The Grammy award-winning American singer sits down with Andrew Mueller to discuss her remarkable career and mission to highlight the untold stories of people who have contributed to musical history in the US. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
I realized that what I had been told this whole time was a complete and total lie.
I was told the banjo was a white invention in Appalachia.
I knew it like I knew the back of my hand, right?
If something like that fundamental is completely not true, what else isn't true?
What else am I being told that's not true about American history?
And that kind of, you know, that's been the mission.
Over its journey, the Big Interview has spoken to musicians, authors, actors and historians.
This week's guest is all of those things and probably a few others we've missed.
Rhiannon Giddens studied opera before becoming interested in America's folk traditions and the untold stories behind them, stories she told via such projects as the Carolina Chocolate Drops and Our Native Daughters.
Her work has won her a Pulitzer Prize, a couple of grammys, and a MacArthur foundation genius grant, among other accolades.
Her most recent album is yous're the One.
I'm Andrew Muller and I spoke to Rhiannon Giddens on the Big Interview.
Rhiannon Giddens, welcome to the Big Interview.
Thank you.
Thanks for having me.
There's a lot to talk about.
Such is the variance of your career.
And actually, I'm kind of tempted to turn this into a half hour long seminar on time management, about which I think you would have a great deal to teach our listeners.
I'm not sure, but we will start with the new album, you're the One, which presents itself very much in a certain way.
The COVID the big headshot with the lurid colors and the cheerful globular font.