Rhiannon Giddens: Freedom Highway
Holly Gleason, Paste, 20 February 2017
ALWAYS AMBITIOUS, Americana/traditional folk artist Rhiannon Giddens uses Freedom Highway, her second solo album, for a contemporary end: tracing the roots of the BlackLivesMatter movement from plantation property to today. Joined by two protest songs (Richard Farina's 'Birmingham Sunday' and Pops Staples' title track) and one old blues cut (Mississippi John Hurt's 1928 murder ballad 'The Angels Laid Him Away'), the Carolina Chocolate Drop weaves a song cycle from slavery's pain and abuse, the jolt and reality that drove the Civil Rights movement and our current epidemic of young black men shot by police.
Total word count of piece: 512