Rhiannon Giddens's new album, Freedom Highway, was released on Friday to great critical acclaim. Giddens spent the day at Sing Sing prison, working with and performing for inmates as a part of Carnegie Hall's Musical Connections program. "Giddens is an immensely talented singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist with the instincts of a musical historian," says WFUV, which named Freedom Highway its New Dig of the week. "On this new collection, she expertly and powerfully tells the stories of those who could not and bears witness to their struggle ... Freedom Highway is welcome, relevant and important." The Los Angeles Times says: "It’s a powerful collection made all the more visceral by the stripped-down instrumental accompaniment around full-force-gale vocals in big moments, and delicate pleadings when songs are at their most intimate."

Freedom Highway, Rhiannon Giddens' follow-up to her highly praised solo debut album, Tomorrow Is My Turn, is out now. It's a "rich collection," says NPR. "[H]ope comes back to life in Giddens' music." Pitchfork exclaims: "Rhiannon Giddens emerges as a peerless and powerful voice in roots music on her second solo album." The AP calls it "a rich tapestry with threads of blues, folk, gospel, soul, country and jazz ... rootsy and relevant, delivered with crystal-clear emotion and understated musical skill." Uncut names this "remarkably wise and timely new album" its Album of the Month. It earns four stars in American Songwriter, Irish Times ("a record for and of our times"), Observer, and Guardian, which calls it a "powerful and timely set."

Rhiannon Giddens has announced an extensive US tour this spring, including several new shows that go on sale this Friday, the day her new album, Freedom Highway, will be released. Following several intimate performances in the Northeast in March with Dirk Powell, with whom she co-produced the album, and a performance in a multi-artist tribute to Aretha Franklin at Carnegie Hall, Giddens heads to Europe and Australia to tour. She returns to the US in April to tour, starting at the Stagecoach festival in California on April 28. The tour includes headline shows throughout the country and festival sets at New Orleans Jazz Fest, Newport Folk, Newport Jazz, Spoleto, ROMP, and more.

Rhiannon Giddens's new album, Freedom Highway, is due next Friday, February 24. But you don't need to wait till then to hear it: the album is streaming in full here as an NPR First Listen. It's a "rich collection, the latest chapter in the 40-year-old master folklorist, banjo virtuoso and vocal powerhouse's epic retelling of our history with its sins and sorrows—and joy born of resilience—fully reinstated," says NPR. "[H]ope comes back to life in Giddens' music."

Rhiannon Giddens's five-song EP Factory Girl, first released on vinyl and digitally in late 2015, is now available on CD for the first time. The EP, which is up for Grammy Awards for Best American Roots Performance and Best Folk Album, is culled from the T Bone Burnett–produced sessions that yielded Giddens's acclaimed solo debut album, Tomorrow Is My Turn. "It's a clutch of tunes that work together like the cards in a winning poker hand," the New York Times says of Factory Girl. "Her accompaniment … points to an ageless gold standard for American roots music." "Deftly curated, gorgeously sung," says NPR, "this EP is America." Her new album, Freedom Highway, is due February 24.

Rhiannon Giddens has unveiled a third song from her forthcoming album, Freedom Highway, called "Hey Bébé," which you can hear in a lyric video here. The song is one of nine original songs Giddens wrote or co-wrote on the album, which also includes a traditional tune and two civil rights–era songs. She co-wrote "Hey Bébé" with Dirk Powell, who co-produced the album with her. Download "Hey Bébé," "At the Purchaser's Option," and "Freedom Highway" now with pre-orders of the album.

The line-up for the 2017 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, aka Jazz Fest, has been announced, and among this year's artists are Rhiannon Giddens and Lake Street Dive, both performing on Friday, May 5. Jazz Fest runs over seven days across two weekends, April 28–30 and May 4–7. Also among the performers at this year's Jazz Fest are Wilco, Dr. John, and several contributors to the 2005 benefit album Our New Orleans.

Rhiannon Giddens, whose new album, Freedom Highway, is due February 24, has unveiled a new song from the album called "At the Purchaser's Option," which you can hear in a lyric video here. The song is one of nine original songs Giddens wrote or co-wrote on the album, which also includes a traditional tune and two civil rights–era songs, "Birmingham Sunday" and Staple Singers' "Freedom Highway." That last track and "At the Purchaser's Option" come as instant downloads with pre-orders of the album.

Rhiannon Giddens, whose new album, Freedom Highway, is due February 24, joins the cast of the television show Nashville as it returns for its fifth season tonight at 9 PM ET tonight, making its debut on CMT. Giddens plays the role of Hanna Lee "Hallie" Jordan, a young social worker with "the voice of an angel." Nashville airs Thursday nights on CMT; episodes will be available to stream on Hulu on Fridays.

Freedom Highway, Rhiannon Giddens' follow-up to her highly praised solo debut album, Tomorrow Is My Turn, will be released by Nonesuch Records on February 24, 2017. The record includes nine original songs she wrote or co-wrote, along with a traditional tune and two civil rights–era songs, "Birmingham Sunday" and Staple Singers' "Freedom Highway." Giddens co-produced the album with multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell in his Louisiana studio, with the bulk of recording done in wooden rooms built prior to the Civil War, over an intense eight-day period. The result is an album that is rawer and more personal than its predecessor. Nonesuch Store pre-orders include an instant download of the title track and a limited-edition print signed by Giddens.

Congratulations to all of the Nonesuch Records artists who were nominated for the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, announced earlier today by The Recording Academy: Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman, Rhiannon Giddens, Caetano Veloso & Gilberto Gil, and John Adams. Together, these artists' Nonesuch releases have garnered a total of six nominations this year. The Grammy Awards will be held on Sunday, February 12, 2017, in Los Angeles and will be broadcast live on CBS.

Rhiannon Giddens will tour Europe next spring. The concerts begin at Ducs des Lombards Jazz Club in Paris on March 23, followed by stops in Amsterdam, Brussels, Hamburg, and Cologne. She then heads to the UK for shows in London, Cambridge, and Edinburgh, and to Ireland for a culminating concert at Whelans in Dublin on April 3. Tickets go on sale this Friday, December 9.