Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson - What Did The Blackbird Say To The Crow

Label: Nonesuch

Released 4/18/2025

Justin Robinson and Rhiannon Giddens are two of the few people from the Black community caretaking Joe Thompson’s family tradition of fiddle and banjo music. For both, their Black banjo bodylands are primarily rooted in the North Carolina Piedmont, where Joe mentored them. The term “Black banjo bodylands” describes the deep connection between banjos, land, and the Black musicians who breathe life into them. Intimate engagements with place, nature, and community around this musical practice are essential to the tradition’s continuation. These bodylands constitute not just the individual player but the traditions, knowledge, and spirit handed down from their musical ancestors. On What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow, Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson simply chose to bring the places and people—even the season—with them. Heralded by the cawing of American crows, shot through with the round thrumming of periodical cicadas, these recordings represent the music exactly as it is: a particularly engaging piece of a particular place’s rich sonic ecosystem. Giddens and Robinson emphasize place, communication, and collaboration in these sound offerings from the North Carolina Piedmont homes of Joe Thompson and Etta Baker and the historic Mill Prong House. This record is not about flashy arrangements, or displays of virtuosity for its own sake. It’s about the relaxed, understated flow that arises at the junction of long friendship, a sense of belonging, and monstrous technical proficiency. We make this music, we make it together, and we make it here. This record refuses to be removed.

Track Listing:

1. Rain Crow
   
2. Brown’s Dream
   
3. Hook and Line
   
4. Pumpkin Pie
   
5. Duck’s Eyeball
   
6. Ryestraw
   
7. Little Brown Jug
   
8. Going to Raleigh
   
9. Country Waltz
   
10. Molly Put the Kettle On
    
11. Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss
    
12. John Henry
    
13. Love Somebody
    
14. Ebenezer
    
15. Old Joe Clark
    
16. Old Molly Hare
    
17. Marching Jaybird
    
18. Walkin’ in the Parlor