Exclusive first listen: A new project by Dom Flemons of Carolina Chocolate Drops, featuring Boo Hanks

You’re probably best familiar with Dom Flemons as one third of North Carolina-based old timey revivalist band the Carolina Chocolate Drops. Indeed, Flemons was a founding member, coming from Sankofa Strings, etc. He hasn’t left the CCDs, but he is about to drop a side project with Virginia-bred artist Boo Hanks. And, as an exclusive offer for the fine folks of the ND community, the Music Maker Relief Foundation gave us this free track to let you download from the duo’s forthcoming collaborative album. Sounds darn good to me – I’m always happy to hear what Dom’s up to. (Of course, it helps I’m now a Carolinian myself, so this is our local music.)

At any rate, go ahead and click on this download (click to listen; right-click to download it): Girls Are Crazy About Me

And now this, from the press release: 

This album is the result of a partnership between Piedmont-style blues guitarist Hanks and Flemons, who in 2011 won a Grammy Award and played the Newport Folk Festival with his group the Carolina Chocolate Drops. Hanks worked the tobacco fields near his Virginia home for the majority of his 83 years. In 2006 he began a partnership with Music Maker Relief Foundation that led to opportunities such as opening for the Chocolate Drops and playing at Lincoln Center. Hanks met Flemons on the day he arrived at the Music Maker Relief Foundation office, and the two have remained friends. Their collaborative album, Buffalo Junction, named for Boo Hanks’ hometown, features upbeat, country blues that crosses generational lines.

Dom Flemons said of the recording experience: “Boo Hanks is a treasure.  His vocal and guitar phrases are something so unique and forgotten in the modern world of folk and blues.  He an absolutely engaging songster and it has been a pleasure to have played with him for several years and to be a part of this album which will hopefully present his music to a much wider audience.”

Hanks has been a Music Maker Partner Artist since 2006, and up until that time his music was only heard by those in the communities close to his Virginia home. Since beginning work with Music Maker, he has performed all over the country, and developed a professional friendship with Music Maker Next Generation Artists Flemons. Through Next Generation partnerships, MMRF is able to foster the continuation of Southern traditional music among younger generations of musicians. Buffalo Junction is a collaborative album that does just that.

Track Listing

Railroad Bill
Drinking Wine, Spodie Odie
Truckin’ My Blues Away
One Dime Blues
Wild Geese
Move to the Outskirts of Town
Diddy Wah Diddy
Ain’t Nobody Here But Me
Going Down to Cincinnati
Wanna Boogie Oogie
Girls Are Crazy About Me
My Captain Gone On Before