Leaving Eden

The new release from the American acoustic trio comes with high expect¬ations, after its pre¬decessor, Genuine Negro Jig won a Grammy last year for Best Traditional Folk Album. Since then, there has been a line-up change, with multi¬instrumentalist Hubby Jenkins joining founder members Dom Flemons and Rhiannon Giddens, and they’ve turned to Nashville country music veteran Buddy Miller (Emmylou Harris/Linda Ronstadt/ Steve Earle) to produce them. The 15 tracks here explore the traditional banjo/ fiddle/guitar model of string-band music, developed by former slaves in the Piedmont region of North Carolina during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They are often invigorating, occasionally moving; Giddens has a lovely, keening voice that suits the old-time style to perfection. The problem is whether they are energising the string band heritage, or whether they are simply recreating it in a folkloric, almost academic way. The answer is probably a bit of both.

At their best, on ‘West End Blues’, ‘I Truly Understand That You Love Another’ and Giddens’ solo showcase ‘Little Pretty Bird’, they breathe earthy new life into the music, aided by Miller’s production, which avoids over-polishing what is meant to be a raw and rustic style. In other places, as on the a capella ‘Read ‘Em John’ and the banjo tune ‘Briggs’ Corn Shucking Jig’, they sound like an exercise devised on a folk music university course. How to sound convincing when working in an old-fashioned style plucked out of its time is a familiar problem faced by revivalists of every stripe, of course. On balance, the Chocolate Drops just about get away with it. But at times it’s a close-run thing.