Hope Is the Thing With Feathers is a sort of homecoming for Rhiannon Giddens. The folk singer and string musician first gained acclaim for her work with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, a group dedicated to preserving traditional string band music of North Carolina. Since 2015, her solo career has taken her far afield, exploring the tributaries that flow from the folk music of the Carolinas: discovering austere, arty branches through her work with Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi and adding enough polish to her essential sound on 2023’s You’re the One so it resembled a crossover.
A slight echo of You’re the One’s smooth assurance surfaces on her new record via “Carolina Rain.” The tune is broad and insistent enough to resemble a pop song, if only it was given a streamlined arrangement. Instead, “Carolina Rain” serves as a mile marker on an album that traces a path from Giddens’ folk beginnings through her worldly explorations and back home again. It’s a journey designed as a celebration, one that opens the door to include musicians from all corners of her career, ranging from regular collaborators Dirk Powell and Jason Sypher through Congolese guitarist Niwel Tsumbu to fiddle player Justin Robinson, with whom Giddens played in the Carolina Chocolate Drops.
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Last year, Giddens reunited with Robinson for the joint record What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow, a throwback to the impassioned traditionalism of their former band. Giddens brings that same enthusiasm to Hope Is the Thing With Feathers. The album flaunts frayed ends scattered throughout, like the studio chatter that precedes a raucous rendition of the folk standard “Old Cluck Hen.” These ragged accents make the music feel loose and alive—a touch of a mess that complements the clean yet earthy production of an album cut live in the studio.
Similarly, Giddens varies her styles without calling attention to the breadth of material here. Original material written by her and Powell is balanced by folk tunes from a variety of sources, including interpretations of Elizabeth Cotten’s “Freight Train” and Ola Belle Reed’s “High on a Mountain,” a pair of songs associated with North Carolina. Neither are straightforward re-creations of the originals. Giddens downplays the steady-rolling guitar lick fueling “Freight Train” and opens up “High on a Mountain” with a relaxed rhythm. Through stylistic choices like these, Giddens places just as much emphasis on the musicality of her band as on the meaning of the songs.
Any album whose title song draws inspiration from an Emily Dickinson poem, however, does place import on the lyrics. “Hope Is the Thing With Feathers” itself does provide a tonal touchstone for the rest of the record, summoning strength at times of trouble. Pain does rear its head on the record, surfacing in the aching “Wish in Vain,” a ballad that directly addresses the modern refugee crisis. Although it speaks to the current political moment, “Wish in Vain” feels of a piece with “Walk with Me,” a traditional gospel song Giddens performs as a duet with her sister, Lalenja Harrington. The blending of eras and sensibilities is intentional. Within Giddens’ music, there are no borders between time or culture; there’s only the connective thread of human experience, a common bond celebrated in song.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
