I was perusing a site one night when this album cover and title caught my attention. I then realised it was subtitled ‘Fiddle and Banjo music of North Carolina’, and I knew I had to hear more. Rhiannon and Justin were both previously members of Carolina Chocolate Drops, who won a Grammy in the best traditional folk album category in 2010 with their third album, ‘Genuine Negro Jig’, but it has been more than 10 years since they have performed regularly together. Here Giddens (banjo, vocals) and Robinson (fiddle, vocals) have combined to play eighteen of their favourite North Carolina tunes: a mix of instrumentals and tunes with words. Many were learned from their late mentor, the legendary North Carolina Piedmont musician Joe Thompson, one of the last musicians of his era and his community to carry on the southern Black string band tradition; one song is from another musical hero, the late Etta Baker, from whom they also learned by listening to recordings of her playing.
In many ways this is incredibly reminiscent of ‘The Magnolia Sessions’ series of albums released on Anti-Corp, as the material was recorded outdoors at North Carolina homes so we get background sounds from nature, including cicadas and birds, so we feel we are right there with them, belong allowed to sit gently in awe of two musicians who are bringing traditional American folk and bluegrass into the modern age. This is music which could have been heard one hundred years ago, and if they had overdubbed a few crackles on top who would have said this was not recorded in 1925 as opposed to 2025? This really is a fiddle as opposed to a violin, and the connection with the banjo is incredible. This album is a time machine, taking us back to when music had meaning and emotion, personal, and being passed on by storytellers who went from one town to the next, as if they were medieval minstrels. It is music which enriches the listener and is truly remarkable. I am so lucky that I managed to discover this by accident, and now you have read the review I truly hope you will also feel inspired to seek this out.
Rating: 10/10
Links:
https://rhiannongiddens.com/
https://www.nonesuch.com/