Artist Profiles: Rhiannon Giddens

Rhiannon Giddens was born February 21, 1977 in Greensboro, North Carolina. She is a renowned multi-instrumentalist, composer, singer-songwriter and researcher, best known as one of the founders of the country, blues and old-time music band Carolina Chocolate Drops, where she was the lead singer, violinist, and banjo player.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops’ album Genuine Negro Jig won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.

One of the essential part of Giddens’ work is her research of folk instruments and traditions of the African-American diaspora.

A MacArthur “Genius” Grant recipient, Rhiannon has performed for the Obama’s at the White House and acted in two seasons of the hit television series Nashville.

In February 2015, Giddens released her debut solo recording Tomorrow Is My Turn on Nonesuch Records to widespread critical acclaim. Produced by T Bone Burnett, the album includes songs made famous by Patsy Cline, Odetta, Dolly Parton, and Nina Simone.

In addition to her solo recordings and her albums with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Rhiannon recorded Out On the Ocean: Music of the British Isles (2004) and Northern Lights (2005) with Gaelwynd; Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes (2014) as The New Basement Tapes; and Songs of Our Native Daughters (Smithsonian Folkways), a collaborative album that tells the stories of historic black womanhood and survival. Rhiannon has European American, African American and Native American background.

In 2016, Rhiannon received the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass.

In 2018, Rhiannon Giddens collaborated with Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla, and Allison Russell released a critically acclaimed American folk banjo album titled Songs of Our Native Daughters.

in 2019 she collaborated with Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi. They released an album titled There Is No Other.

In 2020, Giddens was named artistic director of Silkroad. She announced the development of a number of new programs for the organization, including one inspired by the history of the American transcontinental railroad and the cultures and music of its builders. Giddens’s lifelong missions are to lift up people whose contributions to American musical history have previously been erased and to work toward a more accurate understanding of the country’s musical origins.

In June 2021, Candlewick Press and the Walker Books Group announced today that they will be publishing two picture books by Rhiannon Giddens, the first of four planned books. Representing Giddens’s publishing debut and showcasing the incredible illustrative talents of emerging Black artists Monica Mikai and Briana Mukodiri Uchendu, the new picture books—Build a House and We Could Fly— will extend Giddens’s sweeping and ambitious artistic project to young readers and their families.

Karen Lotz, president and publisher of Candlewick Press and managing director of the Walker Books Group, said “As in her music, with these two first books Rhiannon gives voice to Black Americans against the landscape of history and with resonance for the present day, centering on girls and women whose stories were never publicly valued during their own time. This history needs to be known, understood, learned from, and made sacred. But children, like adults, need beauty, too. In Rhiannon’s poetry, there is courage, hope, and joy, empowering readers to live their lives with pleasure and affirmation. We at Candlewick Press and Walker Books are honored to be part of these books’ journey into the hands of young readers.”

“I’m so excited to get to explore a different way to tell the stories I’ve been trying to highlight with my songs and my music. Candlewick has already shown that they are a perfect publishing partner, with a strong vision and incredible artistic support. I look forward to seeing our partnership develop and grow as they help me be the best children’s book author I can be!” Giddens said.

Scheduled for publication in the fall of 2022, Build a House is based on the song of that title, which Giddens wrote in 2020 for the 155th anniversary of Juneteenth and originally performed with Yo-Yo Ma. Amid the 2020 demonstrations for racial equity and drawing on and conveying Black history, “Build a House” emerged as an important new protest anthem. The picture book, to be illustrated by Monica Mikai, illuminates for young readers the song’s message of Black courage and perseverance in the face of enslavement, violence, and appropriation. Build a House will be supported by a coordinated international marketing campaign and global laydown.

The second scheduled book, We Could Fly, is slated for publication in fall 2023 and is based on Giddens’s song “We Could Fly,” written with Dirk Powell, a powerful and affecting dialogue between mother and daughter drawing on African folklore and celebrating resilience and love. It will be illustrated by Briana Mukodiri Uchendu. Two more titles will follow.

In 2021, Giddens released They’re Calling Me Home (Nonesuch). Initially, she was not planning to release an album in 2021 but was moved by the moment to do so. They’re Calling Me Home was recorded in just a few days in a small studio in her adopted home near Dublin (Ireland) during lockdown in the early phases of the pandemic. Created with her musical partner Francesco Turrisi, the album features the songs that Giddens and Turrisi reached to in need of comfort.

Also in 2021, Carolina Performing Arts named Giddens to Southern Futures, a three-year research residency beginning in spring 2022. Giddens will focus on discovering and sharing cultural artifacts and local histories that challenge entrenched narratives and monolithic thinking on topics central to Southern Futures.

In October 2024, Rhiannon Giddens announced the launch of her first-ever festival, Biscuits & Banjos. The event is envisioned as a celebration of Black music, art and culture. It will take place from April 25-27, 2025, in downtown Durham, in her home state of North Carolina.

Discography:

With Carolina Chocolate Drops:

Dona Got a Ramblin’ Mind (Music Maker, 2006)
The Great Debaters Soundtrack, with Alvin Youngblood Hart, Sharon Jones and Teenie Hodges (Atlantic, 2007)
Heritage (Dixiefrog, 2008)
Carolina Chocolate Drops & Joe Thompson (Music Maker, 2009)
Genuine Negro Jig (Nonesuch, 2010)
Carolina Chocolate Drops/Luminescent Orchestrii EP (Nonesuch, 2011)
Leaving Eden (Nonesuch, 2012)

As Rhiannon Giddens:

We Rise, EP (NC Music Love Army records, 2014)
Tomorrow Is My Turn (Nonesuch, 2015)
Factory Girl, EP (Nonesuch, 2015)
Live at Jazzfest 2016 (MunckMix, 2016)
Freedom Highway (Nonesuch, 2017)
Live at Jazzfest 2017 (MunckMix, 2017)
Songs of Our Native Daughters. (Smithsonian Folkways, 2018)
There Is No Other, with Francesco Turrisi (Nonesuch, 2019)
They’re Calling Me Home (Nonesuch, 2021)

Author: Angel Romero

Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.