Rhiannon Giddens & The Old Time Revue
Ryman Auditorium
Wed, May 7 7:30pm
There’s no limit on the talent of powerhouse instrumentalist, vocalist, bandleader and music historian Rhiannon Giddens. Her initial exposure came as a founding member of the pioneering old-time Black string band the Carolina Chocolate Drops and the women’s banjo supergroup Our Native Daughters. But since Giddens departed those ensembles, her list of achievements has been immense. She’s won two Grammy awards, a Pulitzer and a MacArthur “Genius” Grant. She’s composed music for opera, ballet and film, and has issued a trio of albums as a primary artist and two others in collaboration with Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi. Giddens’ newest album — a collaboration with Justin Robinson, What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow — was released April 25. If all that wasn’t enough, Giddens is the current artistic director of the Yo-Yo Ma-founded Silkroad Ensemble, hosts PBS show My Music With Rhiannon Giddens, has written a pair of children’s books and contributed to the soundtrack of bestselling video game Red Dead Redemption 2, as well as Ken Burns’ Country Music series. Giddens has another new venture coming to town this week. Rhiannon Giddens & The Old-Time Revue marks a return to her North Carolina roots and the old-time Black string music tradition. Both the songs on her latest LP and many of the numbers she and the Revue will perform celebrate that historic sound, featuring vintage tunes she and the other members of the Drops originally learned from legendary Piedmont musician Joe Thompson. It’s an opportunity to hear a grand celebration of the past and an extension of that sound into the present. RON WYNN







