Rhiannon Giddens is probably best known for her stint in the band The Carolina Chocolate Drops. Freedom Highway is her second solo album.
And what an album it is. Riding on top of a plethora of banjo licks, mixed in with a dose of soul, funk, and R&B, Giddens’ powerful gives life to stories of black in America from the opening track based on a slave’s diary to the eponymous closing track, which is a cover of the classic Staples Singers song.
To be perfectly honest, I am enamored of this album and have a hard time envisioning that a better folk album will be released this year. Like all albums I listen to, I have my favorite tracks (in this case, the beautifully rendered Birmingham Sunday, the aspirational We Could Fly, and the explosively sung Come Love Come). But I don’t really think there is a bad track on this album, and I do think it benefits from full listening. There’s a story here, for the people who want to hear it. And Giddens own songs, as well as the tracks she chooses to cover, do a great job of telling it.
Recommendation: Buy It
Tracks I have a Playlist for: Birmingham Sunday, We Could Fly, Come Love Come, At the Purchaser’s Option
Tracks I would Thumbs down: none
Had never heard of her thanks for the recommendation! Which track is your favorite?
Birmingham Sunday is probably my favorite track. But I like every cut on the album. I think Freedom Highway is the least successful, but that’s at least partially because I know the Staples Singers version and I think it work better.
Sweet looking forward to hearing it! Would love for you to share this in our Facebook community of music fans, I think they’d dig it 🙂 https://www.facebook.com/groups/musicmoguls/