American musician and singer-songwriter Rhiannon Giddens has a new album titled “They’re Calling Me Home“, scheduled for release on April 9, 2021 on Nonesuch Records. The album features Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi. Giddens and Turrisi, who both live in Ireland when they aren’t on tour, have been there since March 2020 due to the pandemic.
The two expats found themselves drawn to the music of their native and adoptive countries of the United States of America, Italy, and Ireland during lockdown. Exploring the emotions brought up by the moment, Giddens and Turrisi went to Hellfire, a small studio on a working farm outside of Dublin, to record these songs over six days.
“They’re Calling Me Home” is a twelve-track album that speaks of the longing for the comfort of home as well as the metaphorical “call home” of death, which has been a tragic reality for so many during the COVID-19 crisis.
“They’re Calling Me Home” features several traditional songs that Giddens hasn’t played for years, including some of the first old-time pieces she ever learned: “I Shall Not Be Moved,” “Black As Crow (Dearest Dear)” and “Waterbound.”
The album also includes a new song Giddens wrote, “Avalon,” as well as an Italian lullaby, “Nenna Nenna,” that Turrisi used to sing to his infant daughter that took on new resonance during the lockdown.
Author: World Music Central News Room
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