Review of Carolina Chocolate Drops – Sean Morse

On Saturday night June 23^rd the Carolina Chocolate Drops (http://www.carolinachocolatedrops.com ) played a free concert for the International Festival of Arts and Ideas (http://www.artidea.org) on the New Haven Green.  This concert was a huge relief for me after a very difficult week. So I was pumped when it was time to go to this show.

I would have never done anything in the music business without my old friend Dana Price who flew in from Oregon this week and he and I headed down to the green for what was about to be an epic show.  When we got there I met up with some other friends such as Robin Marketto, John Weaver and Zeke Gilmore. It also just happened to be Zeke and Weaver’s birthday celebrations so that made it all the more fun.  And later that evening Dana’s sister Damien, her husband Matt, and their daughter Kilynn also joined us for all the fun.

Caravan of Thieves (http://www.caravanoftheieves.com ) opened up and they did an awesome cover of Queen’s hit song Bohemian Rhapsody which you can view here

They were actually a nice compliment to the bluegrass vibe that was being set for the Carolina Chocolate Drops that day. The weather was beautiful and Caravan of Thieves set the tone for a truly amazing evening of music on the always serene New Haven green.  Caravan of Thieves went on to do many of their originals and some more covers which included “I will Survive” and “Staying Alive”. It was a really great set which set things up nicely as the sun was setting down.

Then it was time for the moment thousands of people had all been waiting for. The Carolina Chocolate Drops  (http://www.carolinachocolatedrops.com) had hit the stage. They did several of their original tunes and even covered “Going Down The Road Feeling Bad’ which you can view on the Live Bands Touring youtube channel here:

I always enjoy hearing a bluegrass band do that tune. They went on to do other songs which included a song about divorce viewable here:

And they ended their set with a cover of the Blue Cantrell hit song “Hit Em Up Style” which they always perform beautifully and put an awesome bluegrass feel to it. This song has helped gain them national attention. The Carolina Chocolate Drops do songs from a variety of different genres from Irish, to rap, to traditional folk & bluegrass among others. I always enjoy when an artist has that diversity and it really shows how dynamic they are. The Carolina Chocolate Drops pulled off an incredible set and I’m sure they will be welcomed at Connecticut venues very soon so be sure to keep your eye out for them before they get even bigger than they already are.

Sean Morse - Live Bands Touring

Sean got his start in the Entertainment Business in the summer of 1999 where he served as an Intern at Clear Channel’s KC101 FM and WELI 960 AM in Hamden-New Haven. He left the station to attend Florida State University. Sean returned to Connecticut and in 2003 landed a job at Toad’s Place where he became a key employee. Soon later he would end up working for the world’s largest entertainment company Live Nation Inc. for many years. This position led him to a key industry role as Client Services Rep. at Tickets.com where he worked with various venues around the nation including Mass Concerts (The Webster & The Palladium) Hartman Arena in Kansas, The Wellmont Theater in New Jersey and many others. Sean’s work helped Tickets.com land the prestigious 2009 CIO 100 Technology Award.

In 2007 Sean decided to create Livebandstouring.com as a side project to his regular industry job which offers a youtube channel, event consulting, venue contact info and a variety of other services for bands and other industry professionals.

In 2012 Sean released a book which was converted into a 2 CD Box Set Booklet called Peace, Poetry, and Music which offers original poems, original songs on 1 CD and a bonus CD with cover songs. Sean spends most of his free time doing Yoga, working out at the gym, and enjoying the company of friends and family at local music venues and festivals.

LBT Website – http://www.livebandstouring.com

LBT Youtube- http://www.youtube.com/livebandstouring

LBT Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/livebandstouring

Sean’s Original Music- http://www.seanmorsemusic.com