Rhiannon Giddens Previews New Album With Soaring Single ‘Carolina Rain’

Rhiannon Giddens returns with a new album, Hope Is The Thing With Feathers, on September 18 via Nonesuch Records. The acclaimed singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist also shared the lead single, “Carolina Rain.”

Hope Is The Thing With Feathers sees Giddens gathering longtime collaborators bassist Jason Sypher, Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, Congolese guitarist Niwel Tsumbu and Louisiana native Dirk Powell.

“Louisiana, the Congo, Italy, the Carolinas – all of these influences and people coming together to make something: that is American music,” Rhiannon stated. “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.”

Hope Is The Thing With Feathers is also a family affair, featuring Rhiannon’s nephew Justin Harrington (bones), Dirk’s daughter Amelia Powell (acoustic guitar, vocals), Charly Lowry (vocals, percussion) and Giddens’ sister Lalenja Harrington. Giddens and Powell co-produced the 10-track LP at The Cypress House in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.

Recorded largely live, Hope Is The Thing With Feathers saw the producers leaving in “background noise and the sound of the musicians talking to each other before takes were also intentionally left in,” press materials noted.

The album boasts four originals, along with interpretations of Ola Belle Reed (“High on a Mountain”) and Elizabeth Cotton (“Freight Train”), among others. The first look at Hope Is The Thing With Feathers is one of the originals, “Carolina Rain.”

The song sees Giddens soaring “over plucked banjo and fiddle runs in a song about love and money that pierces like an arrow,” as per the press release. Stream “Carolina Rain” below:

Hope Is The Thing With Feathers Tracklist:

1. Angel Fire Rise
2. Hope Is the Thing with Feathers
3. Step Away Blues
4. Wish in Vain
5. Carolina Rain
6. High on a Mountain
7. Freight Train
8. Walk with Me
9. Cluck Old Hen
10. Going Home