Rhiannon Giddens

Acclaimed folk musician Rhiannon Giddens uses her art to excavate the past and reveal bold truths about our present. A MacArthur Genius Grant recipient, Giddens co-founded the Grammy Award-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops, and is now a two-time winner, with eight additional nominations for her work as a soloist and collaborator. Her newest album, You’re the One, is her third solo studio album and her first of all original songs. This collection of music written over the course of Giddens’ career bursts with life-affirming energy, drawing from the folk music that she knows so deeply, as well as its pop descendants. Featuring some of Giddens’ closest musical collaborators from the past decade including multi-instrumentalists Francesco Turrisi and Dirk Powell, bassist Jason Sypher, Congolese guitarist Niwel Tsumbu, and drummer Attis Clopton, You’re the One captures the inclusive spirit that channels through all of her work.

“I hope that people just hear American music,” says Giddens. “Blues, jazz, Cajun, country, gospel, and rock—it’s all there. I like to be where it meets organically. They’re fun songs, and I wanted them to have as much of a chance as they could to reach people who might dig them but don’t know anything about what I do. If they’re introduced to me through this record, they might go listen to other music I’ve made with a different set of ears.”