She was one of the highlights of Bluesfest this year, and will be returning same time next year for an encore Bluesfest performance and sideshows. She’s also just announced a new album Freedom Highway out February 24. Rhiannon Giddens is the bright new star of American roots music; a woman whose voice the New Yorker has described as “a perpetually soulful marvel”, and whose 2015 debut album My Turn Now was described by The Guardian as a “solo debut of phenomenal vocal power, effortlessly jumping between gospel holler, tender folk song, and lachrymose country ballad.”
That album was Grammy nominated, and her 2016 Factory Girl EP has just been nominated for two more. Now, you can check out the title track from the new album below. It’s an old Staples Singers' song from the Civil Rights days, about which Rhiannon has made the following statement: “Know thy history. Let it horrify you; let it inspire you. Let it show you how the future can look, for nothing in this world has not come around before. These songs are based on slave narratives from the 1800s, African American experiences of the last century, the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and headlines from streets of Ferguson and Baltimore today. Voices demanding to be heard, to impart the hard-earned wisdom of a tangled, difficult, complicated history; we just try to open the door and let them through.”
Freedom Highway will be available to purchase on CD, LP and as digital download. Pre-order here.
Rhiannon’s tour dates are as follows:
Saturday April 8 - Sydney The Factory Theatre
Tuesday April 11 - Melbourne The Corner
Thursday April 13 - Sunday April 16 - Byron Bay Bluesfest
