Fantasia wasn’t the only North Carolina native to bring home some hardware from the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops, a North Carolina folk music trio, won for Best Traditional Folk Music. They beat out four other nominees, including Ricky Skaggs. The award was handed out during the pre-televised portion of the event.

Rhiannon Giddens, lead singer for the group, told Greensboro’s WFMY she was elated.

"It's like no other feeling when they call out your name,” she said. “ You're like, ‘Oh, my God, did they just say that?’ Yeah it's just amazing."

On the group’s Facebook page, members posted this message: “We are SO overwhelmed!! thank you to the Academy!”

As of 10 a.m., 1,200 others on Facebook had “liked” the wall post.

According to the group’s profile, Giddens and co-members Dom Flemons and Justin Robinson claim Durham as their hometown. The band got together in 2005 at an event called the Black Banjo Gathering in Boone. They later began traveling to Mebane each Thursday night to sit in the home of old-time fiddler Joe Thompson for musical jam sessions. Thompson was in his 80s at the time.

Since then, the group has played their music all over the world. Their latest album, “Genuine Negro Jig,” was released a year ago.

Fantasia, a native of High Point who now lives in Charlotte, was the only American Idol alum to win a Grammy on Sunday, taking home an award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.
She had been nominated six times before, but this was her first win. She lost out on best R&B album to John Legend and The Roots.

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