Rolling Stone Magazine described the Carolina Chocolate Drops’ style of music as “dirt-floor-dance electricity.” The band, which formed in 2005 in North Carolina, got their initial start on the music festival circuit and soon shared the stage with Taj Mahal. In 2007, they appeared in Denzel Washington’s film The Great Debaters and joined Garrison Keiler on Prairie Home Companion. A year later, they received an invitation to play on the Grand Ole Opry as the first black string band to perform on its stage. The release of their latest album Genuine Negro Jig this year has confirmed the group's place in the music pantheon. With its tongue in cheek, multiple-meaning title, the album ranges boldly from Joe Thompson’s Cindy Gal to Tom Waits’ Trampled Rose and band member Rhiannon Gidden’s acoustic hip hop version of R&B artist Blu Cantrell’s Hit ‘Em Up Style.

Local Support: The Lighthouse and the Whaler

Despite its nautical name, Northeast Ohio band The Lighthouse and the Whaler was born in a field.  While waiting for the photographer to arrive at an outdoor photo shoot, the ad hoc trio took up their instruments and tried their hands at a musical collaboration. In late 2008 it self-produced its first EP, A Whisper, A Clamour. The band’s blend of ethereal folk and sweeping harmonies quickly caught the attention of Paste, which featured the band’s first single – “Field Song” – on its acclaimed CD sampler. The band also earned early praise and recognition from Under the Radar and FILTER, which in July 2009 declared The Lighthouse and the Whaler its “Unsigned Band of the Month.” After nine months of writing and tinkering in Cleveland, The Lighthouse and the Whaler released its debut, self-titled LP in 2010, just as they were named “Best Indie Artist” at the 2010 Cleveland Music Awards. Described as “colorful, eccentric and fantastically triumphant,” the album showcases the band’s ability to take seemingly simple instrumentations and layer them into something powerful and strong.

Summer in the City is sponsored by Ohio Natural Gas, Kia Motors, Time Warner Cable, KeyBank, Jim Beam and Twisted Tea.

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