[piano intro] - Coming up on "Best of Our State".

We set out with mule rider Bernie Harberts and a look back at the early career of the Grammy Award-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops.

Join us for "Best of Our State".

We dip into treasured stories for a look at all the beauty and character of North Carolina.

I'm Elizabeth Hudson, editor in chief of Our State Magazine.

[gentle music] One of the most beloved Our State stories featured a man, a mule, a nor'easter, and a heartfelt tour of Eastern North Carolina.

We rode alongside adventurous Bernie Harberts on his magical Oriental to Aurora wagon ramble.

[gentle music continues] - Wow.

It's the first week of March.

I can see my breath.

So the first thing I'm gonna do in the wagon now is make a fire.

There's a lot of just slack time on the wagon where you're right, you light a lantern.

Get the fire going.

And it just kind of makes you think about the passage of time and and where you're headed.

On this trip, we're in Oriental now.

And on most wagon trips I simply head out, which is kind of hard to explain to people, but I always say it's a little bit like the seagull.

The seagull doesn't file a flight plan.

The seagull just leaves when the barometer makes a certain twitch.

If it goes high, maybe they fly out to sea, it goes low, they come inland and they might go land on a field that's being plowed to look for worms or critters to eat.

I work by about the same whims.

- You see any?

- Nah, I'm not a white cotton glove kind of guy.

Come on and visit.

Her name is Polly.

Give her a slice of bread.

The internal barometer inside me has risen and it's just time to go.

- [Clerk] Well good luck.

- [Clerk] Good luck.

- Thanks.

Have a good week.

But it's just like the bird, like the fish.

Time to hitch up Polly to the wagon and go.

[gentle music continues] When people see a guy walking up the road, it strikes this iconic part of all our hearts, especially in the states because that's like a sign of westward expansion.

The man, the mule, and the wagon.

We're rattling.

And so the reality is a little bit different.

And as I was traveling up the highway, cars pass me at 60 as I was going at two.

Every time one passed, you get this whoosh and it pushes your wagon forward.

And it made me realize in the three or four generations we've gone from two mile an hour travel to 60 mile an hour travel.

Being able to shed that speed bubble, it really lets you look and see and smell and hear things that you ordinarily wouldn't.

You can smell the earth, which I don't smell when I'm in my pickup truck.

Just don't get that sensory immersion.

I also don't get there as quickly when I'm in the wagon.

Many of us tend to be as independent as possible.

We're kind of self-centered creatures.

To have a mule to travel with, it really drags you out of that.

Because I need to put the mule up every night somewhere, I meet all kinds of people.

I was gonna bring it up and get some water.

I visited Virgil two or three times now.

Oh, I'm good, partner.

You can smell like the sweat and the oils and the dander after they've worked.

It gives off this just really rich horsey smell, and she'll only roll on one side at a time.

It's like clockwork.

I just love this part of the day.

Little shake.

Excellent.

That's the ritual.

As I travel, I can pick up little pieces of the community I'm going through.

Virgil had given us these pieces of wood.

It becomes part of my wagon, part of my body.

Cooking with this wood and then you heat with it.

Virgil gave us some water.

So pretty soon you're becoming a sum total of all the parts of the communities that you're traveling through.

My traveling wagon life is about other people's lives coming into my life.

It's really neat to see that people still have this generosity, be able to give something of themselves to help another person along.

And so that's how that transition starts.

Transitioning into other people's yards, their lives, their stories, their thoughts.

- [Virgil] Got in commercial fishing.

That's what my father did.

That's all I wanted to do.

And that's all I've ever done.

In the summer we'd fish off the Massachusetts coast and all and in the following year we'd come back down, work in New Jersey and then come on down to Hampton, Virginia and then on back to Carolina.

Back when I started doing, you worked on boats, you built your own nest.

- So tell me just about life on those shrimp boats.

Cause it must have been hard.

- You had no conveniences, no bathroom, shower.

You'd lay in your bunks and in bunks about 36 inches wide or what have you.

And sometime you'd wake up and they'd be right with where you'd sweat it in there.

Well it was about like you and this mule and buggy.

- Yeah, but see, I think I've got it made though, Virgil.

The uncooperative mule.

Come on mule.

It's kind of fun to see as the trip progresses, and gradually over time a trip will develop its own flavor, its own rhythm, its own identity.

You just have to step out and go.

You just have to start.

And it's impossible to predict that magic.

- You want to get good mule mileage today.

You're gonna have a tailwind.

I'm glad I'm not going to go with him.

- See you next year.

- What a sight.

Wish him well on his travel.

[gentle music] [gentle music continues] - We've got probably a 25 knot, a low front coming through on us.

It's blowing so hard from the back that the wagon is pushing Polly the mule up the highway.

So it's pretty remarkable conditions to see in Eastern North Carolina.

Hello.

- Y'all getting along all right?

- Yeah, we're rambling.

- I'm telling you, it's blowing a gale out here.

- Yes it is.

- Y'all be careful.

- When do you see a day like that, that's when you're glad that you've got a little wood stove.

And a good solid hit of mule.

When I go with a mule and the wagon, I'm forced to go through pretty much all conditions.

Damn dogs, there's always one.

Come on you damn mutt.

- I mean I've been through downtown Chattanooga and was told no, it's a terrible place to go.

Don't go there with a mule.

No problem at all.

I don't shy away from that.

I don't shy away from other people's views because that is what someone else is afraid of.

Four or five generations ago, people traveled through extraordinary weathers.

They didn't have good foul weather gear.

They just did it.

I think we've lost this kind of rhythmic capacity just to grind away one foot after the next.

You have to become the mule.

The mule doesn't complain, the mule doesn't know it's wet.

Mule doesn't know it's cold.

The mule just walks.

I guess I get a charge out of doing it.

So I just walk like Polly.

[gentle music continues] It's all fun to say how tough you are and how, you know, game you are.

But at the end of the day you want a place to take a break and lay down and just tune out.

And most of that night, just the wind, it just kept blowing.

Just blowing itself out.

Then it goes away and it's a beautiful day and blue sky.

[door slamming] So this is winter.

Fields dormant, the potato rows resting between the harvest.

The soil is black and loose and crusted with the veneer of dormant stalks and weeds.

This is agricultural limbo.

My father-in-law lives right up the road, and said "what in the world's going on down there at the grain beans?

There's a man with a mule and a covered wagon."

You get that call a lot.

So reason I hopped in your truck, come check it out.

- Look at the little mini wood stove.

You got it made.

- Climb in, turn around and look at it.

- I've seen one of these whistles in a van once.

I just looked at it.

Yeah, I built this one out of like a fox beam.

Because I've traveled through this country a lot, but I've never been inside of Greenville.

- I've never holed the doors or locked them.

So it's pretty simple.

- [Bernie] So what year do you think this one was put up?

- Probably the 60s.

And the door keeps swinging open and I came up to shut the door and it sort of swung open and a bobcat ran out.

A big bobcat.

I was like whoa!

[gentle music] [gentle music continues] - Two or three years ago, I was coming up the road with Polly into Aurora and I see this guy, he was walking so energetically and looked like he was running and he said "come on, you got a place to stay?

"No."

"Come on, stay with us."

And it turns out he's just an amazing musician.

Play me another.

Last time we we visited, you played the fishing song.

- Oh, the fishing song.

Oh yes.

♪ Pulling the net all my days ♪ ♪ It seems to suit my life ♪ ♪ Dragging along the bottom ♪ ♪ Not much catch inside ♪ ♪ Well I don't know much else to do ♪ ♪ Pulling man and jogging ♪ ♪ All I ask for is just enough to keep me off the bottom ♪ [gentle music] - Give you a sense of how far we've traveled in the last three days.

We left Oriental, came to Bayboro, then we went to Hobucken, and ended up in Aurora, and that's right at 40 miles.

One of the things that fascinates me about traveling is...

Step in there with him.

Kind of this invisible magnet that just sucks people in.

- So he went from where?

Where'd you come from?

- And these are people who took time out of their speeding days.

I'm bringing you all this invitation, man.

That actually stopped their vehicles and walked over and visited.

- Driving him down highway?

- [Onlooker] Hell yeah.

- [Bernie] And added something to our day.

- Don't let the bobcat get you.

- I think when I show up in a wagon, people are like "he's doing it, he's running away like we dream of doing".

I think a lot of them think I'd be happy if I could do that.

Having said that, I have very few volunteers that come along.

So our actions, it's incredible.

We've all seen it.

They impact other people.

There's a chain reaction to that.

It's just so hard to ever predict how you'll affect somebody.

- Polly the penguin loves to play.

She slips and slides every day.

- [Bernie] If you wanna see a kid freak out, show him or her a mule.

- [Teacher] That's where Polly likes to go.

I see something out the window.

- [Kids] Polly!

- If they'd been a boat, it would have capsized it, cause they all ran to that side.

- [Teacher] It's Bernie and Polly.

- I felt like one of the Beatles.

One, two, three.

- [All] Hi Polly!

- Wow, well done.

- The question is do I live in the wagon?

I do live in the wagon when I'm traveling, so there's a little wood stove there so you can like cook in there and sleep in there.

So I live there on the road, and then when I'm not traveling, I have a home.

Yeah, up in the mountains.

[gentle music] I think my sense of adventure has just been chemically ingrained.

I think it's just the way my brain is wired.

I'm sure a neurologist could analyze it, a behavioral psychotherapist could tell you what all was going on.

But there is this connection, this visceral feel to the land, that you are tapped into it as you walk across it with a mule.

And I would mourn not being able to do that.

[light music] - Before winning the Grammy for best traditional folk album back in 2010, we spent the day with this up and coming North Carolina trio.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops introduced our state to the new sound of old time.

[light music ends] [gentle music] - [Narrator] Well there's nothing that quite takes the place of coming home, and especially after you've been away a while.

Once you wrestle your bags from the airlines and hit the street, there's really nothing between you and that dream you've been whittling on for all these years.

Except optimism, hard work, lots of belief in what you're up to, and more hard work.

That's how it is when your music ambassadors, who travel the world spreading good tunes and good cheer.

Old time style.

[gentle music continues] [gentle music continues] Dom, Rhiannon, and Justin, a new force in old time.

Carrying on the rich tradition of Piedmont banjo and fiddle music like nobody else.

♪ We're in shoes and drinking booze ♪ ♪ It goes against the bible ♪ ♪ And next I will make that ♪ ♪ Streetcars and whiskey bars ♪ ♪ And lots of pretty women ♪ ♪ Women, yeah, that's the end of a terrible beginning ♪ ♪ Butter beans and you across the table ♪ ♪ Eating beans, making love and all that I am able ♪ ♪ [indistinct] and Wednesday is over ♪ ♪ Ride the mule and cut the pool ♪ ♪ And loving all over ♪ - [Narrator] The Chocolate Drops are not only abound with good tunes and good times, but the three young black performers also bust a few lingering stereotypes along the way.

This music, they say is universal, and who's to argue with that?

♪ Don't get trouble in your mind ♪ - Once people sit down and listen, people really enjoy the music.

♪ Don't get trouble in your mind ♪ It's really exuberant music and it's good celebration music.

♪ Wish I had a nickel, wish I had a dime ♪ ♪ I wish I had a pretty girl [indistinct] ♪ ♪ Don't get trouble in your mind ♪ ♪ Don't get trouble in your mind ♪ ♪ Don't get trouble in your mind ♪ ♪ Don't get trouble in your mind ♪ - [Rhiannon] It's everybody's music really.

And that's the story that it tells.

- That also gets into broken hearts and all that.

♪ You're just a two timing loser ♪ ♪ Two wrongs don't make it right ♪ ♪ So by putting ya, baby ♪ ♪ Into the cold dark night ♪ - [Narrator] From the depths of the blues to just plain fun, The Chocolate Drops use all kinds of traditional old time instruments.

[bright music] Front and center nearly always in the Piedmont brand of old time is the banjo, which originally hailed from Africa.

- You ask a black person about the banjo, they're like, we don't play the banjo.

It is so pervasive the image when they hear a banjo, they think inbred hillbilly in a mountain somewhere.

And that has become such a popular image, that it has taken a long time.

It's now starting to change.

♪ Don't you put no shortening in my bread, no no ♪ ♪ Don't put no shortening in my bread ♪ If you look at the banjo, the first 100 years of its existence, it was only known as a black instrument.

White people never played it.

They never picked it up.

They wouldn't have thought of picking it up.

It's really truly American.

It was a product eventually of a relationship between blacks and whites.

- [Narrator] One critical relationship in the development of the Chocolate Drops was Joe Thompson from Mebane, a well known black old time musician, and their mentor whom the Drops visited regularly for guidance and inspiration, long before they even were the Drops.

- Joe as a young boy saw his dad and his uncle playing at the square dances.

He wanted to play the fiddle and his mama always would say "don't touch your daddy's fiddle, you're gonna break it.

You're gonna break his fiddle."

- [Narrator] When Joe finally got a fiddle of his own, he'd only had two strings.

- His brother's like, you know, daddy ain't gonna get you no strings.

He always says it like this, just like this.

- [All] Daddy ain't gonna get you no strings.

- [Narrator] So Joe used his imagination and a couple of odd strings from the family screen door, and finally he was on his way.

Today he's a living connection to a past that has pushed the Chocolate Drops and their old time music well into the future.

- We wanna take what we can playing with Joe and the energy and the the feel of it and we just kind of absorb as much as we can and then we're gonna be our own people.

- [Narrator] Some people see them as preservationists of a musical style that had all but died out 50 years ago.

- This preservation is only in the sense that the music that we happen to play is being seen by wider audience than it has been a long time.

- [Narrator] There's no doubt about that.

Since 2005, the Chocolate Drops have traveled from coast to coast and onto Europe, where their music seems to have been appreciated differently from country to country.

- Now the French audience is slightly different from the English audience, which is slightly different from the Irish audience.

And it's just really fascinating.

We've heard audiences all over now sing "Hi Ho Fiddle I Day" and we sing them in different accents, but they do it.

- We play a crowd in the states and we ask, "do you want a fast one or a slow one?"

We're usually gonna get fast every single time.

Ireland, we got slow every single time.

- [Narrator] However you slice it, the music works, and that's what keeps them on the road so much.

- Now we've been playing out more and we only play home a few times a year.

The excitement of touring wears off about the second day.

You know, in terms of traveling.

People think it's glamorous until they do it.

[bright music] [bright music ends] [gentle music] It's always nice to play home.

- All right now.

Backstage.

- The real home coming for us is the Shakori Hills Festival.

That was really one of the places that we got started.

- [Dom] Well folks, good to see you again.

Haven't seen y'all in such a long time.

- [Rhiannon] It's so good to be back, it's long long overdue.

[bright music] We've had very lucky timing because there's been a resurgence of interest in old time music just in general.

[singing indistinctly] - [Rhiannon] Since we started off never thinking about let's go conquer the world, like let's go play big halls and stuff, ae started out going down to see Joe and so everything else has been a cherry on top.

Let's hear you sing it one more time.

♪ Roosters crowing outside with mountain ♪ ♪ Hi Ho Fiddle I Day ♪ ♪ So many pretty girls you can't count 'em ♪ ♪ Hi Ho Fiddle I Day ♪ ♪ Singing the crows outside on the mountain ♪ ♪ Hi Ho Fiddle I Day ♪ ♪ So many pretty girls you can't count 'em ♪ ♪ Hi Ho Fiddle I Day ♪ - We just play our set and we're like, "that was a solid set, we had a great time.

Looks like the audience had a good time".

And then when they go crazy, what do you do?

[applause] We just kind of throw up our hands and go "thank you."

- Thank you so much.

- Thanks again.

- [Rhiannon] We're just very, very blessed and happy to be doing it.

[gentle music] [upbeat music] - Thank you for joining us for "Best of Our State".

We have so enjoyed sharing North Carolina's stories with you, and we'll see you next time.

[upbeat music continues] ♪ [upbeat music continues] Could probably use a swig, can I drink that tea?

[upbeat music continues] ♪ [upbeat music continues] ♪ - [Narrator] More information about Our State magazine is available at ourstate.com or 1 [800] 948-1409.