Rhiannon Giddens’ prodigious musical talent is on full display on her latest album You’re the One, her first full-length effort that contains all original songs (of which she wrote or co-wrote). Storming through the eleven songs and brief instrumental outro with a subtle fury, Giddens sings about love gone wrong and its heartbreaking aftermath, unbridled love that has gone right and positively transformed the individuals involved, the dangerous and vulnerable places and positions that women occupy in this world, feminine strength that refuses to yield, the always-evolving need for social change, the mesmerizing glory of sexual attraction, and the need to hope for the future while we celebrate our present lives.
Highlights from this exceptional collection include the fierce and bold “Too Little, Too Late, Too Bad,” the exuberant and soaring titular track, the anthemic and powerful love tale “Yet To Be” with guest vocalist Jason Isbell, the defiant and saucy “If You Don’t Know How Sweet It Is,” the provocative and sobering “Hen In The Foxhouse,” and the bawdy and raucous “You Put The Sugar In My Bowl.” Throughout all of the songs on this record, Giddens effortlessly traverses and blends folk, bluegrass, blues, jazz, zydeco, and soul to create a distinctive sound all her own.
Undeniably one of the greatest musical geniuses of our time, Giddens adds to her stellar resume with this album. For the uninitiated, I encourage you to visit her website to discover all that she has achieved over the last few years as her accomplishments are too numerous to mention here in this forum. Suffice it to say Giddens is an artist who exists and creates on a different level from most other artists. To listen to her voice, instrumentation, and song delivery is to audibly experience the sound of superior talent and a living breathing all-time great who will only get better as time progresses.
You’re The One by Rhiannon Giddens will be available on her website this Friday, August 18th.
Enjoy our previous coverage here: REVIEW: Rhiannon Giddens They’re Calling Me Home is Always Beautiful
Musicians on the album are Rhiannon Giddens on minstrel banjo, modern banjo, viola, and vocals; Dwayne Bennett on Hammond B3 and additional keys; Eric Escane on electric guitar; Terrence “Teajai” Grizzle Jr. on drums; Humberto Ibarra on percussion; Eryn Allen Kane on background vocals; Tadarius “T Ray” McCombs on electric bass; Dirk Powell on accordion, piano, fiddle, and guitar; Niwel Tsumbu on nylon-stringed guitar; Francesco Turrisi on piano, tamburello, piano accordion, and frame drum; Jack Splash on percussion, guitar, drum programming, Rhodes, and Wurlitzer; Jason Sypher on upright bass; Jason Isbell on vocals on “Yet to Be”; Lalenja Harrington on background vocals on “Way Over Yonder”; Leyla McCalla on cello on “You’re the One”; Amelia Powell on triangle & background vocals on “Way Over Yonder”; Gene Sxip Shirey on National Reso-Phonic guitar on “Hen in the Foxhouse,” String arrangements on “Wrong Kind of Right”, “Who Are You Dreaming Of”, “You’re the One”, and “If You Don’t Know How Sweet It Is” by Lester Snell, Jennifer Pucket, and Yennifer Correia: Andy Yum on violins; Beth Luscome and Aaron Tubergen on violas; Jonathan Kirkscey on cello; horn and flute arrangements on “Too Little, Too Late, Too Bad”, “Wrong Kind of Right”, “Another Wasted Life”, “You Louisiana Man”, “You Put the Sugar in My Bowl”, “Yet to Be” and “Who Are You Dreaming Of” by Jack Splash; Ted Zimmerman on trumpet; Scott Klarman on saxophone and flute; and Jose Miranda on trombone.
The album was produced by Jack Splash.
