Rhiannon Giddens Comes Home
Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond
Pushkin Industries
4.5 • 4.3K Ratings
🗓️ 25 May 2021
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Rhiannon Giddens is a brilliant fiddle and banjo player who’s one of the few musicians alive today trained in the centuries-old black string band tradition. Giddens is a North Carolina native but now lives in Ireland, not far from her partner Francesco Turrisi. During lockdown, the duo recorded their latest album, They’re Calling Me Home. On today’s episode, Bruce Headlam talks to Giddens about her decision to write from a cultural point of view rather than her own. Giddens also talks about how she has been able to maintain a living connection to the near-extinct black square dance players. And we’ll hear her play a banjo style that originated in West Africa.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Pushing. |
| 0:13.0 | Brandon Giddens is a brilliant fiddle and banjo player. |
| 0:16.0 | Who's one of the few musicians alive today, |
| 0:19.0 | trained in the centuries-old Blackstring band tradition. |
| 0:23.0 | Giddens won a Grammy as the co-founder and lead singer |
| 0:26.0 | of the Carolina Chocolate Drops in 2011. |
| 0:29.0 | And after venturing off on her own, |
| 0:31.0 | she was awarded a MacArthur Genius grade |
| 0:33.0 | for exploring the complexities of the African-American influence |
| 0:36.0 | on folk and country music. |
| 1:03.0 | Giddens is a North Carolina native, |
| 1:06.0 | but now lives in Ireland not far from her partner, |
| 1:09.0 | Francesco Terese. |
| 1:11.0 | During lockdown, the duo recorded their latest album, |
| 1:14.0 | Their Call in Me Home, |
| 1:16.0 | which was in part influenced by Joe Thompson, |
| 1:18.0 | who taught Giddens' family's traditional fiddle style |
| 1:21.0 | that can be traced back to the 1800s. |
| 1:24.0 | On today's episode, |
| 1:26.0 | Bruce Headlin talks to Giddens about her decision |
| 1:28.0 | to write from a cultural point of view, |
| 1:30.0 | rather than her own. |
... |
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