The Carolina Chocolate Drops brought music that had been forgotten and even looked down upon into the rarefied world of art music—the country mouse ushered from dusty backwoods to the velvet seats of the city mouse’s concert hall. While at first listen the Carolina Chocolate Drops might sound like a scratchy field recording from the wanderings of Alan Lomax, their collective musicianship and charisma gained them enthusiastic audiences who knew little or nothing of the well from which they were drawing.

Since the financial crisis and Great Recession of the early Obama era, a core group of community and union organizers in Minnesota had been building what they called “alignment.” January 23 was one fruit bore from that labor.

Arthur is a musician, community activist and veteran of many performances under Hackman’s baton, including previous performances of the Resurrection Mixtape at the ISO.