New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The inaugural season of Rhiannon Giddens' new PBS series, My
Music with Rhiannon Giddens - in which she celebrates the United States' rich and varied musical traditions and its modern offshoots by hosting musical performances and conversations with guest artists filmed on location around the South - concludes this week with her own partner and collaborator, Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, and her longtime bassist, Jason Sypher. In the episode, Giddens and Turrisi look back at their meeting, the discovery of their musical affinities, and their shared vision of musical heritage that crosses borders. You can watch it here:
My
Music with Rhiannon Giddens is produced by the Will and Deni McIntyre Foundation, the creative force behind the long-running PBS series
David Holt's
State of Music. Over six previous half-hour weekly episodes, Giddens has hosted Justin Robinson, one of her fellow Carolina Chocolate Drops co-founders; her sister, singer Lalenja Harrington; singer-songwriter Laurelyn Dossett; singer-songwriter and activist
Allison Russell; country music artist and artist advocate Rissi Palmer; Indigenous Lumbee/Tuscarora singer Charly Lowry; Southern gothic blues artist Adia Victoria; and virtuoso guitarist and singer Joy Clark.
Rhiannon Giddens' new album, You're the One, due August 18, is her third solo studio album and her first of all original songs. This collection of twelve tunes written over the course of her career bursts with life-affirming energy, drawing from the folk music she knows so deeply and its pop descendants. The album was produced by Jack Splash (Kendrick Lamar, Solange, Alicia Keys,
Valerie June) and recorded with an ensemble including Giddens' closest musical collaborators from the past decade - including Turrisi and Sypher - a string section, and Miami Horns. The lone featured guest on the album is
Jason Isbell on "Yet to Be." You can pre-order a copy here.
Following her performance-filled weekend as Artistic
Director of the 2023 Ojai
Music Festival last week, Giddens heads next to Turrisi's home country of Italy for two festival sets, Spoleto and Umbria, in July.
