World Cafe's guest today is Rhiannon Giddens — formerly of Carolina Chocolate Drops, whose album Genuine Negro Jig won a Grammy in 2010. That record provided an introduction to the way she makes a song her own. (In that case, it was a dynamite cover of Blu Cantrell's "Hit Em Up Style.") Giddens has done more solo work — she was a show-stopper in the film of the Another Day, Another Time concert, as she sang a Gaelic song — and performs in the folk supergroup The New Basement Tapes.
Now comes Giddens' first solo album, Tomorrow Is My Turn, on which she puts her own stamp on songs by Patsy Cline, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Nina Simone and others. T-Bone Burnett produced. Here, Giddens discusses her musical path and decisions, and plays live with her band.
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