Rhiannon Giddens Masterfully Performs the Music of Americana at the Southern May 19

Singer/songwriter Rhiannon Giddens is co-founder of the Grammy Award-winning string band, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, in which she also plays banjo and fiddle. As a solo artist, her elegant bearing, prodigious voice, and fierce spirit dazzles audiences worldwide with her masterful blend of gospel, jazz, blues, and country delivered with extraordinary emotional range and dazzling vocal prowess.

CAPA presents Rhiannon Giddens at the Southern Theatre (21 E. Main St.) on Saturday, May 19, at 8 pm. Tickets are $25-$50 at the CAPA Ticket Center (39 E. State St.), all Ticketmaster outlets, and www.ticketmaster.com. To purchase tickets by phone, please call (614) 469-0939 or (800) 745-3000.

Giddens began gaining recognition as a solo artist when she stole the show at the T-Bone Burnett-produced “Another Day, Another Time” concert at New York City’s Town Hall in 2013. She brought the audience to its feet that night, and why is abundantly evident on her critically acclaimed, Grammy-nominated, debut solo album, Tomorrow Is My Turn (2015).

Her follow-up album, Freedom Highway, was released in 2017. It includes nine original songs Giddens wrote or co-wrote as well as a traditional song and two civil rights-era songs, “Birmingham Sunday” and the Staple Singers’ well-known “Freedom Highway,” from which the album takes its name.

 

Giddens’ TV performances include “The Late Show,” “Austin City Limits,” “Later…with Jools Holland,” “CBS Saturday Morning,” and “CBS Sunday Morning,” among many others. She performed for President Obama and the First Lady for a White House Tribute to Gospel, televised on PBS. She performed the duet with country superstar Eric Church on his powerful anti-racism song, “Kill a Word,” on “The Tonight Show” and the CMA Awards, among other programs. Giddens received the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Singer of the Year, and has won the 2016 Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Bluegrass and Banjo.

Giddens, who studied opera at Oberlin, has a recurring role on the television drama Nashville, playing Hanna Lee "Hallie" Jordan, a young social worker with "the voice of an angel.”