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Rhiannon Giddens reunites with her former Carolina Chocolate Drops bandmate Justin Robinson on What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow, an album of North Carolina fiddle and banjo music, out April 18 on Nonesuch Records. Produced by Giddens and Joseph "joebass" DeJarnette, the album features Giddens on banjo and Robinson on fiddle, with the duo playing eighteen of their favorite 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 is from another musical hero, the late Etta Baker, from whom they also learned by listening to recordings of her playing. Giddens and Robinson recorded outdoors at Thompson’s and Baker’s North Carolina homes, as well as the former plantation Mill Prong House. They were accompanied by the sounds of nature, including two different broods of cicadas, which had not emerged simultaneously since 1803, creating a true once-in-a-lifetime soundscape. A video of “Hook and Line,” a traditional tune from Joe Thompson’s repertoire and filmed at his home in Mebane, NC, may be seen here. It is the first tune Thompson ever learned; Giddens and Robinson continued the legacy by learning it from him. The duo, along with four other string musicians including the multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell, embarks on Rhiannon Giddens andamp; The Old-Time Revue Tour April 25 (dates below).

Watch Video for Album Track “Hook and Line” Here

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“With the assaults on reality going on in the world today, we wanted to offer another kind of record, like walking back onto a gravel or dirt road while a stampede goes the other way,” Giddens says. “With the cicada choir, this record could’ve only happened at a certain time in the last 120 years. We doubled down on place, time, realness, and old-fashioned front porch music. It’s a reminder that another way exists, with music made for your community’s enjoyment and for dancing–not solely for commercial purposes.  

“What is the role of music in our society?” she wonders. “How do we de-couple it from unfettered capitalism, where music is a product and musicians are incidental? How do we use the tools and system that we have been bequeathed in a way that reminds us of other ways of being?”

Robinson adds, "Recording this album felt like being back in the saddle. Just this time Joe is not here, and his fiddle is under my chin. The album is about home, the cicadas, the storms, the music, and the people who make it feel like home."

Thompson was one of the last musicians of his era and his community to carry on the southern Black string band tradition. He played a crucial role in the lives of Giddens and Robinson, who, along with their Carolina Chocolate Drops bandmate Dom Flemons, spent their formative years learning from Thompson in traditional apprentice/mentor relationships. His influence has guided all of their artistic journeys as well as their mission to keep the legacy of the Black string band tradition alive.  

Made in 2024, What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow was recorded in outdoor settings with just Giddens and Robinson, a couple of folding chairs, and some microphones–one of which was placed to pick up the sounds of nature around them, “using technology in the way that we choose,” as Giddens says.  While at Thompson’s house, his nephew brought out one of his uncle’s restored fiddles–which Robinson played on the recording. In a recording process full of similar bits of kismet, they experienced another magical moment at Baker’s Morganton, NC home, when Baker’s son offhandedly mentioned that his mother had recorded “Carolina Breakdown” in her yard, and that a Carolina wren ended up on the recording. Robinson and Giddens were delighted to hear him tell this story, as that very recording had been their inspiration to make What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow the way they did. The duo recorded Baker’s version of “Marching Jaybird” in that same yard, with Baker’s son listening. 

In further tribute to Giddens’ North Carolina roots, What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow will arrive just a week before Biscuits andamp; Banjos, the inaugural edition of her first festival. Taking place April 25–27 in downtown Durham and curated by Giddens, Biscuits andamp; Banjos highlights the deep roots and enduring legacy of Black music, art, and culture while fostering community and storytelling. The sold-out festival will feature a much-anticipated Carolina Chocolate Drops reunion, their first performance together in more than a decade. Additional performers include Taj Mahal, Leyla McCalla, Adia Victoria, Don Vappie andamp; Jazz Creole, Infinity Song, Toshi Reagon, and many others, alongside speakers such as Alice Randall, Caroline Randall Williams, and Dr. Dena Ross Jennings. Workshops, square dances, free banjo lessons, and a celebrity chef biscuit bake-off will also be featured.

Pre-order the album here: https://giddensrobinson.lnk.to/BlackbirdCrow