Pulitzer-winning Americana star Rhiannon Giddens to release new album, 'You're the One'
Macarthur Genius Award recipient and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Rhiannon Giddens has announced "You're the One," her first solo album in six years, out Aug. 18 on Nonesuch Records.
On Sept. 15, she will headline Nashville's Ryman Auditorium with Adia Victoria supporting her while on a world tour for the recording.
"I hope that people just hear American music — blues, jazz, Cajun, country, gospel and rock — it's all there. I like to be where it meets organically. They're fun songs, and I wanted them to have as much of a chance as they could to reach people who might dig them but don't know anything about what I do. If they're introduced to me through this record, they might listen to other music I've made and make some new discoveries," Giddens said about the album in a news release.
Giddens was awarded the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Music on May 8 for the "Omar" opera she co-wrote with Michael Abels. It is based on the autobiography of an enslaved Muslim man, Omar Ibn Said, who lived in Charleston, South Carolina, in the 19th century.
Musical collaborators from Giddens' acclaimed past decade contribute to her new album. They include her partner, Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell, bassist Jason Sypher and Congolese guitarist Niwel Tsumbu. The 12-person recording ensemble also features artists curated by Jack Splash, the album's producer — he has credits working with the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Solange, Alicia Keys, Valerie June, Tank and the Bangas.
The album's just-released lead single "You're The One" was inspired by her 10-year-old son upon his birth and his then 4-year-old sister.
"Your life has changed forever, and you don't know it until you're in the middle of it and it hits you," Giddens says. "I held his little cheek up to my face, and was just reminded, 'Oh my God, my children — they have every bit of my heart.'"
For more information on Rhiannon Giddens, visit rhiannongiddens.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Pulitzer-winning Americana star Rhiannon Giddens to release new album, 'You're the One'
