The Carolina Chocolate Drops, returning to  NVOH after their popular performance in 2007, are a group of young black string band musicians that have come together to play the rich tradition of fiddle and banjo music in Carolinas’ Piedmont.

The music of Carolina Chocolate Drops was recently featured in the Denzel Washington movie “The Great Debaters,” according to a statement from the group.

“Although we have diverse musical backgrounds, we draw our musical heritage from the foothills of the North and South Carolina. We have been under the tutelage of Joe Thompson, said to be the last black traditional string band player, of Mebane, N.C., and we strive to carry on the long standing traditional music of the black and white communities.

“Joe’s musical heritage runs as deeply and fluidly as the many rivers and streams that traverse our landscape. We are proud to carry on the tradition of black musicians like Odell and Nate Thompson, Dink Roberts, John Snipes, Libba Cotten, Emp White, and countless others who have passed beyond memory and recognition.

The trio of Durham-based youngsters are often joined on their gigs by elder Sule Greg Wilson,  washboard, tambourine, trump, jug, five-string banjo, mandolin, ukulele, bones, bodhran, brushes, kazoo and, like the others, sings and dances.

Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Wilson now lives in Tempe, Ariz.

 A dancer, multi-percussionist, string player and author, Wilson first picked up a banjo in the early 1980s.

“I’ve been studying African culture and arts — drum, dance, costume, spirit and song — just about all my life,” he said. “My very first paycheck was for doing folklore. But, in time, I needed to know how those rich old world traditions transformed over here, on this side of the waters.

“Taj’s “Old Folks At Home” album haunted me. That led me to masters of Tap and Lindy and to minstrelsy and, eventually, to the banjo and traditional non-blues black music.

“I first met Taj Mahal still psyched from his first trip to Africa, and got to sit with and learn from Algia Mae Hinton Joe Thompson before their strokes, about ten years before the Black Banjo Gathering in 2005. This makes me a living link between the passed-on elders and those coming up now.

“After all those years of being the only black person I knew of doing this music, except Taj and the deep elders, there are now bloods I can create this music with, for now and the future. And, we’re finding — and helping — more young folks getting inspired every day. It’s a beautiful place.”

If you go

What: The Carolina Chocolate Drops

Where: Napa Valley Opera House

When: Saturday, 8 p.m.

Tickets: $30, $35