Rhiannon Giddens today shared a new single from her forthcoming album You’re the One, which is due August 18 on Nonesuch Records. “Yet to Be” features Jason Isbell and tells the story of a Black woman and an Irish man falling in love in America. Giddens chose to collaborate with Isbell due to his steadfast advocacy and support for black women in the industry. Beyond being an exceptional singer, he stays true to himself, and she genuinely admires him as a person of great character.
"Yet To Be"
You’re the One, Giddens’ first album of all original songs, has already received critical praise, with Uncut calling the album an “accomplished tour d’horizon by [a] prolific polymath.” The Art’s Desk describes the album as, "Mingling Memphis-style horns with an Appalachian feel and her own particular soulful Americana, this isn't tricksy music, just upfront, inclusive, immediate and human." Of the title track “You’re the One,” New York Times says, “the song explodes out of her string-band foundations — banjo and fiddle — into full-tilt rock choruses, bursting with euphoria.”
The album also has been featured by NPR’s All Songs Considered, Pitchfork, Variety, Rolling Stone, SPIN, and more. You’re the One was produced by Jack Splash (Kendrick Lamar, Solange, Alicia Keys, Valerie June, Tank and the Bangas). Giddens also recently announced the biggest headlining shows of her career, including performances at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville in September, plus the Barbican Centre in London, the Beacon Theatre in New York City, and the Ace Theater in Los Angeles next spring (dates below).
It’s been a remarkable 2023 for Giddens thus far. The multi-faceted artist, GRAMMY-winner, and MacArthur fellow was recently awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music for her collaborative opera, Omar. Giddens is also featured on Fast Company's Most Creative People in Business list and is a host on Arts Talk, a new PBS program on which she, Elvis Costello, and Brian Stokes Mitchell discuss their careers.
You’re the One features twelve songs, written over the course of Giddens’ career, that burst with life-affirming energy, drawing from the folk music that she knows so deeply, as well as its pop descendants. It was recorded with a band composed of Giddens’s closest musical collaborators from the past decade alongside musicians from producer Splash’s own Rolodex, topped off with a horn section, making an impressive ten- to twelve-person ensemble. The collaborators include Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi plus multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell, bassist Jason Sypher, and Congolese guitarist Niwel Tsumbu. The album features electric and upright bass, conga, Cajun and piano accordions, guitars, a Western string section, and Miami horns, among other instruments, capturing the inclusive spirit that channels through all of her work.
As Pitchfork has 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 American Songwriter calling her “one of the most important musical minds currently walking the planet.” Giddens’ previous album, They're Calling Me Home, won the GRAMMY for Best Folk Album in 2022, making her a two-time winner and eight-time nominee. Over the last two years, in addition to the debut of Omar, Giddens also made her PBS’ Great Performances debut with the Nashville Ballet in Black Lucy and the Bard, for which she composed and the music (and performed it with Francesco Turrisi), and released a children's book called Build a House inspired by a song she wrote for Juneteenth. She also became artistic director of the Silkroad Ensemble, created a 10-part video series about the banjo on Wondrium, and launched a new series on PBS called My Music. Giddens has collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma, Elvis Costello, and Daniel Lanois; appeared on the Kennedy Center Honors Awards for Joan Baez; and appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, CBS Saturday Morning, and the GRAMMY Salute to Paul Simon on CBS.
TRACK LIST:
Too Little, Too Late, Too Bad
You’re the One
Yet to Be (feat. Jason Isbell)
Wrong Kind of Right
Another Wasted Life
You Louisiana Man
If You Don’t Know How Sweet It Is
Hen in the Foxhouse
Who Are You Dreaming Of
You Put the Sugar in My Bowl
Way Over Yonder
Good Ol’ Cider
TOUR DATES:
September 13: University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA^
September 14: The Sheldon, St. Louis, MO^
September 15: Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN^
September 17: Athenaeum Center, Chicago, IL*
September 18: Michigan Theatre, Ann Arbor, MI*
September 19: St. Cecilia Music Center, Grand Rapids, MI^
September 20: Royal Conservatory, Toronto, ON^
September 22: House of Blues, Boston, MA^
September 23: University of Maine, Orono, ME^
September 24: FreshGrass MASS MoCa Festival, North Adams, MA
September 26: Keswick Theater, Philadelphia, PA^
September 27: University of Maryland, College Park, MD^
September 28: Carolina Theater, Greensboro, NC^
September 30: University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Wilmington, NC^
October 1: Modlin Center at University of Richmond, Richmond, VA+
October 2: Paramount Theatre, Charlottesville, VA*
November 5: George Mason University Center for the Arts Concert Hall, Fairfax, VA@
November 9: The Granada Theatre, Santa Barbara, CA@
November 10:Balboa Theater, San Diego, CA@
November 11: Soka Performing Arts Center, Aliso Viejo, CA@
November 12: The Soraya at CSUN, Northridge, CA@
November 15: Bing Concert Hall, Stanford, CA@
November 16: Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts at UC Davis, Davis, CA@
November 17: Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, CA@
November 18: Green Music Center, Sonoma, CA@
February 10, 2024: Maison de la culture de Creteil, Creteil, France
February 11, 2024: Doornroosje Main Hall, Nijmegen, Netherlands
February 13, 2024: Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands
February 14, 2024: Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, Belgium
February 17, 2024: Elb Philharmonie, Hamburg, Germany
February 18, 2024: Lido, Berlin, Germany
February 19, 2024: Kulturkirche Ost, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
February 21, 2024: Barbican Centre, London, UK
February 23, 2024: Pavillion Theatre, Glasgow, UK
February 25, 2024: Vicar St., Dublin, Ireland
March 14, 2024: Worcester, MA, Holy Cross University
March 16, 2024: Beacon Theatre, New York, NY
March 19, 2024: State College, PA, Penn State
March 20, 2024: Cincinnati, OH, Memorial Hall
April 25, 2024: Ace Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
^with Adia Victoria
*with Charly Lowry
+with The Legendary Ingramettes
@Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens
