A classically-trained cellist, multi-instrumentalist, and accomplished folk
musician, Leyla McCalla initially performed as a member of the Caroline
Chocolate Drops before leaving the group to pursue a solo career. She was born
to Haitian parents in Queens, New York, on October 3, 1985. Although largely
praised in nearby Maplewood, New Jersey, she spent a pair of years in Ghana as a
teenager. She later returned to America, where she studied music at Smith
College and New York University before relocating to New Orleans in 2010. She
joined Carolina Chocolate Drops one year later an...