Dom Flemons, the Grammy-winning co-founder of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, will bring his new Black string band supergroup to the Museum of Making Music on Friday, Sept. 18.
The Traveling Wildfires take the stage at 6:30 p.m. at the museum, 5790 Armada Drive. The show runs until 9 p.m. Premium seating is sold out, and only a few general admission tickets remain at $50, according to The Vista Press.
Tickets are available by phone at (760) 304-5844 or through the museum's event page.
Flemons launched The Traveling Wildfires in 2025 after the International Bluegrass Music Conference inducted Arnold Shultz into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame. Shultz was an African American musician who influenced bluegrass pioneers Bill and Charlie Monroe. The band follows the rotating-cast model Monroe used with his Bluegrass Boys.
"This is my way of continuing his legacy which still resonates within bluegrass," Flemons wrote on his Facebook page in February, announcing the group's first show of the year.
Flemons won the Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album in 2011 as part of the Carolina Chocolate Drops for their album Genuine Negro Jig, according to Grammy.com. He has since earned two solo Grammy nominations for his Smithsonian Folkways releases Black Cowboys (2018) and Traveling Wildfire (2023), according to Nonesuch Records. He was also inducted into the American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame in 2025.
A multi-instrumentalist and music scholar, Flemons covers more than a century of American roots music, spanning country, folk, bluegrass, blues and gospel.
Before the concert: free Community Music Day
The museum hosts a free Community Music Day on Sunday, Sept. 13, themed "Drum Circles Across Generations." Visitors can explore percussion instruments in the galleries, build a simple instrument and join a drum circle. The museum provides materials.
The Museum of Making Music is a program of the NAMM Foundation, a nonprofit organization. For details on either event, visit the museum's website or call (760) 438-5996.
Upcoming at the Museum of Making Music
- Sunday, Sept. 13 — Community Music Day: Drum Circles Across Generations (free)
- Friday, Sept. 18 — Dom Flemons & The Traveling Wildfires, 6:30–9 p.m. ($50 general admission)
