Rhiannon Giddens has made a singular, iconic career out of stretching her brand of music, with its miles-deep historical roots and contemporary sensibilities, into just about every field imaginable. A two-time GRAMMY Award-winning singer and instrumentalist, MacArthur "Genius" grant recipient, Pulitzer Prize winner, and composer of opera, ballet, and film, Giddens has centered her work around the mission of uplifting people whose contributions to American musical history have previously been overlooked and erased, and advocating for a more accurate understanding of the country's musical origins through art.
As Pitchfork once said, "few artists are so fearless and so ravenous in their exploration" - a journey that has led to NPR naming her one of its 25 Most Influential Women Musicians of the 21st Century and to American Songwriter calling her "one of the most important musical minds currently walking the planet."
Giddens has released three albums under how own name and two in collaboration with Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Yurrisi. American Railroad, her first album in collaboration with the Silkroad Ensemble, was released in November 2024, and her forthcoming album with Justin Robinson, What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow, will be released in April 2025.
A founding member of the landmark Black string band Carolina Chocolate Drops, and the all-female banjo supergroup, Our Native Daughters, Gidden is as much a curator as a creator. She is the current Artistic Director of the Yo-Yo Ma-founded Silkroad Ensemble, hosts a TV show on PBS, My Music with Rhiannon Giddens, and has hosted two podcasts, Aria Code and American Railroad. She appeared as a recurring cast member on ABC's hit drama Nashville and as a music history expert on Ken Burns' Country Music series on PBS.
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