Rhiannon Giddens Archives - Bluegrass Today

Rhiannon Giddens for Mike Seeger and Smithsonian Folkways

Not long before he passed in 2009, noted folklorist and archivist Mike Seeger embarked on what was to be his final trip collecting songs and tunes among the Appalachian mountains he called his home. Mike had dedicated his entire professional life to traditional mountain music, and the people who played it, and had a documentary film crew along on this last journey collecting recordings of regional banjo styles across North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, and Tennessee.

Now this film is set to be released on September 20, along with a new tribute album by many of his friends and admirers as a 2-CD and DVD set called Just Around The Bend: Survival and Revival in Southern Banjo Styles – Mike Seeger’s Last Documentary. Artists featured on the audio recording include Riley Bagus, Rhiannon Giddens, Leroy Troy, Peter Gott, Joe Ayers, George Gibson, and many more

This 2009 foray found Mike with his wife, Alexia Smith, and filmmaker Yasha Aginsky, visiting a number of banjo players to film and record them and their music. Smithsonian Folkways, who is releasing the project, shared a video taken from the film which features Mike recording Rhiannon Giddens on Georgia Buck.

Alexia also shared a few words about the visit with Giddens:

“After his own decades-long immersion in old-time music, Mike set out on this documentary journey to explore the ‘revival and survival’ of tradition banjo music in the South. It was wonderful to take part in his exchange with Rhiannon, the young African-American woman who had only recently discovered old-time music and realized that ‘it’s my party, too,’ and who was bringing the music to new audiences and with a fresh perspective. The trip onward led to visits with banjo players of all ages and experiences and styles of playing. I’m especially glad that the video shows Mike’s warm relationship with them all!”

The label also released this video preview of the documentary, with narration by Yasha Aginsky.

Pre-orders for this package are available at the Smithsonian Folkways site, which includes the 2 CDs, a DVD of the film, and an 80 page booklet containing extensive song and performance notes. It would seem an excellent tribute to a man who gave his life to mountain music.

Rhiannon Giddens talks bluegrass and IBMA

Daniel Mullins had a chance to chat yesterday evening with Rhiannon Giddens shortly she delivered her keynote address to open the 2017 World Of Bluegrass convention in Raleigh, NC. Rhiannon, who will be familiar to bluegrass fans as a former member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, was also the 2017 winner of the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass Music.

Her address looked at the importance of ensuring that our music is welcoming to people regardless of ethnic background, and at the important contributions and influences that came from string musicians with an African heritage. She also described how the music doesn’t need to change to do so.

Rhiannon Giddens to be Keynote Speaker at World of Bluegrass

The International Bluegrass Music Association has announced that Rhiannon Giddens will address their 2017 Business Conference as Keynote speaker during their World Of Bluegrass convention. She will speak on the opening day of the September 26-28 conference in Raleigh, NC.

Giddens rose to prominence as a member of The Carolina Chocolate Drops, where her deft banjo and fiddle playing, and ethereal voice, highlighted the band’s mission to reclaim the heritage of southern black musicians in the development of the old time, blues, and folk music of the Appalachian region. She continues that mission now as a solo performer and recording artist, taking a mix of traditional and contemporary original music on to the stage, to schools, and concert halls all over the world.

In 2016, Rhiannon received an unexpected honor when she was awarded the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo & Bluegrass Music, given each year to a banjo player recognized as a groundbreaking artist. In addition to the high honor, the prize is accompanied by a $50,000 cash grant.

IBMA Executive Director Paul Schiminger says that her inclusion will help further the theme of their 2017 conference, held each year as a homecoming for the entire bluegrass industry.

“We are thrilled and honored that Rhiannon Giddens will be this year’s Keynote Speaker to kick off the IBMA’s World of Bluegrass. Rhiannon has embodied this year’s Business Conference theme of Community and Connection throughout her life and musical career. Having grown up in a household filled with bluegrass music and then trained in classical voice, she has drawn upon this early foundation to form a creative musical journey. Rhiannon has achieved both critical acclaim and great career success by merging elements of old-time, folk, jazz, country, and bluegrass to reach whole new audiences. Her passion for American roots music, along with her thoughtful and purposeful career, provides each of us a lens through which we can see beyond our own barriers.”

Rhiannon will speak during the banquet on September 26, followed by a number of artist showcases at the Raleigh Convention Center. The three day Business Conference is capped off on the 28th by the International Bluegrass Music Awards, a gala production at the nearby Duke Energy Center for The Performing Arts, and then a weekend of live music at the Wide Open Bluegrass festival at the Red Hat Amphitheater.

Find full details at the World Of Bluegrass site.

2016 Steve Martin Prize goes to Rhiannon Giddens

In a surprising twist, the 2016 Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass Music has been awarded to Rhiannon Giddens, founding member of The Carolina Chocolate Drops. Along with banjo scholar and musicologist Dom Flemons, Giddens has been at the forefront of a movement of young black American artists who seek to reclaim the important contributions that African transplants have had on American folk music.

Known as much as a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Rhiannon has accompanied herself using the banjo since she first hit the music world in 2005. More recently, she has won plaudits as a solo artist. Her current release, Tomorrow Is My Turn, was produced by T-Bone Burnett for Nonesuch Records.

Here is a video example of her playing style in an excerpt from David Holt’s State of Music, which aired in January 2015 on North Carolina Public Television. The song is Julie, which Giddens wrote, based on a slave memoir.

Steve tells us that the vote was unanimous among the board who choose the winner each year, which comes with a cash award of $50,000 and a custom-made statuette created by artist Eric Fischl called The Banjo Hand.

“The banjo’s history is deep and wide. The board wanted to acknowledge the variety of styles that have contributed to the banjo’s place in America. Rhiannon Giddens nobly exemplifies, with rich talent, an era that otherwise might be forgotten.”

In addition to being bi-racial, Giddens is bi-continental, maintaining a home in her native Greensboro, NC and in Limerick, Ireland with her husband and two children.

Previous winners have all been noted bluegrass artists, including Noam Pikelny, the inaugural winner, Sammy Shelor, Mark Johnson, Eddie Adcock, Jens Kruger, and Danny Barnes. Rhiannon now joins their ranks with the 2016 award.

Martin endowed this prize in order to help elevate the banjo, and it’s prominent players, within the wider music world. He and his wife, Annie Springfield, serve on its board, along with notable banjoists J.D. Crowe, Tony Trischka, Pete Wernick, Béla Fleck, Noam Pikelny, Alison Brown, and Dr. Neil Rosenberg.