Style: Rugged, old-timey folk; compare to Leadbelly, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Buddy & Julie Miller
Top Tracks: “Leaving Eden,” “West End Blues,” “No Man’s Mama”
You can hear the sound of Tennessee cicadas harmonizing in the background of the new Carolina Chocolate Drops album—as if the band needs any help convincing us that this is real music with real roots, performed with all the grit and raw beauty of a live performance. Produced by Buddy Miller, Leaving Eden expands on the strengths of 2010’s Grammy-winning Genuine Negro Jig, making mountain folk music that reaches into the past but is teeming with all the joy and strife of living in the present. The album is full of heartache and humor, deep blues and spirited celebration; the title song is devastating, a hymn to a life of toil that ends in a bittersweet goodbye.
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