi ho fiddle, I ay My true love’s a blue-eyed daisy If I don’t get her, I’ll go crazy

Down the road

(CHORUS)

Down the road I see

Big dogs bark and little ones bite you

Trouble in my way Trouble in my way

(CHORUS)

Georgie Buck is dead

My love lives at the head of the holler

Last word he said

She won’t come and I won’t foller

“Don’t let a woman have her way.

(CHORUS)

She be gone all day.

Don’t let a woman have her way.”

(CHORUS) Georgie Buck is dead The last word he said “Don’t put no shortnin’ in my bread.”

Video: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=tszAmWRVVpU

Big girls court and little ones spite you

Trouble in my way down the line.

“If she have her way,

“Little Rabbit”

My true love lives over the river A few more jumps and I’ll be with her (CHORUS) Ducks in the pond, geese in the ocean Devil’s in the women if they take a notion (CHORUS)

Put no shortnin in my bread...

Put no shortnin’ in my bread...

(CHORUS)

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CONNECTIONS

V isual + P erforming A rts The following artwork is part of the University of Michigan Museum of Art Collection.

Look at the image on to the right and consider the following:

Sherman Lambdin United States, born 1948

How does this image reflect your percep-

Red Devil Bird

tion of American Roots Music? Of String

1970–91

Band Music?

Painted wood twig Gift of the Daniel and Harriet Fusfeld Folk Art Collection, 2002/1.211

If you wrote or could pick a piece of music to represent this image, what kind of music would it be? Why? How does this image physically represent music?

What are three words you would use to describe the image? How do these three words relate to what you know about American Roots Music?

How might the piece relate to the work of Carolina Chocolate Drops?

What material (mode) is the image made out of? How does that affect how it appears and what it represents?

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RESOURCES

UMS 10-11

37

ENGAGE

N ational S tandards The following are national standards addressed through this Youth Performance and through the ideas in the following curriculum connections.

English Language Arts

Mathematics

Social Sciences

English K-12

Data Analysis and Probability Pre-K-2

Civics K-4

NL-ENG.K-12.8 Developing Research Skills

NM-DATA.PK-2.1 Formulate Questions

NSS-C.K-4.2 Values and Principles of

NL-ENG.K-12.12 Applying Language Skills

That Can Be Addressed with Data and

Democracy

Collect, Organize and Display Relevant Data to Answer

Performing arts

Civics 5-8 NSS-C.5-8.2 Foundations of the Ameri-

Data Analysis and Probability 3-5

can Political System

Music K-4

NM-DATA.3-5.1 Formulate Questions

NSS-C.5-8.3 Principles of Democracy

NA-M.K-4.6 Listening To, Analyzing, and

That Can Be Addressed with Data and

Describing Music

Collect, Organize and Display Relevant

Geography K-12

NA-M.K-4.8 Understanding Relation-

Data to Answer

NSS-G.K-12.2 Places and Regions

ships Between Music, The Other Arts, and Disciplines Outside the Arts NA-M.K-4.9 Understanding Music in

U.S. History K-4 NSS-USH.K-4.1 Living and Working To-

Relation to History and Culture

gether in Families and Communities Now

Music 5-8

NSS-USH.K-4.3 The History of the United

NA-M.5-8.8 Understanding Relation-

States: Democratic Principles and Values

ships Between Music, the Other Arts, and

and the People from Many Cultures Who

Disciplines Outside the Arts

Contributed to its Cultural, Economic and

NA-M.5-8.9 Understanding Music In

Political Heritage

Relation to History and Culture

and Long Ago

U.S. History 5-12 NSS-USH.5-12.3 Revolution and the New Nation

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ENGAGE

C urriculum C onnections The UMS Youth Performance by the Carolina Chocolate Drops gives students the chance to explore the music, geography, history, communities, and cultures of America. To help connect these performances to classroom curriculum, pick one of these concepts and activities or create an entire interdisciplinary curriculum with these as a base.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops is a three-piece string band that has its roots in the Piedmont Region of North Carolina and performs “roots” music.

Before attending this concert take the opportunity to talk, not just about roots music, but about the word roots, its many meanings and the different ways it is used.

Define homonym as one of a group of words that share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings. The word left is a good example. As a verb, left refers to leaving or exiting a place. As a noun it can refer to direction. the communities to which they belong

students to ask their parents or grandpar-

The word root is a homonym. As a

and their local residential communities.

ents about their family roots. Graph the

whole class, or with students divided into

Families have roots. Discuss why a per-

results. You might find out the answer to

pairs come up with as many meanings

son might want to know his or her fam-

question like these:

for the word root as you can. These can

ily’s roots. Include a little science here.

Where did most of the families in

include the following:

What is a root? What does it look like?

this class originate?

Root- the underground part of a plant

Do all plants have roots? What do roots

Where did the fewest families

Root – to root out, destroy, get rid of,

do for a plant? Roots nourish plants. Do

come from?

eradicate

they also nourish families? How?

How many countries are represented

Root - to root around, dig with a snout

as places of origin?

like a pig

Find out where the families in your class

Root – of something, it’s origin, where it

originated. Ask your students if they

comes from

know when their family settled in the

When your graph is complete, take out

What are the names of those countries?

United States and where they came from

a wall map and put pins in each country

Kindergartners, first graders and second

before they moved to this country. If

that is the country of origin of one of

graders study themselves, their families,

not, come up with a list of questions for

your student’s families. This is a good UMS 10-11

39

time to include some mapping skills.

Tell students about the concert. Com-

and the Kite Dragon by Bruce Edward

Where is each country in relation to the

pare the term roots music and its mean-

Hall, (conflict between ethnic groups) Tea

United States? Which is the furthest

ing with the concept of family roots.

with Milk by Allen Say (different customs)

away? Which is the closest? Are any of

and The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi.

the countries across an ocean? Which

Communities have roots. Help students

countries and which oceans? Which

look at their community and the com-

countries are closest to each other?

munities that surround theirs. Some

Third graders study Michigan. Take a

communities are made up of people from

look at Michigan. The state is made up

Talk about some of the reasons families

all different cultures and countries. Oth-

of different groups of people. Some eth-

might have left their original country

ers have a mostly homogeneous popula-

nic groups are dispersed throughout the

to come to The United States. Discuss

tion. Some communities are composed

state. Others are mostly found in one

the fact that our country is often called

of families that have been in the Unitied

part of the state. Who are the people

a country of immigrants. What did im-

States for so many years that they don’t

of Michigan? What are their roots?

migrants bring with them to our country?

have any ethnic affiliation.

Where did the early settlers come from

Which things are now an integral part of our life and culture?

(Comfort with who you are)

and where did they settle? What about There are “ethnic communities.” Ask

today’s new immigrants? Do they come

if anyone has been to a Chinatown, a

from the same countries as the early set-

Using reference books or the computer,

Mexican town, a little Italy? What was

tlers? Do they settle in the same areas?

show students how to find a few simple

it like? Wlhy do we have communi-

Why or why not?

facts about their family’s country of ori-

ties that are made up predominently of

When the Carolina Chocolate Drops

gin. Tell them to look for something spe-

one ethnic group? Discuss immigrants

decided they wanted to perform the

cial that represents or is identified with

coming to this country not knowing the

music of the Piedmon Region in North

the country. Share these facts any way

language or culture and settling near

and South Carolina, they went to a

you wish. Ask for written paragraphs

other people from the same country.

man named Joe Thompson, an old-time

or reports, oral presentations, collages,

Talk about comfort level, ease of living,

fiddler, who had performed that type

pictures, music, etc.

language, prejudice. Read aloud Henry

of music for years. They talked to him

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UMS 10-11

about the music, listened to him and

cas and bones and just had a good time

to their mother and their mother sang to

learned from him. They used his music as

playing and singing and dancing. It was

them? Is there a recipe that has been in

a base and then added to it and changed

a community activity, community music,

their family for generations? Does their

it until it was their own. Through the

community entertainment. The same

mother, perhaps, have a piece of jewelry

years, we have used this same process to

kinds of things were happening with

that belonged to her grandmother or

develop some of the important institu-

other music in other parts of our country.

their dad have a watch from his grandfa-

tions and documents in our country.

Small communities of people all across

ther? What kinds of customs, traditions

the United States got together for barn

and celebrations are a part of their family

Fifth graders study America’s past. The

dances, singing and dancing to the kinds

and have been a part of their family for

first people in this country beside the na-

of music they knew and liked. Does that

many years? Have students share these

tive peoples, were mostly from England

still happen? Do small groups of people

things orally, or by writing a paper about

and other parts of Western Europe.

get together to make and enjoy music or

them and their importance.

Along with their families, they brought

do we entertain ourselves in other ways

their culture, traditions and ideas to this

today? Do we come together as a com-

Read aloud The Always Prayer Shawl

new country. By the time of the Revo-

munity for entertainment? Is our enter-

by Sheldon Oberman, Pink and Say by

lutionary War, many of those ideas had

tainment provided by people outside the

Patricia Polacco, Always an Olivia by

become a part of our nation.

community? Do we entertain ourselves

Carolivia Herron and The Burnt Stick by

with more solitary pursuits?

Anthony Hill. These are all books about

Take a look at the Declaration of Inde-

the connection between generations and

pendence and the Constitution. Where

The music played by the Carolina Choco-

the passing down of customs, traditions,

did the ideas in the those documents

late Drops is head-bobbing, foot-stamp-

ideas, stories and special things.

originate? Did we change them in any

ing music. It’s available if you google

The following National Standards are met

way? How?

California Chocolate Drops. Play some of

completely or in part with the included

this music for your students before they

curriculum guide.

The Constitution was formed so that it

attend the concert and set them loose to

could meet the changing needs of our

move and dance to the sound. After stu-

country. How can we change the Consti-

dents have heard the Carolina Chocolate

tution? What is the process? Have we

Drops play, play a piece of classical music.

changed the Constitution? How?

Have students think of as many words as they can to describe and compare the

Fourth graders study regions of the

two kinds of music.

United States. Find North Carolina on the map. In what section of the country

The band members of the Carolina

is it? North, South, East or West?

Chocolate Drops went to Joe Thompson and listened to him talk about and play

The Piedmont Region of North Carolina

his music and the music of the Piedmont

is a hilly section of the state at the base

Region in North Carolina. He passed

of the mountains. In what geographical

down his musical heritage, the music he

region is North Carolina? How would

knew and performed, to the members

you describe that region? How does that

of the band. We learn about our history

part of North Carolina compare to the

and feel connected to our past when

region in which you live?

ideas, things and skills are passed down to us from the generation before us the

When the Black people who lived in the

way Joe Thompson passed down his

Piedmont Region of North Carolina got

music. Ask students if anything in their

together they played music for their own

family has been passed down. Ask if

entertainment. People took out kazoos

there is a song their grandmother sang

and banjos, fiddles and guitars, harmoniUMS 10-11

41

ENGAGE

LESSON PLANS Langston Hughes and the Blues http://rockhall.com/education/resources/lesson-plans/sti-lesson-2/ An authentic African-American folk-music and the foundation for much American music including rock and roll, the blues is a unique expression of black American culture. In addition to being an art form in its own right, the blues has inspired many writers and artists including Langston Hughes. Exploring the connections between the blues and the poetry of Hughes will enrich students’ understanding of the African-American experience in the early part of this century.

You Don’t Know What You’ve Got Until It’s Gone: The Changing American Landscape http://rockhall.com/education/resources/lesson-plans/sti-lesson-15/ The rise of American cities between 1865 and 1900 was spawned by the industrial revolution. Technological advancements in industry and transportation fathered the enormous growth of large cities across the United States. The patterns of urban growth then saw the rising middle-class moving further out from the cities creating the suburbs. Suburbs flourished as rural areas dwindled with farmers selling off their land for new housing developments and shopping malls. Today, we have a global and mobile society interconnected by computers, fax machines and the internet. These changes in the way Americans live and work have sparked new challenges for each generation. Understanding the causes and effects of these changes may enable students to better prepare for the world of the future. By studying contemporary song lyrics, students may be better able to recognize the effects of these changes upon others.

Runaway Slaves http://rockhall.com/education/resources/lesson-plans/sti-lesson-19/ The Underground Railroad was a significant part of American History. It served as a lifeline to hundreds of slaves who risked their lives to escape the horrors of bondage. Through readings of primary sources and listening to music, students will gain a better understanding of how slaves pursued their “freedom” by stealing away to “Follow The Drinking Gourd” to the north and to freedom.

I Went to the Crossroads: The Faust Theme in Music, Film, and Literature http://rockhall.com/education/resources/lesson-plans/sti-lesson-27/ The Faust theme, that of risking eternal damnation by selling one’s soul to the devil in exchange for magical powers, can be found in virtually every genre of music as well as in literature and the visual arts. Examples utilizing this theme can be found as early as biblical times as a means of understanding humanity’s place in the universe and the struggle between good and evil. This interdisciplinary lesson focuses on the life and music of bluesman Robert Johnson as a twentieth-century interpretation of this famous myth and demonstrates thematic connections between various art forms.

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UMS 10-11

Guitar Is Everywhere! http://www.pbs.org/teachers/connect/resources/6351/preview/ A quick activity (10-15 minutes) in which students watch a guitar performance and discuss the versatility of this amazing instrument.

What Does this Song Really Say? http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/educators/lessons/grade-3-4/What_does_this_song_say.aspx Students listen to, sing, and read the lyrics to various African-American spirituals. They discuss the coded messages in the songs, and the purpose of these codes. Students then write original coded messages, and present their work in a performance format.

Twelve-Bar Blues: Examining the History of Blues http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/educators/lessons/grade-6-8/Twelve_Bar_Blues.aspx Students will first learn about the history of blues music and important figures of this genre. Next, they will learn some of the key vocabulary and compositional techniques associated with the blues. Using what they have learned, students will compose a melody, using a 12-bar blues chord progression and present their melodies to the rest of the class.

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EXPLORE

OTHER RESOURCES Organizations

Web Sites

University Musical Society

Carolina Chocolate Drops

881 N University Ave

www.carolinachocolatedrops.com

Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1101 (734) 615-0122 umsyouth@umich.edu www.ums.org The Ark 316 S Main St Ann Arbor, MI 48104

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame www.rockhall.com

Smithsonian Folkways

www.folkways.si.edu

(734) 761-1818 www.theark.org

Rolling Stone Magazine www.rollingstone.com

The Program in American Culture at the University of Michigan

The Folk Alliance International

3700 Haven Hall

www.folk.org

Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1045 (734) 763-1460 ac.ing@umich.edu

The American Folklife Center

www.lsa.umich.edu/ac

www.loc.gov/folklife

Zingerman’s Roadhouse (for a southern foodways dinner) 2501 Jackson Ave Ann Arbor, MI 48103 (734) 663-3663 www.zingermansroadhouse.com

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ABOUT UMS

UMS 10-11

45

UMS

W H AT I S U M S ?

The University Musical Society (UMS) is committed to connecting audiences with performing artists from around the world in uncommon and engaging experiences.

One of the oldest performing arts presenters in the country, the University Musical Society is now in its 132nd season. With a program steeped in music, dance, and theater performed at the highest international standards of quality, UMS contributes to a vibrant cultural community by presenting approximately 60-75 performances and over 100 free educational and community activities each season.

UMS also commissions new work, sponsors artist residencies, and organizes collaborative projects with local, national, and international partners.

UMS Education and Community Engagement Department

STAFF

INTERNS

Kenneth C. Fischer,

Emily Barkakati

UMS President

MAILING ADDRESS 100 Burton Memorial Tower

Neal Kelley Claire C. Rice Interim Director

Matthew MejĂ­a

Mary Roeder

Emily Michels

881 North University Ave Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1011

Residency Coordinator

Bennett Stein Omari Rush Education Manager

Sarah Suhadolnik Britta Wilhelmsen

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UMS

U M S Y O U T H E D U C AT I O N P R O G R A M 10 THINGS TO KNOW

QUALITY Every student deserves access to

ACCESSIBILITY Eliminating participation barriers

“the best” experiences of world arts

Working directly with schools to align our programs with classroom

• UMS subsidizes Youth Performance

and culture

K-12 SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS

goals and objectives

tickets to $6/student (average subsidy: • UMS presents the finest international

$25/ticket)

performing and cultural artists.

Ann Arbor Public Schools and the Washt• When possible, UMS reimburses bus-

• Performances are often exclusive to

• Superintendent of Ann Arbor Public • UMS Youth Education offers person-

Schools is an ex officio member of the

alized customer service to teachers in

UMS Board of Directors.

• UMS Youth Performances aim to

order to respond to each school’s unique

present to students the same perfor-

needs.

mance that the public audiences see (no watered-down content).

enaw Intermediate School District.

sing costs.

Ann Arbor or touring to a small number of cities.

• 14-year official partnerships with the

• UMS has significant relationships with Detroit Public Schools’ dance and world

• UMS actively seeks out schools with

language programs and is developing

economic and geographic challenges to

relationships with other regional districts.

ensure and facilitate participation.

• UMS is building partnerships with or of-

DIVERSITY Highlighting the cultural, artistic,

fering specialized services to the region’s ARTS EDUCATION LEADER

independent and home schools.

and geographic diversity of the world One of the premier arts education • Programs represent world cultures and

programs in the country

mirror school/community demographics.

• UMS’s peer arts education programs: Car• Students see a variety of art forms:

negie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center.

classical music, dance, theater, jazz, choral, global arts.

• UMS has the largest youth education

UNIVERSITY EDUCATION PARTNERSHIPS Affecting educators’ teaching practices at the developmental stage

program of its type in the four-state region

• UMS Youth Education is developing

• UMS’s Global Arts program focuses

and has consistent school/teacher participa-

a partnership with the U-M School of

on 4 distinct regions of the world—

tion throughout southeastern Michigan.

Education, which keeps UMS informed

Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the Arab World—with a annual festival featuring

• 20,000 students are engaged each sea-

the arts of one region.

son by daytime performances, workshops and in-school visits.

• UMS Youth Education was awarded “Best Practices” by ArtServe Michigan and The Dana Foundation (2003).

of current research in educational theory and practice.

• University professors and staff are active program advisors and workshop presenters.

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47

KENNEDY CENTER PARTNERSHIP

TEACHER ADVISORY COMMITTEE

• UMS Youth Education has been a

Meeting the actual needs of today’s

member of the prestigious Kennedy

educators in real time

Center Partners in Education Program since 1997.

• Partners in Education is a national consortium of arts organization and public school partnerships.

• UMS Youth Education works with a 50-teacher committee that guides program decision-making.

• The Committee meets throughout the season in large and small groups

• The program networks over 100 na-

regarding issues that affect teachers and

tional partner teams and helps UMS stay

their participation: ticket/bussing costs,

on top of best practices in education and

programming, future goals, etc.

arts nationwide.

IN-SCHOOL VISITS & CURRICULUM PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT “I find your arts and culture workshops to be one of the ‘Seven Wonders of Ann Arbor’!”

–AAPS Teacher

DEVELOPMENT Supporting teachers in the classroom • UMS Youth Education places international artists and local arts educators/ teaching artists in classes to help educa-

• UMS Youth Education provides some

tors teach a particular art form or model

of the region’s most vital and responsive

new/innovative teaching practices.

professional development training.

• UMS develops nationally-recognized

• Over 300 teachers participate in our

teacher curriculum materials to help

educator workshops each season.

teachers incorporate upcoming youth performances immediately in their daily

• In most workshops, UMS utilizes and engages resources of the regional community: cultural experts and institutions, performing and teaching artists.

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classroom instruction.

UMS Youth Education Program umsyouth@umich.edu | 734-615-0122 www.ums.org/education

SEND US YOUR FEEDBACK! UMS wants to know what teachers and students think about this Youth Performance.

We hope you’ll send us your thoughts, drawings, letters, or reviews.

UMS YOUTH EDUCATION PROGRAM Burton Memorial Tower • 881 N. University Ave. • Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1011 (734) 615-0122 phone • (734) 998-7526 fax • umsyouth@umich.edu www.ums.org/education

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