Rhiannon Giddens

Giddens is of multiracial ancestry. Her father, David Giddens, is European-American. Her mother, Deborah Jamieson, is a descendant of African Americans and Native American tribes including the Lumbee, Occaneechi, and Seminole. Giddens does not claim a specific tribal affiliation.{{Cite magazine |date=2019-05-09 |title=Rhiannon Giddens and What Folk Music Means |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/05/20/rhiannon-giddens-and-what-folk-music-means |access-date=2023-01-20 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US}} Her parents met as college students in the city of Greensboro. Giddens' parents separated soon after her birth, when Deborah came out as a lesbian.{{Cite magazine |last=Sullivan |first=John Jeremiah |date=2019-05-13 |title=Rhiannon Giddens and What Folk Music Means |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/05/20/rhiannon-giddens-and-what-folk-music-means |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X}}

Rhiannon and her sister Lalenja grew up in Greensboro and nearby rural Gibsonville.{{Cite news |last=Gil de Rubio |first=Dave |date=2015-04-15 |title=Rhiannon Giddens Doesn't Need No Stinking Labels |work=Long Island Weekly |url=http://longislandweekly.com/rhiannon-giddens-doesnt-need-no-stinking-labels/ |access-date=2016-05-12}}{{Cite web |title=Rhiannon Giddens: Pure Folk-Music Fire From 'A Good-Ol' Mixed Race North Carolinian' |url=https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/culture/arts-entertainment/rhiannon-giddens-pure-folk-music-fire-from-a-good-ol-mixed-race-north-carolinian/ |access-date=2018-05-12 |publisher=Indian Country Today}}{{Cite magazine |last=Sullivan, John Jeremiah |date=2019-05-13 |title=Rhiannon Giddens and What Folk Music Means: The roots musician is inspired by the evolving legacy of the black string band |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/05/20/rhiannon-giddens-and-what-folk-music-means |access-date=2020-10-14 |magazine=The New Yorker}} Lalenja Harrington is a director for Beyond Academics, a four-year certificate program supporting students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. A singer and songwriter herself, Harrington occasionally collaborates with her sister on musical projects.{{refn|{{Cite magazine |last=McDowell |first=Ian |date=2018-04-24 |title=Not just a Giddens sister: Lalenja Harrington sings out, educates and inspires |url=https://yesweekly.com/not-just-a-giddens-sister-lalenja-harrington-sings-out-educates-and-inspires/ |magazine=Yes! Weekly}}}}

File:Rhiannon Giddens TFF 03.JPG, July 2015]]

Giddens is a 1995 alumna of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham, North Carolina,{{Cite web |last=Tomlinson |first=Tommy |date=2015-09-02 |title=Rhiannon Giddens & The Making of NC's Most Beautiful Voice |url=https://www.ourstate.com/rhiannon-giddens/ |access-date=2017-08-14 |website=Our State Celebrating North Carolina}} and a 2000 graduate of Oberlin Conservatory at Oberlin College, where she studied opera.{{Cite web |last=Menconi |first=David |date=Spring 2011 |title=Creating Old-Time Music for the 21st Century |url=http://oberlin.edu/alummag/spring2011/features/oldtime.html |access-date=2013-01-21 |website=Oberlin Alumni Magazine |archive-date=2012-10-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013005053/http://oberlin.edu/alummag/spring2011/features/oldtime.html }}

In 2005, Giddens attended the Black Banjo Then and Now Gathering in Boone, North Carolina. At the time she was spending time participating in Scottish traditional music competitions (specializing in the Gaelic lilting tradition, also known as mouth music).{{Cite web |last=Wosahla |first=Steve |date=2008-04-30 |title=Carolina Chocolate Drops – Digging back, driving forward |url=http://nodepression.com/article/carolina-chocolate-drops-digging-back-driving-forward |access-date=2017-04-02 |publisher=No Depression}}{{Cite magazine |last=Sullivan |first=John Jeremiah |date=2019-05-13 |title=Rhiannon Giddens and What Folk Music Means |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/05/20/rhiannon-giddens-and-what-folk-music-means |magazine=New Yorker |access-date=2019-05-14}} There she met Dom Flemons and Súle Greg Wilson. The three started playing together professionally as a "postmodern string band", Sankofa Strings.{{Cite web |last=Epstein |first=Jon |title=Sankofa Strings: | Features | Creative Loafing Charlotte |url=http://clclt.com/charlotte/sankofa-strings/Content?oid=2141147 |access-date=2017-04-02 |website=Clclt.com}} During the same period, Giddens was also a regular caller at local contra dances and featured in a Celtic music band called Gaelwynd. Later in 2005, after both Gaelwynd and Sankofa Strings released albums, Giddens and Flemons teamed with other musicians and expanded the Sankofa Strings sound into what became the Grammy winning Carolina Chocolate Drops.

In 2007, Giddens contributed fiddle, banjo, "flat-footin'" dancing, and additional vocals to Talitha MacKenzie's album Indian Summer. Performing as a soprano, Giddens and mezzo-soprano Cheryse McLeod Lewis formed a duo called Eleganza to release a CD in 2009. Because I Knew You... consists of classical, religious, theater, and movie music. Giddens and Lewis were middle school classmates who reconnected after college while working in the same office. The friends started singing together in 2003, but did not begin recording until 2008.{{Cite news |last=Pandolfi |first=Elizabeth |title=Classical duo Eleganza mixes it up musically |work=Charleston City Paper |url=http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/classical-duo-eleganza-mixes-it-up-musically/Content?oid=3612268 |access-date=2017-04-10}}

As of November 12, 2013, Giddens became the only remaining original member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops.{{Cite web |title=Carolina Chocolate Drops' Fan Bridge Newsletter |url=http://carolinachocolatedrops.fanbridge.com/campaigns/show.php?id=1042389 |access-date=2013-11-12 |website=Fanbridge.com |date=April 16, 2013}} In 2013, she began pushing further into a solo career. She participated in "Another Day, Another Time", a concert inspired by the Coen brothers film Inside Llewyn Davis.{{Cite web |title=Another Day, Another Time |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3358552/ |access-date=2014-04-23 |website=IMDb.com}} Many critics have said that Giddens had the best performance at what was called "the concert of the year".{{Cite news |last=Pareles |first=Jon |date=2013-09-30 |title=Traditional Folk Frolic, With Old-Time Fervor and Youthful Yelps |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/01/arts/music/another-day-another-time-a-concert-at-town-hall.html?_r=0 |access-date=2015-02-07}}{{Cite web |last=Rosen |first=Christopher |date=2013-09-30 |title=5 Memorable Moments From The 'Inside Llewyn Davis' Concert, 'Another Day, Another Time' |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/30/another-day-another-time-inside-llewyn-davis_n_4018148.html |access-date=2017-04-02 |website=The Huffington Post}} Late in 2013, she contributed the standout a cappella track "We Rise" to the LP We Are Not For Sale: Songs of Protest by the North Carolina Music Love Army – a collective of activist musicians from North Carolina founded by Jon Lindsay and Caitlin Cary.{{Cite web |title=nc music love army |url=http://ncmusiclovearmy.org/ |access-date=2017-04-02 |publisher=nc music love army}} Giddens' protest song joins contributions from many other Carolina musical luminaries on the Lindsay-produced compilation (11/26/13 via Redeye Distribution), which was created to support the North Carolina NAACP and the Moral Monday movement.{{Cite web |title='Songs of Protest' in North Carolina Mirror Activists' Anti-GOP Stance |url=https://news.yahoo.com/songs-protest-north-carolina-mirror-activists-anti-gop-185600220.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131210022014/http://news.yahoo.com/songs-protest-north-carolina-mirror-activists-anti-gop-185600220.html |archive-date=2013-12-10 |access-date=2017-01-15}} In early 2014, she recorded Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes alongside Elvis Costello, Marcus Mumford, Taylor Goldsmith, and Jim James. The album was produced by T Bone Burnett and is a compilation of partial, unreleased lyrics written by Bob Dylan.{{Cite magazine |last=Grow |first=Kory |date=2014-03-25 |title=Elvis Costello, Marcus Mumford, Jim James Record 'Lost' Dylan Lyrics The project, 'Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes,' will come out in the fall |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/elvis-costello-marcus-mumford-jim-james-record-lost-dylan-lyrics-20140325 |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=2014-04-23}}

File:Rhiannon Giddens (20072121276).jpg, July 2015]]

In February 2015, Giddens released her debut solo album, Tomorrow Is My Turn, on Nonesuch Records. Also produced by Burnett, the album contains songs made famous by Patsy Cline, Odetta, Dolly Parton, Nina Simone, and others.{{Cite web |date=2014-11-19 |title=Rhiannon Giddens, of Carolina Chocolate Drops, to Release Solo Debut Album "Tomorrow Is My Turn," Produced by T Bone Burnett, February 10 |url=http://www.nonesuch.com/journal/rhiannon-giddens-carolina-chocolate-drops-solo-debut-album-t-bone-burnett-2014-11-19 |first=Danny|last= McElhinney|access-date=2015-06-11 |website=Nonesuch.com}} The Wall Street Journal said the album "confirms the arrival of a significant talent whose voice and distinctive approach communicate the simmering emotion at the core of the songs."{{Cite news |date=2015-02-10 |title=Music review: Rhiannon Giddens in Resolute Voice |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/music-review-rhiannon-giddens-in-resolute-voice-1423610343 |first=Jim |last=Fusilli|access-date=2017-04-02 |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal}} Additionally, the Los Angeles Times called the album "a collection that should solidify her status as one of the bright new lights in pop music."{{Cite news |title=Rhiannon Giddens discovers true calling with help from friends |work=Los Angeles Times|first=Randy|last= Lewis |url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-ca-rhiannon-giddens-20141228-story.html |date=December 27, 2014|access-date=2017-04-02}}

In July 2015, she performed at the TFF Rudolstadt world music, folk and dance festival in Germany.{{Cite web |title=Rhiannon Giddens at Heinepark Stage 3 July 2015 |url=http://tff-rudolstadt.de/de/programm/artistdetail/artist/rhiannon-giddens/bp/p100/ba/a36.html |access-date=2015-07-03 |publisher=TFF Rudolstadt}} Her performance was broadcast live by the German national public radio Deutschlandfunk.{{Cite web |title=Rudolstadt-Festival – das größte Folk-Roots-Weltmusik-Festival Deutschlands – Rudolstadt-Festival 6. – 9. Juli 2017 |url=http://tff-rudolstadt.de/de/tff-media/radio-tv.html |access-date=2017-04-02 |website=Tff-rudolstadt.de}} Rhiannon appears on Jon Lindsay's single "Ballad of Lennon Lacy" (Redeye Distribution, August 21). The song tackles the mysterious hanging death of Lennon Lacy, a black teen from rural Bladenboro southeast of Lumberton, North Carolina.{{Cite web |last=Devores |first=Courtney |date=2015-08-07 |title=Charlotte songwriter 'obsessed' with teen death case |url=http://www.charlotteobserver.com/entertainment/music-news-reviews/article30409689.html |access-date=2017-04-02 |website=Charlotte Observer}}

On November 27, 2015, to coincide with the Black Friday Record Store Day event, Giddens released Factory Girl (EP) on Nonesuch Records, which contained music culled from the same T Bone Burnett–produced sessions which yielded Tomorrow Is My Turn.{{Cite web |title=Nonesuch to Release Rhiannon Giddens's EP "Factory Girl" for Black Friday Record Store Day, November 27 | Nonesuch Records |url=http://www.nonesuch.com/journal/nonesuch-rhiannon-giddens-ep-factory-girl-black-friday-record-store-day-november-27-2015-10-20 |access-date=2017-04-02 |website=Nonesuch.com|date=October 20, 2015 }} A digital version of Factory Girl was made available December 11, 2015. The sessions for the album and EP were in Los Angeles and Nashville, with a multi-generational group of players assembled by Burnett. Musicians on Factory Girl include Burnett; fiddle player Gabe Witcher and double bassist Paul Kowert of Punch Brothers; percussionist Jack Ashford of Motown's renowned The Funk Brothers; drummer Jay Bellerose; guitarist Colin Linden from Toronto; veteran Nashville session bassist Dennis Crouch; and Giddens's Carolina Chocolate Drops touring band-mates, multi-instrumentalist Hubby Jenkins, and beat-boxer Adam Matta.

Giddens appeared on Jools Holland's Hootenanny on December 31, 2015, shown on BBC Two. She performed songs from her 2015 album Tomorrow Is My Turn, including "Waterboy" and a cover of "St. James Infirmary Blues" with Tom Jones. In January 2016, she was selected to take part in Transatlantic Sessions. The collaboration between American and Celtic musicians is a coveted honor. The ensemble performed as part of Celtic Connections in Glasgow, and a short UK/Irish tour. Her performances on the tour included the stirring tribute to David Bowie "It Ain't Easy". On October 8, 2016, she was featured on Austin City Limits.

Later in 2016, Giddens became the first American to be honored as Folk Singer of the Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, and it was announced that she would be receiving the prestigious Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass. She was the first woman and first person of color to receive the prize.{{Cite news |date=2016-09-12 |title=Rhiannon Giddens Brings Diversity to Banjo Award |work=The New York Times|first=Dave |last=Itzkoff |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/12/arts/music/rhiannon-giddens-steve-martin-bluegrass-prize.html |access-date=2017-04-02}} Also in 2016, it was announced that Giddens and the Carolina Chocolate Drops would be inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame.{{Cite web |title=2016 INDUCTION CEREMONY: List of Inductees |url=https://northcarolinamusichalloffame.org/event/2016-induction-ceremony/ |access-date=2017-04-02 |website=Northcarolinamusichalloffame.org}}

In 2017, Giddens became only the fourth musician to perform at both the Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals.{{Cite web |last=Gibbs |first=Ryan |title=5 must-see acts at the 2017 Newport Jazz Festival |url=http://www.newportri.com/newportmercury/arts/rhiannon-giddens/article_14586294-73d6-5006-8f10-c4d79fb7c2ad.html |access-date=2017-08-14 |publisher=Newport Mercury |archive-date=2017-08-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170807075909/http://www.newportri.com/newportmercury/arts/rhiannon-giddens/article_14586294-73d6-5006-8f10-c4d79fb7c2ad.html}} Later that year, she gave the keynote address at the World of Bluegrass Business Conference 2017.{{Cite web |title=Video: Rhiannon Giddens' Keynote Address – IBMA Business Conference 2017 |url=https://ibma.org/rhiannon-giddens-keynote-address-2017/ |access-date=2023-05-18 |website=ibma.org |date=11 February 2018 |first=Robert |last=Povelones}} According to Bluegrass Today, "Giddens (has) shattered long-held stereotypes... By the time she was done, she had systematically dismantled the myth of a homogenous Appalachia."{{Cite web |date=2017-09-27 |title=Rhiannon Giddens: Bluegrass in Black and White |url=https://bluegrasstoday.com/rhiannon-giddens-bluegrass-in-black-and-white/ |access-date=2017-09-27 |website=bluegrasstoday.com}} In June 2017, Giddens appeared in the multi-award-winning documentary The American Epic Sessions, directed by Bernard MacMahon, where she recorded "One Hour Mama" and English folk ballad "Pretty Saro", on the restored first electrical sound recording system from the 1920s.{{Cite news |date=2017-06-06 |title=The Performers in 'The American Epic Sessions' |language=en-US |work=WTTW Chicago Public Media – Television and Interactive |url=http://interactive.wttw.com/playlist/2017/06/05/performers-american-epic-sessions |access-date=2018-02-27}} Both performances were released on Music from The American Epic Sessions: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.{{Cite web |title=Album review: Various Artists, American Epic: The Sessions (Columbia/Lo-Max) |url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts_ents/15337638.Album_review__Various_Artists__American_Epic__The_Sessions__Columbia_Lo_Max_/ |access-date=2018-02-27 |website=HeraldScotland |date=June 9, 2017 |language=en}} After hearing the playback of these direct-to-disc recordings, she said, "you feel like your soul is coming out of the speaker."

In October 2017, Giddens was named one of the 2017 class of MacArthur "Genius" Fellows. The organization noted, "Giddens' drive to understand and convey the nuances, complexities, and interrelationships between musical traditions is enhancing our musical present with a wealth of sounds and textures from the past."{{Cite web |title=Rhiannon Giddens – MacArthur Foundation |url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/987/ |access-date=2019-01-24 |publisher=Macfound.org}} She further demonstrated the broad range of her musical interests with several projects. In early November, she performed as a soprano with the Louisville Orchestra in Teddy Abrams' multimedia tribute to Muhammad Ali, The Greatest.{{Cite web |last=Keel |first=Eli |title=Teddy Abrams' 'The Greatest' musically explores Ali in his own words and through the eyes of history |url=https://insiderlouisville.com/lifestyle_culture/arts-and-entertainment/teddy-abrams-the-greatest-musically-explores-ali-in-his-own-words-and-through-the-eyes-of-history/ |access-date=2018-04-27 |publisher=insiderlouisville.com |archive-date=2018-04-27 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180427184744/https://insiderlouisville.com/lifestyle_culture/arts-and-entertainment/teddy-abrams-the-greatest-musically-explores-ali-in-his-own-words-and-through-the-eyes-of-history/}} A week later, she sang with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra for their live recording of American Originals: 1918, which explored the early development of jazz during the post WWI era.{{Cite web |last=Baker |first=Brian |title=Review: 'American Originals' a Great Success |url=https://www.citybeat.com/arts-culture/classical-music/article/20982475/american-originals-at-cincinnati-pops-a-great-success |date=Nov 11, 2017|access-date=2018-04-27 |publisher=citybeat.com}} In January 2018, Giddens co-produced (with Dirk Powell) Songs of Our Native Daughters for Smithsonian Folkways. Written and recorded with fellow artists Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla, and Canadian singer Allison Russell, "The album confronts the ways we are culturally conditioned to avoid talking about America's history of slavery, racism, and misogyny."{{Cite web |title=Smithsonian Folkways Recordings 2018 Release Schedule |url=https://shorefire.com/releases/entry/smithsonian-folkways-recordings-2018-release-schedule |access-date=2018-05-11 |publisher=shorefire.com}} Also in early 2018, the Nashville Ballet announced that Rhiannon Giddens had been commissioned to write the music for Lucy Negro, Redux, a new dance choreographed by artistic director, Paul Vasterling. Based on the book of the same name by Caroline Randall Williams, its premise is that Shakespeare's Dark Lady was of African descent. The ballet premiered in February 2019.{{Cite web |last=Stumpfl |first=Amy |title=Nashville Ballet celebrates 'Big Ideas' and major milestones with 2018–19 season |url=https://www.tennessean.com/story/life/arts/2018/03/04/nashville-ballet-celebrates-big-ideas-and-major-milestones-2018-19-season/377530002/|date=2018-03-04 |access-date=2018-03-07 |website=www.tennessean.com}} In March 2018, Giddens fulfilled a previously announced engagement as guest curator for the Cambridge Folk Festival in Cambridge, England by inviting Peggy Seeger, Kaia Kater, Birds of Chicago, Amythyst Kiah, and Yola Carter to perform at the event.{{Cite web |date=2018-03-04 |title=Rhiannon Giddens Selects Artists for Cambridge Folk Festival |url=http://www.nonesuch.com/journal/rhiannon-giddens-selects-artists-cambridge-folk-festival-2018-03-21 |access-date=2018-04-27 |publisher=nonesuch.com}}

Giddens recorded vocals for Silo Songs, an audio installation created by composer Brad Wells for Hancock Shaker Village. She contributed a song, "Mountain Hymn", to the popular video game Red Dead Redemption 2 which was released in October 2018. The song was written with Daniel Lanois. In December 2018, she began hosting a podcast called Aria Code with Rhiannon Giddens produced by the Metropolitan Opera and WQXR-FM. The program is about individual arias having a lasting impact on audiences and how singers prepare to perform them.{{Cite web |title=Welcome to Aria Code with Rhiannon Giddens |url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/aria-code-rhiannon-giddens-season-one-trailer |access-date=2018-11-15 |publisher=www.wnycstudios.org}} In 2019, Giddens released two studio albums: Songs of Our Native Daughters with Allison Russell, Leyla McCalla, and Amythyst Kiah and There Is No Other with Italian musician Francesco Turrisi.{{Cite magazine |last=Bernstein |first=Jonathan |date=2019-02-21 |title=How Our Native Daughters Reimagine Folk Song Narratives |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/our-native-daughters-album-rhiannon-giddens-allison-russell-797295/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=2019-05-04}}{{Cite magazine |last=Betts |first=Stephen L. |date=2019-03-20 |title=Rhiannon Giddens Details Collaborative New Album With Francesco Turrisi |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/rhiannon-giddens-francesco-turrisi-new-album-there-is-no-other-810643/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=2019-05-04}}

For the 2020 Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, Giddens was commissioned to create an opera based on the Arabic language autobiography of Omar Ibn Said, a highly literate and cultured Torodbe (Muslim cleric) from the Fula people of modern Senegal, who was enslaved in an intertribal war against the Imamate of Futa Toro and brought aboard a slave ship to Charleston in 1807.{{Cite web |date=2019-08-21 |title=Making an Opera: Meet the Composer, Rhiannon Giddens |url=https://spoletousa.org/blog/making-an-opera-meet-the-composer-rhiannon-giddens/ |access-date=2020-06-08 |publisher=spoletousa.org}} She wrote the libretto and was the lead composer with help from co-composer Michael Abels. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world premiere of Omar was postponed until 2022.{{Cite web |website=The New York Times|title=Rhiannon Giddens Is Writing an Opera|author=Cooper, Michael|date=2019-06-10|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/10/arts/music/rhiannon-giddens-opera.html|access-date=2021-11-25|url-access=subscription}}{{Cite web |title=Omar |url=https://spoletousa.org/events/omar/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531031040/https://spoletousa.org/events/omar/ |archive-date=2022-05-31 |access-date=2022-06-01 |website=Spoleto Festival USA |language=en-US }} It received the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Music.{{Cite news |last=Times |first=The New York |date=2023-05-08 |title=Pulitzer Prizes: 2023 Winners List |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/08/business/pulitzer-prize-winners.html |access-date=2023-05-09 |issn=0362-4331}}

In July 2020, Giddens was named artistic director of the cross-cultural music organization Silkroad. The position had been vacant since 2017 when Silkroad's founder, Yo-Yo Ma, stepped down.{{Cite web |date=2020-07-28 |title=Rhiannon Giddens Named Artistic Director Of Silkroad |url=https://www.silkroad.org/rhiannon-giddens-announcement |access-date=2020-08-03 |publisher=silkroad.org}} On {{date2|August|17, |2020}}, Giddens guest-hosted the BBC Radio 2 Blues Show while its regular host Cerys Matthews was on her holidays.{{Cite web |title=BBC Radio 2 - The Blues Show with Cerys Matthews, Rhiannon Giddens sits in |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000lt68 |access-date=2024-06-23 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}}

Giddens was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro for her lasting impact on the UNCG community and work in music. She sang "Calling Me Home" by Alice Gerrard at a virtual commencement after accepting the degree in December 2020.{{Cite web |last=john.newsom@greensboro.com |first=John Newsom |title=UNCG's next virtual commencement will have the traditional pomp and circumstance |url=https://greensboro.com/news/local/education/uncgs-next-virtual-commencement-will-have-the-traditional-pomp-and-circumstance/article_8536d06c-2829-11eb-91f5-b35120e6832e.html |access-date=2020-12-11 |website=Greensboro News and Record |date=November 25, 2020 |language=en}} In 2023, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music from Princeton University.{{Cite web |date=May 30, 2023 |title=Princeton awards five honorary degrees |url=https://www.princeton.edu/news/2023/05/30/princeton-awards-five-honorary-degrees |access-date=2024-06-04 |website=Princeton University |language=en}} In 2023, Giddens joined the programming lineup at Wondrium leading the series "The Banjo: Music, History and Heritage."{{Cite web |last=MacCary |first=Julia |date=2023-02-06 |title=Rhiannon Giddens, Curtis Stone, Ari Shapiro and Selema Masekela Join Wondrium Lineup (EXCLUSIVE) |url=https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/wondrium-rhiannon-giddens-curtis-stone-ari-shapiro-selema-masekela-1235510984/ |access-date=2023-03-24 |website=Variety |language=en-US}} In 2022, she was named the musical director of the 2023 Ojai Music Festival.{{cite web |title=Rhiannon Giddens, 2023 Music Director |url=https://www.ojaifestival.org/rhiannon-giddens-2023-music-director/ |website=Ojai Music Festival |date=September 2, 2022 |access-date=15 May 2023}} On 7th July 2024, she and her band headlined the [https://gtsf.uk Gate to Southwell Festival.]

In 2017 and 2018, Giddens appeared in the fifth and sixth seasons of CMT's Nashville as Hannah Lee "Hallie" Jordan, a social worker and gospel singer who is a significant character in Juliette's storyline.{{Cite magazine |last=Betts |first=Stephen L. |date=2016-09-02 |title=Rhiannon Giddens to Join the Cast of 'Nashville' |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/country/news/rhiannon-giddens-to-join-the-cast-of-nashville-w437790 |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=2017-04-02}} She appeared in 11 episodes and performed several songs which have been made available following each episode.

Giddens is featured in the 2024 documentary Cover Your Ears produced by Prairie Coast Films and directed by Sean Patrick Shaul, discussing music censorship.{{cite news|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18296562/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk | title=Cover Your Ears }}

She is featured in the 2022 documentary Black Fiddlers next to Justin Robinson. In the film, produced by Heritage Film Project and directed by Eduardo Montes-Bradley, Giddens shares her memories of Joe Thomson and Odell Thomson.

Giddens announced that she would have four children's books published by Candlewick Press. The first two books, scheduled for release in Fall 2022, are based on the lyrics of her songs "Build A House" and "We Could Fly" with illustrations by Monica Mikai and Briana Mukodiri Uchendu respectively.{{Cite web |title=Rhiannon Giddens to Publish Children's Books with Candlewick Press |url=https://nonesuch.com/journal/rhiannon-giddens-publish-childrens-books-candlewick-press-2021-06-24 |access-date=2021-06-24 |website=nonesuch.com|date=June 24, 2021 }}

Giddens married Irish traditional musician Michael Laffan in 2007.{{Cite web |title=Honeymoon Couple|date=2008-11-05 |url=http://talithamackenzie.com/node/87 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160302154849/http://talithamackenzie.com/node/87 |archive-date=2016-03-02 |access-date=2016-01-01 |publisher=Talitha Mackenzie}} They have a daughter born in 2009 and a son born in 2013.{{Cite web |date=2015-09-02 |title=Rhiannon Giddens & The Making of NC's Most Beautiful Voice|first= Tommy|last= Tomlinson|url=https://www.ourstate.com/rhiannon-giddens/ |access-date=2016-01-01 |publisher=Our State}} They had separated as of 2018.{{Cite web |date=2018-10-21 |title=Blues star Rhiannon Giddens on her Irish ex and how Trump inspired action |url=https://extra.ie/2018/10/21/entertainment/blues-star-rhiannon-giddens-on-irish-ex-and-how-trump-inspired-action |access-date=2018-10-22 |first=Danny |last=McElhinney|publisher=Extra.ie}}

In 2019, Giddens began a relationship with her Italian musical partner Francesco Turrisi.{{Cite web |last=Gage |first=Jeff |date=2019-05-20 |title=How Rhiannon Giddens Merged Her Musical Selves With the Help of an Italian Jazz Musician |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/rhiannon-giddens-jazz-folk-there-is-no-other-837691/ |access-date=2019-12-05 |website=rollingstone.com |publisher=Rolling Stone}} They released albums together in May 2019 and April 2021.{{Cite web |date=2020-08-01 |title=A moment of zen in the midst of a lot going on! |url=https://www.facebook.com/RhiannonGiddensMusic/posts/10158213398962860 |access-date=2020-11-20 |website=Facebook.com}}{{Cite news |date=2021-04-16 |title=Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi: They're Calling Me Home review | Jude Rogers's folk album of the month |url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/apr/16/rhiannon-giddens-and-francesco-turrisi-theyre-calling-me-home-review |first=Jude |last=Rogers|newspaper=The Guardian}} The pair separated in November 2024.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

In 2021, Giddens was living in Limerick, Ireland.{{Cite web |title=Rhiannon Giddens: 'It's great to be back playing for people' |url=https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/rhiannon-giddens-its-great-to-be-back-playing-for-people-40927068.html |access-date=2021-11-23 |website=independent |date=October 7, 2021 |language=en}}

• Tomorrow Is My Turn (2015)
• Freedom Highway (2017)
• There Is No Other with Francesco Turrisi (2019)
• They're Calling Me Home with Francesco Turrisi (2021)
• You're the One (2023)
• What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow (2025)

• Live at Jazzfest 2016 (2016)
• Live at Jazzfest 2017 (2017)

• We Rise (2014)
• Factory Girl (2015)

• "Cruel World" (2019)
• "Just the Two of Us" featuring Sxip Shirey (2020)
• "Don't Call Me Names" (2020)
• "Julie's Aria" with Bill Frisell and Francesco Turrisi (2022)
• "Build a House" with Yo-Yo Ma and Francesco Turrisi (2022)

• Out on the Ocean: Music of the British Isles (2004)
• Northern Lights (2005)

• Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes (2014)

• Songs of Our Native Daughters (2019)

• Phoenix Rising (EP) (2023)
• American Railroad (2024)

• As member of Sankofa Strings, Colored Aristocracy (2005)
• As Elftones & Rhiannon Giddens, All the Pretty Horses (2009)
• As Laurelyn Dossett, Rhiannon Giddens, Eric Robertson & Bennett Sullivan, The Music of Beautiful Star (2009)
• As Eleganza (with Cheryse McLeod Lewis), Because I Knew You... (2009)
• As Mike Compton, Laurelyn Dossett, Rhiannon Giddens, Joe Newberry, Jason Sypher, The Gathering (2011)
• As The Giddens Sisters (with Lalenja Harrington), I Know I've Been Changed (2013)
• As Ben Harper and Rhiannon Giddens, Black Eyed Dog (single) (2020)
• As Amanda Palmer and Rhiannon Giddens, It's a Fire (single) (2020)
• As Renée Fleming, Alison Krauss, Rhiannon Giddens, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Before the Deluge (single) (2021)
• As Rhiannon Giddens, Resistance Revival Chorus, and Crys Matthews, How I Long For Peace (single) (2024)
• As Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson, What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow (2025)

See Nashville discography Seasons Five and Six for songs performed by Hallie Jordan (played by Rhiannon Giddens)

• "Dreamland" and "Clothes of My Man", Sonic New York (Sxip Shirey) (2010)
• "Brightest and Best", "Christ Child Lullaby", "A Babe is Born All of a Maid", and "Down in Yon Forest", The Winter Moon (Immigrant's Daughter) (2010)
• "Lay Your Money Down", Shamrock City (Solas) (2012)
• "Outside Man Blues", Yes We Can (An Apple A Day) (2013)
• "The Vanishing Race", Look Again to the Wind: Johnny Cash's Bitter Tears Revisited (Various Artists) (2014)
• "Now to Conclude Our Christmas Mirth", "Christmas Day Is Come", and "The Enniscorthy Christmas Carol", The Wexford Carols (Caitríona O'Leary) (2014)
• "Waterboy", "'S iomadh rud tha dhìth orm / Ciamar a nì mi 'n dannsa dìreach", and "Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby", Another Day, Another Time: Celebrating the Music of Inside Llewyn Davis (Various artists) (concert recorded live September 29, 2013, album released January 2015)
• "Up In Arms", Rhythm & Reason (Bhi Bhiman) (2015)
• "Julie" and "Cluck Old Hen", Tunes from David Holt's State of Music (Various Artists) (2015)
• "Ballad of Lennon Lacy" (single) (Jon Lindsay with Rhiannon Giddens and NC Music Love Army) (2015)
• "Kill a Word", Mr. Misunderstood (Eric Church) (2015)
• "The Good Fight", Real Midnight (Birds of Chicago) (2016)
• "St. James Infirmary Blues", Sing Me Home (Yo-Yo Ma & The Silk Road Ensemble) (2016)
• "Manman", A Day for the Hunter, A Day for the Prey (Leyla McCalla) (2016)
• "Come Sunday" and "Rocks in My Bed", American Tunes (Allen Toussaint) (2016)
• "Woman of Constant Sorrow", "Just Drive By, Firefly", and "Bach, Stevie Wonder and Janelle Monae", A Bottle of Whiskey and a Handful of Bees (Sxip Shirey) (2017)
• "West End Blues (Live)" and "Shake Sugaree", Tunes from David Holt's State of Music 2 (Various Artists) (2017)
• "One Hour Mama" and "Pretty Saro", Music from The American Epic Sessions (Various Artists) (2017)
• "Factory Girl" and "Lullaby", Folk Songs (Kronos Quartet) (2017)
• "So Pretty", For Lenny (Lara Downes) (2018)
• "My Baby Likes Bacon" and "Mansell's Waltz", Hopes & Dreams: The Lullaby Project (Various Artists) (2018)
• "I'm Just Wild About Harry", "I Ain't Gonna Play No Second Fiddle", "Swing Along", and "I Ain't Got Nobody", American Originals: 1918 (Cincinnati Pops Orchestra) (2018)
• "Dream Variation", Holes in the Sky (Lara Downes) (2019)
• "The May Morning Dew", The Great Irish Songbook (Dervish) (2019)
• "Georgia Buck" and "Cripple Creek", Just Around the Bend: Survival and Revival in Southern Banjo Sounds (Mike Seeger's Last Documentary) (Various Artists) (2019)
• "Moonlight", "Mountain Hymn", and "Mountain Banjo", The Music of Red Dead Redemption 2: Original Soundtrack (Various Artists) (2019)
• "All Babies Must Cry" (single) (Sxip Shirey) (2019)
• "Wish in Vain" (w/ Dirk Powell), Good Music to Avert the Collapse of American Democracy, Volume 2 (Various Artists) (2020 1-day benefit release)
• "All You Fascists Bound To Lose" (written by Woody Guthrie), This Joy (Resistance Revival Chorus) (2020, Righteous Babe Records)
• "Woman of the House", Canvas (Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy) (2023)
• "Texas Hold 'Em" (single) (Beyoncé) (2024)
• "The Ballad Of Sally Anne", My Black Country - The Songs Of Alice Randall (Various Artists) (2024)
• “Don’t Come Around Here No More” feat. Silkroad Ensemble and Benmont Tench, (2024, [https://store.tompetty.com/products/petty-country-a-country-music-celebration-of-tom-petty-cd Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration])
• "Prologue: Oh Freedom", "Mud Song", "Ahmaud", and "An Echo, An Ending", Songs In Flight (Shawn Okpebholo) (2025)

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite news |last=Arthur |first=Dee Dee |date=June 8, 2011 |title=Rhiannon Giddens Laffan returns for a classical duet: Hitting the High Notes |work=Charleston City Paper |url=http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/rhiannon-giddens-laffan-returns-for-a-classical-duet/Content?oid=3437805 |access-date=2015-06-11}}
• {{Cite magazine |last=Fricke |first=David |date=2015-03-05 |title=Rhiannon Giddens' Old-Time Religion |magazine=Rolling Stone |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/rhiannon-giddens-old-time-religion-20150305 |access-date=2015-06-11}}
• {{Cite news |last=Hall |first=Erin |date=February 2014 |title=Country Girl: An Interview with the Carolina Chocolate Drops' Rhiannon Giddens |work=Antigravity |url=http://www.antigravitymagazine.com/2014/02/country-girl-an-interview-with-the-carolina-chocolate-drops-rhiannon-giddens/ |access-date=2015-06-11}}
• {{Cite news |last=Hildebrand |first=Lee |date=2015-05-04 |title=Rhiannon Giddens brings a fresh voice to an old-time sound |work=SFgate |url=http://www.sfgate.com/music/article/Rhiannon-Giddens-brings-a-fresh-voice-to-an-6232529.php |access-date=2015-06-11}}
• {{Cite news |last=Mechanic |first=Michael |date=2010-10-04 |title=Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops |work=Mother Jones |url=https://www.motherjones.com/riff/2010/10/rhiannon-giddens-carolina-chocolate-drops-interview |access-date=2015-06-11}}
• {{Cite news |last=Silver |first=Craig |date=2015-04-15 |title=Rhiannon Giddens: Musical Melting Pot Wows America |work=Forbes |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/craigsilver/2015/04/15/rhiannon-giddens-musical-melting-pot-wows-america/ |access-date=2015-06-11}}
• {{Cite news |last=Wald |first=Gayle |date=2017-02-21 |title=Past Is Present |work=Oxford American |url=http://www.oxfordamerican.org/magazine/item/1102-past-is-present |access-date=2017-08-03}}
• {{Cite news |last=Kaliss |first=Jeff |date=2017-07-09 |title=Rhiannon Giddens Shares Her Musical Journey |work=San Francisco Classical Voice |url=https://www.sfcv.org/events-calendar/artist-spotlight/rhiannon-giddens-shares-her-musical-journey |access-date=2017-07-09}}
• {{Cite magazine |last=Sullivan |first=John Jeremiah |date=2019-05-20 |title=Rhiannon Giddens and what folk music means |magazine=The New Yorker |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/05/20/rhiannon-giddens-and-what-folk-music-means/ |access-date=2019-10-20}}

{{commons category|Rhiannon Giddens}}

• {{Official website}}
• {{allMusic|artist|rhiannon-giddens-mn0000579234}}
• {{discogs artist|2612591-Rhiannon-Giddens}}
• {{IMDb name|2871962}}
• {{YouTube|user=rhiannongiddens}}

{{Rhiannon Giddens|state=expanded}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giddens, Rhiannon}}

Category:1977 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century African-American women singers

Category:21st-century American women singers

Category:African-American banjoists

Category:African-American country musicians

Category:African-American fiddlers

Category:African-American violinists

Category:African-American women songwriters

Category:American banjoists

Category:American country singer-songwriters

Category:American multi-instrumentalists

Category:American women country singers

Category:Country musicians from North Carolina

Category:Grammy Award winners

Category:MacArthur Fellows

Category:Musicians from Greensboro, North Carolina

Category:North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics alumni

Category:Oberlin Conservatory of Music alumni

Category:Our Native Daughters members

Category:Pulitzer Prize for Music winners

Category:Scottish Gaelic singers

Category:Singer-songwriters from North Carolina

Category:The Carolina Chocolate Drops members

Category:The New Basement Tapes members

Category:21st-century American fiddlers