Bothering the Band - Dom Flemons

by RYAN BUYNAK

GRAMMY Award Winner, Two-Time EMMY Nominee, 2020 United States Artists Fellow, Dom Flemons is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, actor, music scholar, historian, record collector, and all-around music geek, which makes him absolutely perfect for Bothering the Band. A member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops from their inception in 2005 until 2013, Flemons has also released multiple albums in his own name.

He  started his impressive career in Phoenix, Arizona (of all places), and currently lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his wife and daughter. Dom has been given the branded moniker of “The American Songster” because his repertoire of music covers over 100 years of early American popular folk music. He is considered an expert player on the banjo, guitar, harmonica, jug, percussion, quills, fife and rhythm bones.

What’s the last record you purchased?

Leon Redbone: Strings and Jokes Live in Bremen 1977!

Dom Perignon or nah?

Sure! It’s pretty good in my opinion.

Would you rather be hit in the face with a banjo or a bag of lemons?

I hope I would duck fast enough to miss both.

How much did you have to dream last night?

By the time I was done, I realized that the dreaming had folded into my reality. I can safely say that truth is stranger than the fiction…

Which is heavier, in weight, an Emmy or a Grammy?

Definitely a Grammy!

What’s your favorite chocolate?

One of my favorite types of chocolate can be found in France. At the groceries stores they have a chocolate candy bar with corn flakes in it. While this may seem like a strange combination, the chocolate and the cornflakes combined give it the perfect flavor.

In your opinion, what’s the biggest similarity between folk and punk?

The cool people who show up and turn up!

Can you play “Long Gone Lonesome Blues” by memory right now on the spot?

Yeah! It’s the first song I learned from Hank Williams.

Where do we go from here?

Looking out onto the horizon, the future is wide open.