Rhiannon Giddens
Rhiannon Giddens 2015

Rhiannon Giddens | Pulse Lighting | 4.2.15 | Carolina Theatre | Durham, NC | Photo ©2015 Kelly Christman

 

Mikey Cummings
Lighting Designer & Director

ROBE Lighting & TERI Productions
Equipment Providers

Client since 2014

Rhiannon Giddens

Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and founding member of the Grammy Award-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops, Rhiannon Giddens possesses great instinct and abundant talent. She is renowned for her craft in folk, blues, country, classical, and Irish music genres. A native of Greensboro, North Carolina, she recalls singing from her crib to family members. She studied opera at Oberlin Conservatory before discovering the banjo—“and the rest is history.”

In 2013, Giddens delved further into her solo career and contributed a track to the LP We Are Not for Sale: Songs of Protest by the NC Music Love Army, a collective of activist musicians. Early in 2014, she joined Elvis Costello, Marcus Mumford, Taylor Goldsmith and Jim James to record Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes, a collection inspired by partial, never-released songs written by Bob Dylan.

Produced by T. Bone Burnett and released by Nonesuch Records, Tomorrow is My Turn (2015) honors iconic, female performers such as Patsy Cline, Nina Simone, gospel legend Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and Dolly Parton to name a few. Giddens radiates and soars on the album, not just covering, but owning the songs.

The Tomorrow is My Turn 2015 tour featured a sultry, sexy New Orleans street scene from a forgotten era created by Mikey Cummings to accentuate the musical depths and moody vibe of the Southern Gothic tradition.