Genuine Negro Jig, Nonesuch ****

This is a fascinating record, and entertaining to boot. The Drops are a three-piece string band from North Carolina who specialise in Piedmont string band music from the American northeast. This vernacular music, which peaked early in the last century, is on the point of dying out, but these three musicians (two classically trained) aim to stop the rot. Piedmont string band music differs from the better known Piedmont blues in that it borrows heavily from white traditions in the nearby Appalachian Mountains. The banjo is key to the sound, with the fiddle also prominent. There are 12 tracks here (two contemporary covers and 10 traditional tunes and songs), and none more surprising than Rhiannon Giddens's very traditional reading of the British and Irish tune Reynardine. This kind of musical scavenging can be quite flat, but producer Joe Henry encourages a foot-stomping intensity that steers a rewarding path between novelty and academic research. Equally, their dusty version of r'n'b singer Blue Cantrell's Hit Em Up Styleshouldn't work but does with a vengeance, as do the instrumentals, such as the title track. www.carolinachocolatedrops.com

Download tracks: Hit Em Up Style, Reynardine