“Rhiannon Giddens Is Reclaiming the Black Heritage of American Folk Music”
How many lauded, brilliant projects can Rhiannon Giddens have at once? Lucy Negro Redux, her debut ballet, just premiered in Nashville, and it comes to Big Ears in less than four weeks. But she’s also just released Songs of Our Native Daughters, the debut from a collaborative quartet featuring Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla, and Allison Russell. They tell stories of historic black womanhood and survival, so often left unexplored and uncelebrated. The record “has one foot in acoustic minstrel sounds but is also a tribute to the strength and resilience of black women in the antebellum era,” Time raves. Read about it, listen, and see Rhiannon multiple times at Big Ears 2019.