Prospect Hill Dom Flemons

• 1 Til the seas run dry 03:00
• 2 Polly put the kettle on 02:19
• 3 But they got it fixed right on 02:47
• 4 Have I stayed away too long? 03:15
• 5 Georgia drumbeat 02:50
• 6 I can't do it anymore 02:17
• 7 Sonoran church two-step 02:40
• 8 Too long (I've been gone) 02:53
• 9 Marching up to Prospect Hill 01:27
• 10 It's a good thing 02:45
• 11 Grotto beat 02:20
• 12 Hot chicken 03:19
• 13 San Francisco baby 03:31
• 14 My money never runs out 03:04
• Total Runtime 38:27

Info for Prospect Hill

Known for his work as a founding member of the Grammy-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops, Dom Flemons continues to perform as an accomplished solo musician, pulling from traditions of old-time folk music and Americana to create a sound that feels both classic and fresh for a new generation of listeners.

Phoenix native Flemons picked up the guitar and harmonica as a teenager, eventually becoming a regular performer on the Arizona folk music scene. He spent his early adult years listening to records and discovering his love for blues, jazz, jug bands, country and ‘50s rock ‘n’ roll, taking particular interest in singer-songwriters like Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger, Mississippi John Hurt, and Hank Williams. These influences are heard in his music today.

A multi-instrumentalist, Flemons plays his trademark banjo, guitar, harmonica, fife, bones, drums and quills in addition to singing. His work with the Carolina Chocolate Drops earned the group a Grammy Award for its 2011 album Genuine Negro Jig. They were again nominated for the follow-up record Leaving Eden in 2012. Flemons’ recent solo album, Prospect Hill, explores ragtime, Piedmont blues, spirituals, southern folk music and jug band tunes. The album has received praise from National Public Radio’s “Fresh Air,” The Boston Globe, Paste Magazine and more.

Where the Chocolate Drops focused on one style of music, Flemons takes a broader approach on Prospect Hill, an album that encompasses folk tunes, ragtime, early jazz and rock and roll and fife-and-drum music...

... Flemons' songs may draw heavily from old styles, but Prospect Hill is never locked in the past. 'I've worked a lot of years, trying to balance that,' he says. 'I tried to make sure when I presented songs, I made them as good as the old songs I might try to interpret.'

Prospect Hill is a well-traveled album, with songs set in locales ranging from Arizona to Georgia, from San Francisco to Nashville. 'These are all places that meant something to me,' says Flemons, who lives near Chapel Hill, N.C. (USA Today)

Dom Flemons, Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica, Background Vocals
Brian Horton, Clarinet
Keith Ganz, Mike Seeger's 6-String Banjo
Kobie Watkins, Drums, Woodblocks solo
Ron Brendle, Bass
Guy Davis, Guitar
Ben Hunter, Fiddle, Background Vocals
Joe Seamons, Background Vocals
Pura Fé, Background Vocal
Brian Horton, Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone

Dom Flemons
is the "American Songster," pulling from traditions of old-time folk music to create new sounds. Having performed music professionally since 2005, he has played live for over one million people just within the past three years. As part of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, which he co-founded with Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson, he has played at a variety of festivals spanning from the Newport Folk Festival to Bonnaroo, in addition to renowned venues such as the Grand Ole Opry.

Raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Dom’s involvement with music began by playing percussion in his high school band. After picking up the guitar and harmonica as a teenager, he began to play in local coffee houses and became a regular performer on the Arizona folk music scene. Dom wrote his own songs and produced 25 albums of singer-songwriters and slam poets in the Phoenix area, including six albums of his own, during this time. He took a brief break from playing music in order to pursue slam poetry (he majored in English at Northern Arizona University) and performed in two national poetry slams in 2002 and 2003. Aside from exploring slam poetry, he spent his early adulthood listening to records and discovering a love of folk music, blues, jazz, jug band music, country music and ‘50s rock ‘n’ roll. Dom became interested in folk musicians such as Phil Ochs, Dave Van Ronk and Mike Seeger, as well as musicians such as Mississippi John Hurt, Howlin’ Wolf, Hank Williams, Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins. After stepping away from the slam poetry scene, he rekindled his interest in music, this time focusing on the old-time blues music of the pre-WWII era.

A multi-instrumentalist, Dom plays banjo, guitar, harmonica, fife, bones, bass drum, snare drum and quills, in addition to singing. He says that he incorporates his background in percussion to his banjo playing. Dom’s banjo repertoire includes not only clawhammer but also tenor and three-finger styles of playing. He first picked up the instrument when he borrowed a five-string banjo from a friend who had removed the instrument’s fifth string. As a founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, an African-American string band, Dom was able to explore his interest in bringing traditional music to new audiences. The band won a GRAMMY for its 2011 album Genuine Negro Jig and was nominated for its most recent album, Leaving Eden, in 2012.

Dom says he would like to use the traditional forms of music he has heard and immersed himself in over the years to create new soundscapes that generate interest in old-time folk music. Focusing very much on creating music that is rooted in history but taking a contemporary approach, Dom hopes to reexamine what traditional music can become.

In July 2014, Dom released his third solo record with Music Maker Relief Foundation, and his first since leaving the Carolina Chocolate Drops. Prospect Hill finds Flemons digging deeply into ragtime, Piedmont blues, spirituals, southern folk music, string band music, jug band music, fife and drum music, and ballads idioms with showmanship and humor, reinterpreting the music to suit 21st century audiences. He was featured on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross and his new album has received praise from The Boston Globe, Paste Magazine, Living Blues Magazine, and more.

Booklet for Prospect Hill