afropunk exclusive: rhiannon giddens of the carolina chocolate drops talks about her new album “tomorrow is my turn” #soundcheck

Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops is the rare Americana artist whose music seamlessly bridges the classic and the modern. Where an increasing number of folk artists are pure traditionalists, Rhiannon Giddens draws her inspiration from the full well of American artists from bluegrass to soul and everything in between. Her live shows take the form of an intimate storytelling session, where she weaves stories about her own songs and the classics she interprets in between her inimitable performance. She’s currently on tour supporting her solo album Tomorrow Is My Turn, and took the time to talk to us about the importance of storytelling, and the power of folk songs.

By Nathan Leigh, AFROPUNK Contributor

What makes this tour different than a Carolina Chocolate Drops tour?

Well, mostly the material. And the fact that we have a drummer and a bass player, which we never have in the Chocolate Drops. We’re playing a lot of solo material, and then throwing in some Chocolate Drops stuff. It sounds really good with the full band, we’re also doing the material I did as a part of the New Basement Tapes project—the Dylan lyrics project T Bone Burnett put together. We’re doing some of those songs as well.

What was your involvement with that project?

I was one of the artists who wrote music to the lyrics and recorded it. It was me, Elvis Costello, Jim James from My Morning Jacket, Taylor Goldsmith, and Marcus Mumford from Mumford and Sons. There were five of us to write music, or figure out how these lyrics could turn into songs. And then we recorded 45 songs over this period, then took the cream of the crop and released it as a record last fall.

You work on the full spectrum of American folk. You do your own originals, you do classics, and you do re-imaginings of classic songwriters. How do you see yourself in that spectrum? I feel like folk music has a very different view of songwriting than contemporary pop does.

As a folk musician, you’re an interpreter from the getgo. Even if you’re trying to be a folk singer/songwriter, you’re listening to old songs or songs that other people have written. So that has to be part of who you are as a folk musician. I think anyway. So that’s how I’ve come to approach the solo project, is as an interpreter. It’s about the song and the story I’m trying to tell, that’s what pushes the song choice. I’m a folk musician, but I’m also a student of American music and Americana—which is kind of a catchall term—but for me it just means the deep well of American music, and how blues and and jazz and Celtic stuff all kind of came out of this melting pot.

What do you think it is about the storytelling tradition and American folk tradition that’s still meaningful and relevant in 2015?

I think it’s always relevant. Storytelling has been a part of the human condition since we were able to speak. That’s one of the constants in our history—is that we tell stories; whether it’s paper and books or TV shows or it’s songs. So I think it’s more important than ever to continue telling stories through music, because I think—for me—I always get more out of it if there’s a story being told. Personally, I listen to old music and those stories and they tell me about what life was like back then. I think it’s such an interesting way to access and engage with history, and to engage with what’s going on currently. There’s always a story to be told.

Something I really enjoy about your performances is that you don’t just play a song, you give some context about it, especially if it’s not one of your own compositions. When you’re choosing a traditional song to add to your repertoire, are you thinking about the story behind it?

It can happen different ways. A lot of times a song is just like “Oh! that sounds awesome, I really love that!” And then I start listening to the words and sometimes it’s like “OK, I enjoy that, but I can never do that” because that story doesn’t really jive with me, or I can’t really figure out a way to communicate that in a real way. Like maybe it’s a dude talking about how crappy his woman is or whatever, and that’s just not a story I choose to tell. So I enjoy that song and I put it away. And maybe I hear a song and I love the story as well, and then we do it and it’s great and I can communicate it. And sometimes I hear a song and it’s really cool and the story’s fine, and I find out some historical thing about it and that just deepens the understanding for me. And that’s really the perfect storm for me: when I really just love a song, it’s a really great story to tell, and then I hear some history around it that makes it even better. I find out who wrote it and why, where it came out of, anything like that. Definitely what drives it is is it something I want to do, is it something I feel like I can communicate to people. Because if I can’t communicate it, then I’m not going to do it.

You were involved with the Occupy movement, what do you think it is that has historically linked folk music and radical politics?

I wasn’t involved heavily. I did write a song and I did sing it at the Occupy movement. I was in the middle of touring and it was a moment, and I wanted to put my voice in there. I think that folk music and radical politics—or at least folk music as it has been, and I don’t know where folk music is going right now, that’s another topic I suppose—has always been drawn to radical politics, because it’s the music of the folk, and the folk are the ones who are getting sat on. You know, we’re talking about the common man and woman, people who are working every day, who are building the country, you know what I mean? They’re not the ones that are making all the money. So the music that’s coming from them is dealing with these issues, you know? “Working in the mill sucks and I don’t have any money,” and all of this stuff that’s of the daily concerns of someone who is not of elite status. So I think these things have to go together. When you’re talking about radical politics, you’re talking about shaking up the status quo. You’re talking about wealth inequality, social inequality, all these things that folk music is dealing with.

Well put! So what else are you working on right now?

We’re touring a lot this year. My thing is that I’m touring the record, yes. But what we in the Carolina Chocolate Drops are doing is part of a mission. We’re trying to break down the barriers of American music. We’re trying to give it more context, trying to give it more connection to the past. And that’s what the shows are. We’re doing music from the record, music from this, it’s all mixed together. It’s trying to deepen the conversation; trying to thicken the texture, I suppose, about this stuff. So people should come to the show!

Do you feel like people are engaging on that level? Do you feel like you’re being successful in that front?

I do! The Chocolate Drops, certainly we push and broaden the conversation. And even my record Tomorrow Is My Turn, I’m really talking about women in Americana and how a Dolly Parton song and a Nina Simone song and a Rosetta Tharpe song should all be next to each other, because they’re all far more related than they are apart. You know? And I think we tend to forget that. And that’s why we’re here, to try to remind people that in our way. And other people are doing that too in their way, but we have our little slice of the musical world. It’s not just about going up and singing a pretty song, it’s really about something much more than that. There’s a lot more to say and we’re just trying to say it.

Full tour dates and new album are available here:

http://rhiannongiddens.com/#shows