Chocolate Drops more than just revivalists

The Carolina Chocolate Drops rise above easy classification on their second album, "Genuine Negro Jig,” however, using the blues as filtered through the unique Piedmont string band movement as a stepping stone to something more.

There are plenty of moments you might expect on the band’s Nonesuch debut. "Trouble in Your Mind” is a fiddle-burnin’ traditional lament and "Your Baby Ain’t Sweet Like Mine” bounces along on a beat provided by a ceramic jug, for instance.

Producer Joe Henry helps the North Carolina band rise above the roots its members — Rhiannon Giddens, Justin Robinson and Dom Flemons — have so carefully studied, though. The album achieves liftoff velocity with "Hit ’Em Up Style,” Giddens’ take on Blu Cantrell’s R&B hit of a few years back.

The song floats along on an energized fiddle line and Giddens’ voice is a revelation, both modern and timeless.

Robinson uses an autoharp on the original "Kissin’ and Cussin”’ to lend the song a haunted and hypnotic quality. It’s the tale of a rocky relationship and a nice counterpoint to Giddens’ condemnation of cheaters.

CHECK THIS TRACK OUT: Giddens’ take on the traditional instrumental fiddle song "Snowden’s Jig (Genuine Negro Jig)” feels like a piece of history that could as easily be played on a back porch in the Carolinas as a Middle Eastern desert oasis.