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.

Rhiannon Giddens has announced the first two of four planned picture books she will publish with Candlewick Press and the Walker Books Group. Representing her publishing debut and showcasing the illustrative talents of emerging Black artists Monica Mikai and Briana Mukodiri Uchendu, the new picture books—Build a House (2022) and We Could Fly (2023)—will extend her artistic project to young readers and their families. "I'm so excited to get to explore a different way to tell the stories I’ve been trying to highlight with my songs and my music," Giddens says. 

In honor of Juneteenth and Black Music Month, Rhiannon Giddens is the guest on the latest episode of Topsify's BLK in America podcast. She talks with host Dr. Maurice Stinnett about growing up Black in America and shares some songs that inspire her. "It was my discovery of the music of North Carolina and what sort of became my life's mission that helped me figure out my identity." You can watch their conversation and listen to a playlist Giddens put together for the discussion here.

Rhiannon Giddens’ new album, They're Calling Me Home, recorded with Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, released earlier this year on CD and digital, is now on vinyl. Giddens and Turrisi, who both live in Ireland when they aren’t on tour, have been there since March 2020 due to the pandemic. The two expats found themselves drawn to the music of their native and adoptive countries of America, Italy, and Ireland during lockdown. Exploring the emotions brought up by the moment, Giddens and Turrisi decamped to Hellfire, a small studio on a working farm outside of Dublin, to record these songs over six days. 

Ojai Music Festival has announced details for the 75th Festival, September 16–19, 2021, with 2021 Music Director John Adams; the Ojai debuts of Rhiannon Giddens and Attacca Quartet; the return of Timo Andres; and works by Andres, Giddens, Laurie Anderson, Donnacha Dennehy, Philip Glass, Ingram Marshall, Brad Mehldau, Nico Muhly, Caroline Shaw, and others. The festival events will also stream live. 

"I write from a cultural point of view, from other people's point of view," Rhiannon Giddens tells Bruce Headlam on the Broken Record podcast, "trying to highlight black and mostly female voices that I feel like need to be highlighted. And a lot of times they come through as real spiritual kind of events." They also discuss her new album with Francesco Turrisi, They're Calling Me Home, which features mostly old-time songs she didn't write but which the two expats found themselves drawn to by during the COVID-19 lockdown in Ireland. You can hear the episode here.

Rhiannon Giddens is a guest on Kyle Meredith With..., an interview series hosted by WFPK’s Kyle Meredith for Consequence. "One of the all time greats," Meredith says of his guest. They discuss her new album with Francesco Turrisi, They're Calling Me Home, which Meredith calls "powerful and beautiful." You can watch their conversation here.