Spotlight Album Review: Rhiannon Giddens "You're The One"

Let’s put it right out there: Rhiannon Giddens is a goddess! Not just a Renaissance woman – a banjo player and a fiddler who’s won multiple Grammys, a MacArthur “Genius” grant, and a Pulitzer Prize for her opera Omar; co-founded Carolina Chocolate Drops and Our Native Daughters; succeeded Yo-Yo Ma as the Artistic Director of the Silk Road Ensemble; acted in the TV series Nashville; narrated podcasts; authored children’s books, and so much more – she’s somehow divinely ordained. On her new release, You’re the One, she channels her musical gifts into a sublimely eclectic album which may be the best of the year.

You’re the One is Rhiannon’s third solo album, but first of entirely original tunes. She recruited Jack Splash to produce at Criteria Studios in Miami, and while his track record (Kendrick Lamar, Alicia Keys, Valerie June, et al) might suggest an exercise is slickness, there is depth and diversity that resonates as uniquely Rhiannon. "I hope that people just hear American music," Giddens says. "Blues, jazz, Cajun, country, gospel, and rock—it's all there. I like to be where it meets organically."

The album kicks off with a full-tilt R&B number, “Too Little, Too Late, Too Bad,” which explicitly recalls Aretha Franklin’s bad-ass soaring gospel-inflected style, supported by the Miami Horns. It’s one of several tunes that bear the influence of strong female icons. “Another Wasted Life” (co-written with Bhi Bhiman) has a Nina Simone-like quality. Inspired by the story of Kalief Browder, the New York man who was incarcerated without trial on Rikers Island for three years, she uses her lower register over urgent instrumentation to create a visceral contempt: “Another day another youth/Another story-mangled truth/The commentary uncouth and full of cloudy grease.”

On the other hand, the sassy country song, “If You Don’t Know How Sweet Is,” (another Bhi Bhiman co-write) would make Dolly Parton proud:

If you don't know how sweet it is
Get on out of my kitchen
If you can't tell how good it is
Well you won't know what you're missin'

The title track, “You’re the One,” is a love song, but not to her husband. It’s for her son from her first marriage (she also has a daughter). It has a pop hook, but is somehow organic, with a banjo intro that leads into an uplifting violin: “I never knew life could be so wonderful/That there could be someone who was so beautiful/And I never knew that I could be so free.”

Several songs are collaborations with Dirk Powell, the multi-instrumentalist who has a studio in Louisiana, where Songs of Our Native Daughters was recorded, with Allison Russell, Leyla McCalla, and Amethyst Kiah. In addition to “Too Little, Too Late, Too Bad,” there’s “You Put the Sugar in My Bowl,” a bawdy blues worthy of Bessie Smith or Ma Rainey. The other one, “What Are You Dreaming Of,” is musically the opposite – a lush, string-driven ballad that might have come from the 1950’s.

“You Louisiana Man,” which is solely her composition, may have been inspired musically by Powell, who’s the musical director for her band. It features banjo, fiddle, accordion, and organ in a Zydeco rave-up.  “Hen in the Foxhouse,” also solely Rhiannon’s, tells the familiar #MeToo story of inappropriate behavior:

I'm just a hen in the foxhouse
A pigeon set amongst the cats
I'm just a hen in the foxhouse
A pigeon set amongst the cats
A sheep in wolf's clothing
And there ain't no changing that

The song has a groove with a funky bass line that allows Rhiannon to show her chops at scat singing (yeah, she does that, too).

The only track with a guest artist is “Yet to Be,” which features Jason Isbell. In alternating verses, it tells the story of a young farm girl from the South and a young farm boy from Liverpool, both of whom are getting away in search of something better:

It’s a long, long way from where we’ve been
The here and now is better than it was back then
Today may break your heart, but tomorrow holds the key
We’ve come so far, but the best is yet to be

The last track, before a brief instrumental, is “Way Over Yonder,” co-written with Keb’ Mo’. It brings her back to her Carolina Chocolate Drops string band roots (“The band is tight they can really play/Would have been famous back in the day”) - as if to say, “I haven’t forgotten where I came from.” Or perhaps that line from “Yet to Be” is more pertinent: “We’ve come so far, but the best is yet to be.” Considering her enormous talent and ambition, yet genuine respect and humility, who knows what she can accomplish next? All I know is she’s definitely the one to savor here and now.