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Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson - What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow (2025)

Posted By: Fizzpop

Date: 17 Apr 2025 12:59:16

North Carolina has no better ambassador than Rhiannon Giddens, who has made it her life's mission to spread the gospel of her home state's oldest music—through the banjo, which was adapted from African gourd instruments; and the songs of the mountains, carried there by both enslaved people and Scots-Irish immigrants. It's transmitted through her solo work, as well as her group the Carolina Chocolate Drops; through her new Biscuits and Banjos festival and via her latest album, a collaboration with fellow former Chocolate Drop Justin Robinson. What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow is a collection of traditionals, although that word is elastic—as these songs got passed down with personal preferences, it became sort of a game of telephone leading to different interpretations. You may not recognize the exact melodies or lyrics of this "Little Brown Jug" or "John Henry," but that makes them even more interesting.

Giddens' purpose here, she has said, was to remind listeners that this is "old-fashioned front porch music … made for your community's enjoyment and for dancing—not solely for commercial purposes." To that end, she and Robinson literally took it outside, recording in the yards of the former Mill Prong plantation in Red Springs, Nor Carolina, as well as the homes of Piedmont musicians Etta Baker and Joe Thompson, who mentored both Giddens and Robinson. You hear birds chirping as the two wrap up the gregarious race of "Brown's Dream," one of many instrumentals. "Pumpkin Pie"—which so clearly illustrates the region's musical ties to the U.K.—combines Giddens strumming her banjo like percussion and Robinson quickly sawing at the fiddle to create a buzz, which continues after the song stops, in the form of an immersive cicada symphony. "This is the soundddddd!" Robinson crows, triggering Giddens' happy laughter.

There is so much joy on What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow, as when Robinson proclaims "That felt so good to me" at the end of the flirtatious "Duck's Eyeball," which finds Giddens creating a bass-like rhythm. Her fiddle is bright as a bell on "Rain Crow," which will be more familiar to most as the nursery rhyme "It Ain't Gonna Rain No More." "Country Waltz" is as delicate as filigree, while "Molly Put the Kettle On" bubbles at a hard boil. "Old Joe Clark"—with different lyrics than, say, the Kingston Trio's cover here (“Joe's "killed a man/ Buried him in the sand")—is fueled by speedy banjo, and Robinson's seesaw melody on "Hook and Line" is completely mesmerizing. We get very little of Giddens' singing, but when she harmonizes on tunes like "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss," it's like a glimpse of sunlight. Her and Robinson's "Marching Jaybird" banjo duet understands time and ease are luxuries. And the whole thing ends with "Walkin' in the Parlor," a technical stunner timed at a furious clip, with Giddens' strident strum setting the pace. As the pair laugh at the close, the tape keeps rolling to capture the nature around them.

TRACKLIST

1 Rain Crow
2 Brown's Dream
3 Hook and Line
4 Pumpkin Pie
5 Duck's Eyeball
6 Ryestraw
7 Little Brown Jug
8 Going to Raleigh
9 Country Waltz
10 Molly Put the Kettle On
11 Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss
12 John Henry
13 Love Somebody
14 Ebenezer
15 Old Joe Clark
16 Old Molly Hare
17 Marching Jaybird
18 Walkin' in the Parlor

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2025 MP3 CBR 320 kbps lossless FLAC Rhiannon Giddens Justin Robinson Folk