While the opportunity to see a handful of your favorite artists back to back at one of the major showcases is certainly a big draw for SXSW, the real reward lies in the discovery of new musical treasures.  Whether your dropping into a diner for a quick bite, or grabbing a cool drink in a warm bar off Sixth Street, the sheer volume of live music at SXSW nearly guarantees there will be a band playing.  Thankfully, Austin rewards the wanderer, and some of the most memorable acts I caught were completely unintentional.

Our first day, after shunning the obscenely long line at the Fader Fort, I found myself at Paste’s day party on Sixth Street.  Ducking into get some water I decided to observe the stage crew, time their change over and possibly pick up something useful.  While that idea didn’t really pan out, when the stage crew finished and the Carolina Chocolate Drops took the stage, I was well rewarded for my curiousity.

I consider myself a fairly eclectic music lover, I even like Western Swing and Hard Bop, but I have always had an aversion to Bluegrass and its ilk, mostly due to its association with/bastardization by hippies.  The Chocolate Drops’ clap and stomp inducing take on traditional Southern folk, jug band and fife music blew me away though!  If you’ve ever wanted to hear Blu Cantrell covered on fiddle, jug-beat-box and bones (and honestly who hasn’t), you’ve got to check these guys out live.

If I had seen these cats on a blog I wouldn’t have given them a second glance, but thanks to aimless dehydrated wandering in the city of Austin I had my musical palette expanded and busted some moves like it was ‘86..1886 that is!!…umm, anyway, til next time..