The Jazz Journalists Association has announced the nominees for the 2022 JJA Jazz Awards, including Rhiannon Giddens (for Banjo), Cécile McLorin Salvant (Female Vocalist of the Year), Mary Halvorson (Guitarist, Duo of the Year), and International Anthem (Record Label of the Year).

Congratulations to Caroline Shaw and Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi, who won Grammy Awards at the 64th Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony today. Shaw won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition, for Narrow Sea, written for and performed by Sō Percussion, Dawn Upshaw, and Gilbert Kalish. Giddens and Turrisi won the Grammy for Best Folk Album for They’re Calling Me Home.

Caramoor, the cultural arts venue on an 80-plus-acre estate in Katonah, New York, has announced its 2022 summer season, including performances by several Nonesuch artists: Molly Tuttle, Kronos Quartet, Dawn Upshaw, Rhiannon Giddens, Caroline Shaw, and Rachael & Vilray. "This summer is one of the most dynamic in our history," exclaims Caramoor’s President and CEO Edward J. Lewis III. "Our incredible lineup of artists and repertoire includes voices from an array of backgrounds, eras, and lived experiences, reflecting a broad diversity of audiences from our stages."

Rhiannon Giddens has revealed the cover for her debut picture book, Build a House, ahead of its October 11 publication on Candlewick Press; you can pre-order the book now. "I released this song on Juneteenth in 2020 with the great Yo-Yo Ma," Giddens says. "We made a socially distanced recording (very—there was an ocean between us!) and put it out on socials and that was that. A few days later, someone said the lyrics would make for a great children’s book. Fast forward two years and that children’s book is almost here! It has been an absolute honor and pleasure to work with my fantastic publisher Candlewick on this book, and a revelation to see what gifted artist Monica Mikai has done with this story." Build a House is the first of four children’s books that Giddens has planned with Candlewick Press. 

Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi will perform live with the Nashville Ballet on a five-city, twelve-performance tour of Lucy Negro Redux, a piece conceived, written, and choreographed by Paul Vasterling with music written by Giddens. The piece, based on the book by Caroline Randall Williams, debuted with three sold-out performances in Nashville in 2019. The tour begins with five performances at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville, March 18-26, 2022, followed by stops in Denver, Santa Fe, Kansas City, and Norfolk, Virginia.

Congratulations to all of the Nonesuch nominees for the 64th Grammy Awards: The Black Keys' Delta Kream for Best Contemporary Blues Album; Rhiannon Giddens' They're Calling Me Home with Francesco Turrisi for Best Folk Album and Best American Roots Song, for the track "Avalon"; Spike Lee's film of David Byrne's American Utopia on Broadway for Best Music Film; Louis Andriessen's The only one and Caroline Shaw's Narrow Sea for Best Contemporary Classical Composition; k.d. lang and Tracy Young's "Constant Craving (Fashionably Late Remix)" for Best Remixed Recording; and Mike Elizondo for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical, for work including Lake Street Dive's Obviously. You can hear all the nominated works here.

Congratulations to Rhiannon Giddens and The Staves, who have been nominated for UK Americana Awards. Giddens is up for International Artist of the Year and The Staves for UK Artist of the Year and UK Album of the Year, for Good Woman. The UK Americana Awards will be presented in a ceremony at Hackney Empire in London on January 27, 2022, as part of AmericanaFest UK.

"One of my first dream guests was Rhiannon Giddens, who is one of my favorite musicians, a fantastic singer," Mark Bittman says of his guest, with Francesco Turrisi, on the podcast Food with Mark Bittman. "Her mission is to lift up people whose contributions to American musical history have previously been erased or ignored and to work toward a more accurate understanding of America’s musical origins. I’m giddy about Giddens’ music (sorry)." You can hear their conversation here.

The 75th Ojai Music Festival takes place this week, September 16–19, with events led by 2021 Music Director John Adams, the Ojai debuts of Rhiannon Giddens and Attacca Quartet, and the return of Timo Andres all streaming for free live from the Libbey Bowl in Ojai, California.

Rhiannon Giddens is on NPR's World Cafe to perform three songs from her new album with Francesco Turrisi, They're Calling Me Home—"Black as Crow," "Calling Me Home," and "O Death"—and talk with host Raina Douris about the album. You can hear the session here.

Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi perform the 17th century piece "Si Dolce è'l Tormento" by Claudio Monteverdi in a new video. It was filmed by Laura Sheeran at Hellfire Studio in Dublin during the making of their new album, They're Calling Me Home, which features the song. You can watch it here. Giddens will release an Audible Original, To Balance on Bridges, July 22, as part of Audible's Words + Music series in the US. In the 1.5 hour audio-only memoir, Giddens recounts her life from childhood to present and explores her discovering many different types of music. She performs tracks from several of her acclaimed albums and leads listeners through a multitude of musical styles, confronting questions on race, culture, appropriation, and class.

Rhiannon Giddens spoke with WNYC's Radiolab for its miniseries The Vanishing of Harry Pace and with NPR's Radio Diaries for its feature "The Rise and Fall of Black Swan Records," both about the groundbreaking life of Pace, who, a century ago, founded Black Swan Records, the first major Black-owned record company, and launched the careers of Ethel Waters and Louis Armstrong, and what happened next. "This period—basically between emancipation and the Harlem Renaissance—it is the key to our American character," Giddens says.