Hubby Jenkins, the guitarist and bones player for the Carolina Chocolate Drops, was attempting to talk above the hustle and bustle of a bluegrass business conference last week.
It was Jenkins’ first time attending the annual event, put on by the International Bluegrass Music Association. He traveled from New York to Raleigh, North Carolina, to perform a solo set during its weekend music festival.
Jenkins was curious to see if any similarities existed between bluegrass and the music the Chocolate Drops produce. After all, so many people initially confuse what they do with bluegrass, he said.
“I had a little understanding of how much we don’t play bluegrass before this conference,” he added. “I think the main thing that I’ve learned is that we don’t play it at all.”
Formed in 2005, the Carolina Chocolate Drops were created as a vessel for various forms of traditional black music that sprung up in early America and beyond, from Piedmont blues to jazz.
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The band has five albums to its name. Its 2010 release, “Genuine Negro Jig,” which included the traditional English ballad “Reynadine” and a cover of Blu Cantrell’s “Hit ’Em Up Style,” won the group a Grammy for best traditional folk release.
Jenkins joined the Chocolate Drops in 2011 but had been playing similar styles of music from his late teens.
He grew up in New York City, in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn, where he developed a strong love for country blues.
“My friends and I were all into Bob Dylan in a big way,” he said. “We listened to his first record and discovered they were all covers of blues tunes. When I heard it, it felt like I had found the music I had been searching for my whole life.”
Through a local roots revue, dubbed “Roots & Ruckus,” Jenkins befriended the brother of the Chocolate Drops’ manager and Dom Flemons, one of the Drops’ founders. Jenkins joined up after guitarist Justin Robinson quit in 2011.
“I was really into it,” Robinson said. “I felt like our musical philosophies were definitely aligned.”
Jenkins said the band continues to evolve as members come and go.
Flemons left the Chocolate Drops late last year.
Tucsonans will see the group as a four-piece, with Jenkins, Rhiannon Giddens (the band’s last original member), cellist Malcolm Parson and multi-instrumentalist Rowan Corbett.
It is probable, Jenkins said, that the band will road-test a few new tunes from Giddens’ solo album, due out next year, as well as potential tracks from a new Chocolate Drops release on the horizon.
All of the band’s members come from different walks of life, which makes it a more interesting experience. “They are all looking at different things when creating music,” he said. Contact reporter Gerald M. Gay at ggay@tucson.com or 807-8430.
