Durham, N.C. - April 26th, 2025: Former Carolina Chocolate Drop member Rowan Corbett (left) and a shopper look at banjos inside a pop-up shop at the Biscuits and Banjos festival. (Cornell Watson for NPR) Cornell Watson for NPR hide caption
Rhiannon Giddens ENTER TEASER
Rhiannon Giddens
Between founding the string and jug band Carolina Chocolate Drops and winning a Pulitzer Prize and a MacArthur grant, Rhiannon Giddens has become one of folk music's foremost advocates for understanding the crucial role of Black musicians in the history of American roots music. This weekend, a North Carolina-based festival that she curated, Biscuits & Banjos, will feature dozens of Black artists performing and speaking on panels about their experiences in the genre. Karen Cox hide caption
Rhiannon Giddens performs at "A New York Evening With Rhiannon Giddens" at the National Sawdust in New York City on Aug. 17, 2023. Rob Kim/Getty Images for The Recording Academy hide caption
Rhiannon Giddens Ebru Yildiz/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Jon Batiste's World Music Radio tops our shortlist for the best new albums out on Aug. 18. Emman Montalvan/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Top row, left to right: PJ Harvey, Rufus Wainwright, Wila Frank; bottom row, left to right: Hand Habits, Rhiannon Giddens Courtesy of the artists hide caption
Mississippi Today reporter Anna Wolfe, center, is congratulated Monday by staff sports columnist Rick Cleveland, right, after winning the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting, as her mother, Bethel Wolfe, left, observes, at a celebration in Jackson, Miss. Wolfe was honored for her reporting on a $77 million welfare scandal, the largest embezzlement of federal funds in Mississippi's history. Rogelio V. Solis/AP hide caption
Tenor Jamez McCorkle, who debuted the title role in the opera Omar, by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels, which received its world premiere on May 27 in Charleston, S.C., at Spoleto Festival USA. Leigh Webber/Courtesy of Spoleto Festival USA hide caption
Mickey Guyton, Adia Victoria and Chapel Hart's Devynn Hart have made the industry a more welcoming place for others who look like them. Photo Illustration by Renee Klahr/NPR; Getty Images hide caption
Rhiannon Giddens Ebru Yildiz/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Rhiannon Giddens
Rhiannon Giddens. Brian Blauser/Mountain Stage hide caption
Rhiannon Giddens On Mountain Stage
Rhiannon Giddens recorded her new album, They're Calling Me Home, with her collaborator Francesco Turrisi, in quarantine in Ireland during 2020. Ebru Yildiz/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Clockwise from upper left: Skullcrusher, Rhiannon Giddens, Wallice, Bachelor (feat. Jay Som and Palehound) and Major Murphy Courtesy of the artists hide caption
New Mix: Rhiannon Giddens, A Jay Som-Palehound Collaboration, First Aid Kit, More
Rhiannon Giddens' new track for Morning Edition's Song Project series describes her feelings of emotional whiplash during the COVID-19 era. Ebru Yildiz/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Rhiannon Giddens Confronts Emotional Whiplash On 'Best Day / Worst Day'
In the first episode of Amplify With Lara Downes, the pianist (left) speaks with singer-songwriter, banjo player and MacArthur "genius" Rhiannon Giddens. Areon Mobasher/Courtesy of the artists hide caption
In Lara Downes' New Series, Black Musicians Rise To A Pivotal Moment
Amplify with Lara Downes: with guest Rhiannon Giddens NPR hide caption
Pops Staples, Rhiannon Giddens, Mavis Staples and Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers perform on Mountain Stage. Mountain Stage Archives hide caption
'Why Am I Treated So Bad' Special On Mountain Stage
West Virginia Public Broadcasting
'Why Am I Treated So Bad' Special On Mountain Stage
The music of Rhiannon Giddens is featured on this week's The Thistle & Shamrock. Michael Weinthrob/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
The Thistle & Shamrock: Now On ThistleRadio
