Acclaimed folk musician Rhiannon Giddens uses her art to explore the past and expose bold truths about our present. Giddens, a MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient, co-founded the Grammy Award-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops and has been nominated for six Grammys for her solo work and collaborations. She is also a member of the band Our Native Daughters with three other black female banjo players: Leyla McCalla, Allison Russell, and Amythyst Kiah.
Her highly anticipated third solo album, You’re The One, is her first album of all originals—a fusion of blues, jazz, Cajun, country gospel, and rock. The album features electric and upright bass, conga, Cajun and piano accordions, guitars, a Western string section, and Miami horns, among other instruments.
Giddens’s lifelong mission is to bring recognition to those whose musical legacies have been ignored in American history and to foster a more accurate understanding of the country’s musical origins. According to Pitchfork, “few artists are so fearless and so ravenous in their exploration” as Giddens. Smithsonian Magazine calls her “an electrifying artist who brings alive the memories of forgotten predecessors, white and black.”
Charly Lowry, a proud Indigenous singer of Lumbee/Tuscarora descent, is a powerhouse known for her strong voice and versatility. A guitarist who also plays the hand drum, a Native instrument traditionally played by men, Lowry seamlessly blends her Native American musical traditions with influences that include soul, country, blues, and roots. She was the lead vocalist of the award-winning rock band Dark Water Rising and gained national attention on Season 3 of American Idol.
Charly Lowry will open the concert. There will be a 20 minute intermission followed by Rhiannon Giddens' performance.
PRE-CONCERT EVENT
"Black Folk Music & The Banjo" with Kristina Gaddy
Before the Rhiannon Giddens performance, join us for a pre-show discussion. Free with your concert ticket, but space is not guaranteed for non-registrants.
LEARN MORE & REGISTEROne dollar of every ticket will be donated by the Artist to REVERB.org, a sustainability program supporting our environment and in turn, our local communities.
From Rhiannon Giddens:
As a touring artist, one of the biggest philosophical struggles I continue to face is the toll my work takes on our environment. We fly, ride on buses, in vans, and in cars, and you have to do the same to see us. Venues must provide food and other resources for us and our fans, and staff must get to the venues to make it all run—all of which take an environmental toll.
On this tour we will do our best to minimize the footprint we leave behind and pay our carbon offsets, and we're asking fans and venues to join us in making a positive impact.
In addition, we're implementing the following efforts on this tour:
- Any tips you leave at the merch table will be added to our donation.
- We've asked venues to forgo single-use plastic at our show and do the same on our tour bus and in venues, as much as possible.
- We encourage you to rideshare and take available public transportation to our shows.
At the end of the tour, we will share how much has been contributed and exactly the environmental projects they went toward. We know that, globally, a lot of work has to be done on the industrial scale, and in political realms, and that this may seem like a drop in the bucket. But enough drops, and the bucket overflows…
This event is part of Strathmore’s Windows series of performances and accompanying programs. Learn more