30-Minute Music Hour

>> It's the 30 Minute Music Hour. I'm Andy Moore. Tonight it's the Carolina Chocolate Drops! ( beatboxing ) Everybody talkin' 'bout Their sweetie nowadays I've got the one With the sweetest ways Your baby may Roll her jelly fine Nobody's baby can Roll it like mine Your baby Ain't sweet like mine She bake her jelly roll All the time And when I'm feelin' Lonesome and blue My baby Know just what to do Yes sir She even call me honey She even let me Spend her money Never has a baby Put me outdoors She even buys me All of my clothes I don't want to brag Just want to put you in line Your baby Ain't sweet like mine Oh no Your baby Ain't sweet like mine Play it Oh, play that thing Play it Your baby Ain't sweet like mine She bake her jelly roll All the time And when I'm feelin' Lonesome and blue My baby Know just what to do Yes sir She even call me honey She even let me Spend her money Never has a baby Put me outdoors She even buys me Every piece of my clothes Now I don't want to brag Just want to put you in line Your baby Ain't sweet like mine Oh no Your baby Ain't sweet like mine Rattle them bones Blow that jug Where's your jug? ( beatboxing ) (laughs) Your baby Ain't sweet like mine She bake her jelly roll All the time And when I'm feelin' Lonesome and blue Oh my baby Know just what to do Yes sir She even call me honey Honey, honey She even let me Spend her money Never has a baby Put me outdoors It's too cold She even buys me All of my clothes And his shoes I don't want to brag Just want to put you in line Your baby Ain't sweet like mine Oh no Your baby Ain't sweet like mine Ah yeah Your baby Ain't sweet like mine ( applause ) >> Thank you folks. Now this next one we're going to do is one that Hubby is going to sing. It's called "From Four 'Til Late." >> It goes a little something like this. Where would I be without you? >> The sweet sound of tuning. From four 'til late I was wringing my hands And cryin' From four 'til late I was wringing my hands And cryin' I believe in my soul That your man Is Gulfport bound Now from Memphis to Norfolk Is a 36-hour drive From Memphis to Norfolk Is a 36-hour drive Ain't a man Just like a prisoner And he ain't never satisfied Now, a woman's Just like a dresser Some man's always running Through its drawers That woman's Just like a dresser Some man's always running Right through its drawers Cause so many men To wear an apron overall Go on, man. ( imitating trombone ) I said From four 'til late She gets with a no good Bunch of clowns Yeah from four 'til late She'll get with a no good Bunch of clowns And she don't do nothing But tear a good man's Reputation down Now when I leave this town Gonna bid you fare-- Farewell When I leave this town Gonna bid you fare-- Farewell But when I come back again You'll have a great long Story to tell ( applause) >> Well, we'll do this one called "Hit 'Em Up Style." It's just a good old-fashioned revenge number. Y'all ready? >> Yeah. >> Okay. ( beatboxing ) Well, he was schemin' I was beamin' In his Beamer just beamin' I can't believe that I caught my man cheatin' So I found another way To make him pay for it all So I went to Neiman Marcus On a shoppin' spree-ah And on the way I grabbed Sole & Mia As cashbox rang I threw everything away Hey Ladies When you're man Wanna get buck wild Just go back And Hit 'Em Up Style Get your hands on his cash And spend it To the last dime For all the hard times When you go Then everything goes From the crib To the ride And the clothes So, you better let him know That if he mess up You gotta hit 'em up There goes the dreams We used to say There goes the times We went away There goes the love I had But you cheated on me And that's for that now There goes the house We made a home There goes You'll never leave me alone There go the lies You told This is what you owe Oh, oh, oh This is what you Owe-owe-owe While he was braggin' I was comin' down the hill Just draggin' All his pictures And his clothes In my bag, and Threw everything out Till there Was just nothing left And I paid all the bills About a month too late It's a shame We have to play these games The love we had Just fades away Fades away-ay-ay Hey Ladies When you're man Wanna get buck wild Just go back And hit 'em up style Get your hands on his cash And spend it To the last dime For all the hard times When you go Then everything goes From the crib To the ride And the clothes So, you better let him know That If he mess up You gotta hit 'em up Hey, Ladies What? When you're man Wanna get buck wild Come on Just go back And hit 'em up style Get your hands on his cash And spend it To the last dime For all the hard times When you go Then everything goes From the crib To the ride And the clothes So you better let him know That if he mess up You gotta hit 'em uh-uh-up ( applause) >> Well that got the studio rocking. Great stuff. That's a cut, Hit 'Em Up Style from that beautiful package right there. That's a Grammy Award winning record, Genuine Negro Jig. This is the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Adam, Rhiannon, Dom, and Hubby. Welcome. Thanks for coming. The music has such deep roots. You're doing your own thing with it Dom. Give us the 30-second background though on where the music came from and how you found it. Thirty, ready, go! >> Oh man, all right. ( chuckles ) Well the old time fiddling banjo tradition in America is several hundred years old. How we got into it, there was a listserv called Black Banjo Players Then and Now. It's a listserv that's meant to talk about and explore the African and African American roots of the banjo, which at the time really wasn't well known. Rhiannon and I met at a thing called the Black Banjo Gathering, which happened in Boone, North Carolina in 2005. That's how we started the group the Carolina Chocolate Drops. We played with a fellow named Joe Thompson, who is now 92 years-old, he's been playing since he was a very little boy. That was kind of the formation of our group. That's the how we started out and then from there we kind of expanded on. These are our two new members, Hubby Jenkins and Adam Matta. >> And what additions they are to the line up. If you saw their program in Madison just the night before, we're on live on the web and this was taped. Never seen a theater respond, and who would have thunk that beatbox and a string band would work? There are a lot of people who were dubious about that right? Weren't there? >> There are. >> Why do you think it works Adam? The beat in this kind of music. >> Well there's just the element of the groove. The groove matches really well doing the beat. There's also the fact that the beatbox is an organic art form. It's kind of like a folk music in and of itself. It can be traced back to ancient art forms of vocal percussion. Just the same way that the Drops are upholding their tradition. These roots do go way back and it's just about using what you got to created a sound, to create music, and to get people to dance. >> It does give new meaning to oral tradition. >> Yeah exactly. >> Who's idea was it to find Adam or for you to find the Chocolate Drops? >> Well we met three years ago on a project. I have some friends from New York who have a band based in Brooklyn that play gypsy punk klezmer tango music, all string band stuff. That band knew the Drops from the folk circuit and they brought me down to meet with them, to meet the Drops three years ago to collaborate on some recordings and just have fun and mixing the beats. I met the Drops three years ago and when Justin, the original third member decided to leave the band last year they gave me a call. >> Right. And meanwhile Hubby comes into the fold too with a mandolin, adds it's own panache, it's own little sparkle and shine, and more bones. How many bands have more than one bones player? ( chuckles ) So no regrets? >> No, no regrets at all. I've been friends with Dom for a long time and gotten to hang out with them for a couple years while they were doing their thing and everything's been real natural, everything's been clicking. No regrets at all. >> Yeah it shows. It seems like you guys have been together in this line up a lot longer than a few months. I've got to ask about the Grammy. Rhiannon, what was it like? Was that insane to win a Grammy? >> Um, yeah. I mean-- ( chuckles ) Honestly, we were just happy to be nominated. The winning it was pretty over the top. We were just excited to be there. You know? >> Right. Was the event like super fancy, and swag, and free gifts? >> People ask us about the swag, we didn't get any swag. Not even after we won, there was just too many people. There's like 98 categories in the daytime, but it was just, you know, kind of exciting just to be there. Neither me nor Dom are really into the cocktail party thing, so there was a couple parties we kind of showed up and went, okay that's enough and we left. It was cool to be there. >> When we got there, that was when we realized that we were just in Traditional Folk and that's why we're on the commercials half, 'cause we hit the red carpet, and... >> Nobody was there. >> All the news commentators were there, but they didn't stop us. We just kept walking right in there with no problem. >> Only the Carolina Chocolate Drops would celebrate winning a traditional folk music Grammy by hiring a beatbox. So innovate and continue and thank you so much for your uplifting music. Please if we could have a few more, it'd be great. >> Sure thing. Well, this is one that Adam wrote here. You know he's had some hard times, and I guess he's going to have to tell you in song about it. >> That's right, beatboxing is a difficult journey. And this is a song-- It's a country waltz about beatboxing and about the trials-- ( chuckles ) Trying to make it happen. I'm done with your letters I'm done with your jokes I'm done With your album covers I'm done with your hoax You had me believin' That you'd be my bride But it's gettin' harder And harder and harder To beatbox And smile at the same time We had a show At the town county hall I kept the tempo And Rivermen called But every time I looked down at the line You were entangled In arms that weren't mine And if it hadn't Been over and over again The same partner I'd probably be fine But it's getting harder And harder and harder To beatbox And smile at the same time ( beatboxing) You told me We were meant to be And all of a sudden I had to agree And I would Just keep beatboxing As long as I can As long as You were next to me Holdin' my hand And now I'd have to write you A thousand little words Or draw you a picture 'Cause you hadn't heard I'm done with your letters I'm done With your lies today I'm done With your album covers I'm givin' 'em all away And I'll keep telling myself I could stop on a dime But it's getting harder And harder and harder To beatbox And smile at the same time It's getting harder And harder and-- ( beatboxing ) To beatbox And smile at the same-- It's getting-- ( beatboxing ) ( imitating scrubbing, and slowing way down ) ...time ( applause ) It's real hard out here for a beatboxer, you know. ( chuckles ) >> This next tune we'll do here, this is one called Po' Black Sheep. This is a piece that a fellow recorded of a duo named Nathan Frazier and Frank Patterson. All right. Here we go. Whoa, Lammy Po' black sheep Ain't got no mammy Sheep and the goat They went to the pasture Sheep said goat, you'd Better get a little faster I got a gal Lives in this town I know my gal fool around Oh, my gal She's pretty and fine Oh, I wish my gal was mine Yep! Eight hands up Circle to the right Promenade all the way around Grab the gal You love the best Leave my gal alone Yep! Yeah, Lammy Yeah, Lammy Po' Black Sheep Ain't Got no Mammy ( applause ) >> Thank you so much folks. Now this last tune we're going to do for you, this is a little spiritual number that we learned from that fiddler that I was mentioning earlier, Joe Thompson. This is one called, "Lights in the Valley," so all you folks at home you can sing along, if you'd like, as well. A little bit of this one, "Lights in the valley." It's also known as "Do Lord Remember Me." Lots of people have done it, and hopefully it will keep on for a long time. Lights in the valley Outshine the sun Lights in the valley Outshine the sun Lights in the valley Outshine the sun Way beyond the blue Singing in the valley Outshine the sun Singing in the valley Outshine the sun Singing in the valley Outshine the sun Way beyond the blue I'm gonna see my mother Down in the valley Gonna see my mother Down in the valley I'm gonna see my mother Down in the valley Way beyond the blue I'm gonna meet my father Down in the valley I'm gonna meet my father Down in the valley I'm gonna meet my father Down in the valley Way beyond the blue I got a home in Beulah Land Outshine the sun I got a home in Beulah Land Outshine the sun I got a home in Beulah Land Outshine the sun Way beyond the blue Now, do Lord Oh, do Lord Lord remember me Do Lord Oh, do Lord Lord remember me Do Lord Oh, do Lord Lord remember me I Said Do Lord remember me Lights in the valley Outshine the sun Lights in the valley Outshine the sun Lights in the valley Outshine the sun Way Beyond the blue >> One more time now! Lights in the valley Outshine the sun Lights in the valley Outshine the sun Lights in the valley Outshine the sun Way beyond the blue >> Take it home boys! ( applause )