Rhiannon Giddens's new album, Freedom Highway, is due out on Nonesuch Records next Friday, February 24. But you don't need to wait till then to hear it: the album is streaming in full below as an NPR First Listen. Freedom Highway, the follow-up to her highly praised solo debut album, Tomorrow Is My Turn, includes nine original songs she wrote or co-wrote; a traditional tune; and two civil rights–era songs.

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's Ann Powers. "[H]ope comes back to life in Giddens' music. Her sound, grounded in folk, is carefully expansive, buttressed by a band of musicians expert in various folk idioms but always willing to experiment."

Powers later concludes: "On Freedom Highway, Rhiannon Giddens shows us that while America was never as innocent as some nostalgists want to believe, its young spirit still lives within, resistant to corruption, leading those who can hear its voice toward a better place down the road."

Read the complete review at npr.org/music.

To reserve a copy of Freedom Highway, head to iTunes or the Nonesuch Store, where CD and vinyl pre-orders include a download of the complete album on release day and a limited-edition print signed by Giddens.

The NPR Music First Listen embed was replaced with a Spotify embed following the album's release.