Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson - What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow

Rhiannon Giddens reunites with her former Carolina Chocolate Drops bandmate Justin Robinson on What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow, an album of North Carolina fiddle and banjo music. Produced by Giddens and Joseph "joebass" DeJarnette, the album features Giddens on banjo and Robinson on fiddle, with the duo playing eighteen of their favourite North Carolina tunes: a mix of instrumentals and tunes with words. 

Many were learned from their late mentor, the legendary North Carolina Piedmont musician Joe Thompson; one is from another musical hero, the late Etta Baker, from whom they also learned by listening to recordings of her playing. Giddens and Robinson recorded the album outdoors and on location at Thompson’s and Baker’s North Carolina homes, as well as the former plantation Mill Prong House.

They were accompanied by the sounds of nature, including two different broods of cicadas, which had not emerged simultaneously since 1803, creating a true once-in-a-lifetime soundscape.

Available on Vinyl & CD.

Tracklist:
A1. Rain Crow
A2. Brown's Dream
A3. Hook and Line
A4. Pumpkin Pie
A5. Duck's Eyeball
A6. Ryestraw
A7. Little Brown Jug
A8. Going to Raleigh
A9. Country Waltz
B1. Molly Put the Kettle On
B2. Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss
B3. John Henry
B4. Love Somebody
B5. Ebenezer
B6. Old Joe Clark
B7. Old Molly Hare
B8. Marching Jaybird
B9. Walkin' in the Parlor