FRANKLIN — The Carolina Chocolate Drops, reportedly one of the two full-time African-American old-time string bands, unveiled a winning combination of eye-popping showmanship and uncanny ability to connect with the crowd, along with stellar musical ability, during a Feb. 22 concert at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts.

However, the ultra-high-energy concert was not only entertaining but educational as well, as it featured a number of interludes during which group members told of the contributions by blacks to the musical genre over the years — from the invention of the banjo in Africa that was brought to the new world, to some of the little-known African-American string band musical innovators.

The Durham-based Drops noted the irony of the period after the Civil War when the banjo became popular among mainstream Americans ... and white performers would play that instrument in minstrel shows — in blackface.

On the Drops’ website, Rhiannon Giddens, one of the group’s two remaining founding members, noted, “The more digging you do, the more you realize how amazingly mixed everything has been since the beginning. I’m really getting into minstrel-era music and the tunes are remarkable.... 

“The minstrel stuff hasn’t had a bigger stage because of the objectionable lyrics and its history. It takes a group like us — we’re young, we’re black, we can say that we’re going to play these tunes — to dig in and get this music back out there.”

Regarding the issue of race today, Giddens told the crowd that she was from the Greensboro area and “there’s a whole race thing going on” there. After much consideration of many aspects of the situation, she said, “I’ve realized I’m Southern before anything else.” The crowd of about 1,000 people, the vast majority of whom were white, cheered.

From the start of the concert, the crowd applauded the Drops’ performance, bestowing upon them several standing ovations throughout the show, as well as after the last song of the regular 90-minute show and the encore that generously included two songs. “Read ‘em John,” a ring shout, was the closer, which the group dedicated to marking the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Besides Giddens, the other Drops are Dom Flemons, who acted as main emcee for the show, sang lead on a number of songs, played guitar and a number of percussion instruments (including the bones and the jub) and even danced; guitar-banjo-mandolin player Hubby Jenkins and cellist Leyla McCall,

Two highlights of the show were the Drops’ rendition of Johnny Cash’s “Jackson,” featuring Giddens and Jenkins on lead vocals in a rip-roaring performance; and the hauntingly exquisite ballad, “Leaving Eden,” with Giddens singing lead.

On “Jackson,” the group began it at a breakneck speed — and it was loud and rollicking. Then the Drops suddenly slowed it down and nearly whispered the lyrics, before flooring it again at full throttle, as the crowd cheered merrily.

Giddens noted that “Leaving Eden” references Eden, N.C. She added that the song tells about the tragedy for families who are left bereft when a big industry leaves a small town.

Among the other standout songs performed were “Going Down the River Feeling Bad,” “Buck Creek Girls,” “Old Corn Liquor” and “Cornbread and Butterbeans.”

At one point, Flemons and Giddens told the crowd that they met at the Black Banjo Gathering in Boone in 2005 — and later formed the Drops.

At the end of the concert, Flemons asserted, on behalf of the group, “Y’all have been a beautiful audience and it’s been a pleasure to play for you all evening.”