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Black Stringbands

April 14, 2010: For this recording, Art joins us via telephone after his trip to the Black Banjo Gathering, where the Carolina Chocolate Drops met some years ago. With the emergence of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and their revival of the Black stringband sound, this segment deals with black musicians in the string-band tradition who were inaccurately marketed by record labels as blues artists. Art draws the connection between this material and what the Carolina Chocolate Drops are currently doing. What sets black stringbands apart from typical Appalachian and traditional folk music is the use of unique instrumentation with devices like the quill, a variation on the standard pan flute.