"There's all these new dances that the kids are doing, and they're basically square-dance calling, based on calls or lines that a person is saying," said Flemons, one of the Carolina Chocolate Drops.

"It's similar to things that were going on in Africa, but it's also similar to things that were going on in America 100 years ago," he said. "It's just absolutely blowing me away."

Oh, it's blowing away all three members of this year's guest artist trio at the 33rd Alaska Folk Festival.

For years before Flemons, Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson even met, they studied early-20th-century African-American string and country bands.

And they wondered: "Why aren't there more black players interested in keeping this black music alive?"

"It's nice to see that more people are getting interested in older types of music in general," Flemons said. "I've noticed this movement all across America - a need for organic music that's not so polished. I've been noticing that people just want to get away from the expectations of society. People want to grow their own stuff, and they want their own this and that."

"A lot of people don't know that the banjo has African origins, that black people were integral to the formation of country music, that black people used to play old-time music," Giddens said. "There was a huge tradition of African-American fiddling in the South that even people in the black community don't know about.

"I didn't know about it until I graduated from college," she said.

The three Drops aren't that far from their college days. Still in their 20s, they met in April 2005 during the four-day Black Banjo Gathering at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C.

The four-day party brought together a lot of black players from the mostly white string-band world, and it also attracted scholars who were interested in keeping the history of the music alive.

"It was like the pieces of the puzzle were just laid right in front of us," Flemons said. "Everybody at the gathering felt that, and everybody just hit ground zero.

"All the poeple there were saying, 'Wow, there are other black people who are doing this?'" he said. "It was a very heavy thing just for people to see it."

Once the Drops discovered their shared interest in early black string-band traditions, they decided to form a group. It was the first full-time string band for all three. For their name, they chose an homage to the Tennessee Chocolate Drops, an early-1920s black string band.

"We're a community of three that have differerent stories and different lives, and what we do, we do as a collective," Flemons said.

"There's not a big connection with this music in black culture," he said. "But it's OK to like country music, and it's okay to like the banjo. We've had occasions where people have come up to and said, 'Thanks for doing this. My grandfather used to cut the buck. He used to play the fiddle.'"

On stage, the Drops play jug and string band music, but mix in early blues, early jazz, a little bit of pipes and drums, Celtic arrangements and even their first hip-hop song (fiddle, banjo, and Justin providing the beatbox).

courtesy of the Carolina Chocolate Drops   Folk explosion: From left, Justin Robinson, on the fiddle; Rhiannon Giddens, on the banjo, and Dom Flemons, on the jug, are the Carolina Chocolate Drops. They're band is the guest artist for the 33rd Alaska Folk Festival.

Old Hat Records, a 13-year-old Raleigh-based label specializing in reissues of early 20th century music, has been a tremendous resource for the band. Check out their site: www.oldhatrecords.com.

"We say we play old-time music, but really, all the terms are problematic," Giddens said. "You can say we play the roots of America music, and that's really what we do. We're a string band, but we mess around with traditional forms."

At the gathering, the group also met now-88-year-old Joe Thompson, a resident of Mebane, N.C., and one of the few surviving black traditional string-band players. They've studied with him for the last two years.

"He's very gently taught us what he knows, and he continues to teach us by doing what he does," Giddens said.

In Juneau, the Drops will be playing with percussionist, writer and archivist Sule Greg Wilson, the de-facto fourth member of the band. Wilson has been studying world percussion since attending junior high school in Washington, D.C. He's played with a who's-who of traditional world and string-band players, including 2005 guest artist and banjo player Tony Trischka.

Robinson, the group's fiddler and banjo player, is a classically trained violinist who gravitated toward old-time music a few years ago. His interests include the diverse regional styles of Carolina picking.

Giddens grew up in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, but didn't learn much about the African-American string tradition of the region. She studied opera at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and fell in love with old-time music as she began attending contra dances.

Giddens acquired her first fiddle in 2001, and bought her first banjo in 2002.

Last year, she traveled to The Gambia for two weeks and studied the akonting, a two-string West African ancestor of the banjo. All three band members are hoping to visit next year.

"In the schools, when we ask kids where the banjo comes from, they invariably say it came from cowboy music," Giddens said. "But the instrument is much more integral to the formation of American popular music."

The musical encyclopedia of the group, Flemons grew up in Phoenix and spent years busking. His sets were notable for their puzzling diversity - anything from traditional man-on-the-corner blues to country to jazz to classic rock.

About nine years ago, he turned more heavily into the blues and began exploring the early 20th century.

"With music you can learn a lot about people, and a lot about how they think and how they move," Flemons said.

"Just like any documentation of culture, the history of black culture has been told in music," he said. "I can get some sense of black life based on how the music sounds and how they use their instruments."

Flemons picked up the jugs six years ago, inspired by early groups like Louisville Jug Band, Cannon's Jug Stompers and the Even Dozen Jug Band.

The Black Banjo Gathering also helped Flemons indulge his long-time interest in the quills, a series of calliope-sounding, cane-reed pipes popularized by early country-blues player Henry Thomas, and later, the classic rock band Canned Heat.

Musician and folklorist Mike Seeger was at the gathering and gave Flemons the address of a quill maker in Californai.

"It's a powerful energy that comes out of that instrument," Flemons said. "We'll do a number of school shows, and they'll bus in third and fourth-graders that'll be a little rambunctious. I just pull the quills out before we get announced. I'll blow a little tune that takes out the whole auditorium."

Presenting the Carolina Chocolate Drops

Dom Flemons

A native Arizonan and modern "songster," Flemons has immersed himself in many different play styles from blues, country, jazz, rock and string-band traditions. He boasts a massive record collection. As part of the Carolina Chocolate Drops Flemons uses his harmonicas for melody. His jug and guitar gives the band its rhythm.

Rhiannon Giddens

Growing up, Giddens experienced bluegrass from one side of her family and classic blues and jazz from the other. After graduating from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Giddens worked extra jobs to buy her first banjo and fiddle. She says her style is heavily influenced by the music of Joe and Odell Thompson. Giddens also contra dances.

Justin Robinson

Robinson is the fiddler of CCD and plucks the banjo on occasion. His mother is a classically trained opera singer, his sister is a classical pianist and his grandfather plays the harmonica. Robinson first played classical violin at age 9 and just recently became interested in bluegrass and old-time fiddle music. He is mostly interested in traditional southern music.

Sule Greg Wilson

Wilson brings more than 30 years of folk and world music to CCD. Native to Washington, D.C., Wilson has traveled the world and sampled its music from Bolivia to Belfast. He has performed with the likes of Howard Armstrong, Joe Thompson, Algia Mae Hinton, John Jackson and Mike Seeger.