Pulitzer and Grammy-winning artist Rhiannon Giddens has announced that her new album Hope is the Thing with Feathers will be released September 18 on Nonesuch Records. The 10-song collection was inspired by the beauty of people coming together and drawing strength from each other. It was intentionally recorded live with no frills and few overdubs, just pure and essential music that captures the feeling of community, clarity, as well as the joy and power of creating together. From exploring the lineages that make American music to the community-oriented spirit in which it was conceived and recorded, in many ways the album tells the story of the last 20 years of Giddens’ life.
Hope is the Thing with Feathers features Giddens’ key collaborators from throughout her career. Giddens (lead vocals, minstrel banjo, fiddle) is joined by longtime bassist Jason Sypher, Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi (accordion, percussion), Congolese artist Niwel Tsumbu (guitars), and Louisiana native Dirk Powell on multiple instruments, as well as her very first bandmate and fellow North Carolinian Justin Robinson (vocals, fiddle), her nephew Justin Harrington (bones), Dirk’s daughter Amelia Powell (acoustic guitar, vocals), Charly Lowry (vocals, percussion), and Giddens’ sister Lalenja Harrington.
Says Giddens: “Louisiana, the Congo, Italy, the Carolinas - all of these influences and people coming together to make something: that is American music. It’s how American music came to be, and that was the original thought of creating a band with the musicians that I’ve been playing with for years, and featured on this album.”
On “Carolina Rain” Giddens soars over plucked banjo and fiddle runs in a song about love and money that pierces like an arrow.
Giddens has a full slate of performances throughout the summer, including a special five-night presentation of concerts in which Giddens will be joined by Mavis Staples, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Hurray for the Riff Raff under open skies for a joyful celebration of American songs that connect generations and begins tomorrow, June 26. See below for the full itinerary.
