Qobuzissime

T-Bone Burnett is blunt: "Rhiannon is the next in a long line of singers that includes Marian Anderson, Odetta, Mahalia Jackson and Rosetta Tharpe." After hearing Tomorrow Is My Turn, her 2015 debut solo album that revisited such wonders as Elizabeth Cotten, Dolly Parton, Hank Cochran and even Aznavour, the famous producer's opinion sounded obvious. The journey into the timeless Americana of folk, jazz, gospel, blues, soul and country continues for the former member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops with Freedom Highway, the title of which is that taken from a civil rights anthem composed by the Staple Singers for the famous Selma marches in Montgomery, Alabama in March 1965. This album is much less rooted in the past than it seems, at a time when America is living through some of its most turbulent moments. With her truly stunning voice, Rhiannon Giddens stirs up the ghosts of slavery and the civil rights struggle, and makes them more modern and alive than ever. Even when she sings Joan Baez's Birmingham Sunday, you could swear you're hearing a tune from 2017! Rhiannon Giddens' strength is that she never does taxidermy. Superbly produced and interpreted, this album is not merely a sepia coloured memory to decorate the conscience and the mind. No, this is a strong and magnificent record that perpetuates a musical, spiritual and ideological tradition that can never die, especially when it is interpreted in this way. © MZ/Qobuz