MUSIC

Erasing the gap between the 1930s and today, this striking North Carolina trio brings a modern sizzle to the legacy of classic African American string bands with fiddles, banjos, and even kazoos sparking an electrifying ruckus. The music's potency comes from the fact that the trio – fiddler ¬Justin ¬Robinson, banjo-player ¬Rhiannon ¬Giddens and multi-tasker Dom ¬Flemons – got it from the source: Joe Thompson of Mebane , N.C. , said to be the last of the black traditional string band players. The Duke & The King are a soul-folk-glam ensemble from the sticks of New York founded, produced, and created by Simone Felice (of the Felice Brothers) and Robert Bird Burke.