Story via David Menconi, Down on Copperline, Orange County Arts Commission
Fiddler Joe Thompson has been gone for more than a decade, since passing in 2012 at age 93. But his musical legacy remains very much alive in the world, thanks to his understudies – most notably the members of Carolina Chocolate Drops, the latter-day Black string band he taught and mentored shortly after they formed 20 years ago.
That legacy will take the spotlight the weekend of Oct. 10-11, 2025, at Hook & Line – Thompson Music & Arts Heritage Festival. The free festival at Mebane Community Park will feature music, art, food and community, which is fitting for an event named after the first song Thompson ever learned to play as a child: “You get a line, I’ll get a pole/Meet me at the crawdad hole.”
“It’s great to be in the space of telling people what we know about Joe’s traditions, and passing them on,” says Chocolate Drops co-founder Justin Robinson. “The three of us are living links in the chain where anybody we teach, he touches, too. It feels good to hand things over to whoever is coming through.”
Born in 1918 in Orange County, Thompson lived most of his life in the town of Mebane. He was the fifth son of farmer John Arch Thompson, a fiddler who had learned music as an oral tradition handed down through generations. Young Joe grew up watching his father play with his uncle Walter, and he was playing in the family act himself by his teenage years. The style was “Frolic,” square-dance music played at house parties and family gatherings.
World War II paused the music as Joe was called to military service. When he returned in 1945, the old style of music was dying off as r&b and later rock and roll took hold. Joe didn’t really start playing seriously again until the 1970s, partnering with his banjo-playing cousin Odell.
They were a hit on the festival circuit, playing as far away as Australia. Milestones included a performance at New York City’s fabled Carnegie Hall, an NEA Fellowship and a North Carolina Folk Heritage Award.
An updated photo of Odell Thompson (left, banjo) and his brother Joe (right, fiddle) provided by the Orange County Arts Commission.
Odell’s 1994 death in a car accident ended the duo, but Joe continued playing music almost to the end of his life, even after a stroke in 2000. Joe’s reputation as someone who knew the old music drew the Chocolate Drops into his orbit after they formed in the wake of the 2005 Black Banjo Gathering at Appalachian State University. Robinson and his bandmates Rhiannon Giddens and Dom Flemons would get together Thursday nights with Thompson, who mostly led by example.
“It was a lot of teaching the old way, not formal,” says Robinson. “Just play it ’til you get it right and know it backwards, forwards, upside down and right side up. We’d mostly play the same tunes, which might sound boring. But it wasn’t, because it took us a long time to really understand what Joe was doing. Just this past year, I finally unlocked one of the things he did in the song ‘Corn Liquor.’ He’d do this lick that’s gotta be perfect, and it took me a while to even hear it. We’ve recorded that song a zillion times and I never got it right until the latest recording we just did. Sometimes you just don’t get it ’til you get it.”
The Chocolate Drops’ first album, 2006’s “Dona Got a Ramblin’ Mind,” consisted of songs they learned from Thompson. They also recorded a live LP with their mentor at MerleFest, 2008’s “Carolina Chocolate Drops & Joe Thompson” – his first album, released at age 89.
The Chocolate Drops would go on to worldwide fame, winning a Grammy Award and even cracking the Billboard pop charts. After the group disbanded, Giddens’ star rose even higher as a solo act with awards including a 2023 Pulitzer Prize and a 2017 MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship.
Giddens and Robinson will both be part of the Hook & Line Festival, starting with a Friday night discussion moderated by UNC/Chapel Hill folklorist Glenn Hinson followed by a square dance. Saturday’s events include music all day, a soul-food cookoff, and a sculpture dedication of Mebane Community Park’s brick sculpture of Odell and Joe Thompson (made by the artist Brad Spencer). North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green is scheduled to read a new poem she is writing as part of the sculpture dedication.
“I’m so glad to be doing this,” says Green, a native of Mebane and longtime friend of the Thompson family. “There has been no monumental praise given to Joe in his own town. As a creative maker, artisan and rural North Carolinian myself, it’s heartfelt for me to witness praises given to someone of Joe’s generation, who did not have many opportunities to be unleashed on a larger global scale where he would’ve been appreciated and celebrated.
The brick statue of the Thompson brothers made by Brad Spencer. (Photo via the Orange County Arts Commission.)
I’m grateful for every opportunity to celebrate those who walked before us, especially in this season of uncertainty. I hope a diverse audience will be part of celebrating this moment.”
The key aspect will be keeping Joe Thompson’s legacy alive for subsequent generations of musicians and listeners.
“Joe always wanted younger people to come along, make this music their own and build on it,” says Larry Vellani, the festival’s organizing committee coordinator. “This will be a wonderful celebration of community, with widespread support from households and businesses in the area. Joe had that influence, so much positivity.”
Hook & Line – Thompson Music & Arts Heritage Festival is Oct. 10-11 at Mebane Community Park. Admission to all events is free. For details about the schedule of events, see hookandline.org.
(Story and all photos via Orange County Arts Commission)
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