Rhiannon Giddens - Hope Is the Thing with Feathers Rhiannon Giddens

‘Giddens’ work has become a foundational influence for a generation of younger Black roots musicians’– Rolling Stone
‘Few American performers this century are more accomplished and important than Rhiannon Giddens’ – Mojo

Pulitzer and Grammy-winning artist Rhiannon Giddens’ new album Hope is the Thing with Feathers was inspired by the beauty of people coming together and drawing strength from each other. It was intentionally recorded live with no frills and few overdubs, just pure and essential music that captures the feeling of community, clarity, as well as the joy and power of creating together. From exploring the lineages that make American music to the community-oriented spirit in which it was conceived and recorded, in many ways the album tells the story of the last 20 years of Giddens’ life.

Hope is the Thing with Feathers features Giddens’ key collaborators from throughout her career. Giddens (lead vocals, minstrel banjo, fiddle) is joined by longtime bassist Jason Sypher, Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, Congolese artist Niwel Tsumbu (guitars), and Louisiana native Dirk Powell on multiple instruments, as well as her very first bandmate and fellow North Carolinian Justin Robinson, her nephew Justin Harrington, Dirk’s daughter Amelia Powell, Charly Lowry, and Giddens’ sister Lalenja Harrington. Says Giddens: “Louisiana, the Congo, Italy, the Carolinas - all of these influences and people coming together to make something: that is American music. It’s how American music came to be, and that was the original thought of creating a band with the musicians that I’ve been playing with for years, and featured on this album.”

Giddens’ seventh studio album was made in sessions nestled within North American tours in 2024 and 2025, at The Cypress House in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. It was co-produced by Giddens and longtime collaborator and bandmate Dirk Powell, who also engineered and mixed the album. Recording live was crucial, to bring the listener into the centre of the room. Giddens says that she cannot play without stomping, which can be felt on the opening track. Background noise and the sound of the musicians talking to each other before takes were also intentionally left in.

Hope is the Thing with Feathers features four original songs written by Giddens and Powell (including lead single ‘Carolina Rain’) alongside interpretations of pieces by North Carolinians Ola Belle Reed and Elizabeth Cotton, and Indigenous activist, singer-songwriter and storyteller Pura Fé, as well as traditional, including ‘Cluck Old Hen’ and ‘Walk with Me’ (a duet with Giddens’ sister). The title track was inspired by the poem by Emily Dickinson. Says Giddens: “This is most certainly a time where hope is needed more than ever; I was sitting in a hotel room pondering this poem when the tune was downloaded into my brain; I sang it for Niwel and he finished it with his beautiful harmonic movement. Art reaches across generations and continents to be completed, sometimes, by folks who will never meet.” The album cover is a six-by-six-foot patchwork quilt made by textile artist Uzoma Samuel Anyanwu, based on a photograph of Giddens by Ebru Yildiz.

Ever-prolific, Giddens continues to reach new heights as a multi-disciplinary artist. She plays the lead in forthcoming film An Ode To Mary Jo, alongside Ed Helms, Jason Isbell, Steve Earle, Regina Taylor and John Sayles; she served as a music supervisor and consultant, and contributed original music to the history-making film Sinners; and contributed new music for Revolutionary War: A Ken Burns Documentary for PBS. Recent projects include the Color Me Country coloring book for the Color Me Country Foundation, and Go Back and Fetch It: Recovering Early Black Music in the Americas for Fiddle and Banjo, co-authored with music writer Kristina R. Gaddy. The book presents examples of early Black Atlantic music from the 1600s through the 1800s, restoring the roots of Black music to the musical canon. Genuine Negro Jig, the debut album by the Carolina Chocolate Drops, was reissued by Nonesuch earlier this year, and 2025’s What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow with Justin Robinson earned a GRAMMY nomination for Best Folk Album.

Recent performances and appearances include a sold-out Carnegie Hall, and PBS’ Finding Your Roots TV series with Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Her work with Silkroad Ensemble continues throughout this year with Sanctuary: The Power of Resonance and Ritual. Giddens also just launched the Biscuits & Banjos Foundation, a nonprofit that celebrates the African diaspora’s role in shaping American identity and culture through music, literature, food, and community. As an initial initiative, the Foundation will provide Black music education organizations with banjos, expanding access to instruments and supporting the next generation of players and tradition-bearers. The Foundation was born out of Giddens’ Biscuits & Banjos Festival, a sold-out three-day event of music and community across Durham, N.C.