The Chocolate Drops are good. They are also fearless, amazingly fearless, in their attack on our current assumptions about race relations.

The old-time world of the early 1900's was not a segregated musical culture. Black and white musicians played together commonly. The Chocolate Drops have identified excellent musicians as models, developed a style of their own and boldly insisted that the we break the race stereotypes that have limited black participation in old-time music.

In case you aren't aware of how limiting your own assumptions can be, try to imagine a well-educated, young, black man entering a public flat-foot dance competition with a largely white audience as Dom Flemmons has. The Chocolate Drops challenge us all to play and perform the music we love and ignore all racial stereotypes and barriers, liberal, conservative, old, new. All music should be there for all, not blues for blacks, old-time for whites, salsa for Hispanics.

In case you can't tell, I'm a huge fan and grateful to the Chocolate Drops for good old-time music and good social action.