Tomorrow Is My Turn

Tomorrow Is My Turn

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<div><strong>Rhiannon Giddens</strong>, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and founding member of Grammy Award-winning <strong>Carolina Chocolate Drops</strong>, makes her solo recording debut with <strong><em>Tomorrow Is My Turn</em></strong>, due out February 10, 2015, on Nonesuch Records. (The vinyl will follow on March 3.) The album was produced by <strong>T Bone Burnett</strong>.</div><br />Burnett first worked with Giddens when she performed last fall at a concert he curated at New York City€s Town Hall that was later broadcast on Showtime: <strong><em>Another Day, Another Time: Celebrating the Music of €œInside Llewyn Davis.€ </em></strong>Backstage, Burnett was immediately moved to ask if he could produce a record with her. €œIt was clear the first time I heard her at rehearsal that Rhiannon is next in a long line of singers that include <strong>Marian Anderson</strong>,<strong> Odetta</strong>, <strong>Mahalia Jackson</strong>, <strong>Rosetta Tharpe</strong>,€ Burnett says. €œWe need that person in our culture.€<br /><br />For her first solo disc, Giddens chose a broad range of songs from genres as diverse as gospel, jazz, blues, and country. In addition to the traditional €œBlack Is the Color,€ tracks include Hank Cochran€s €œShe€s Got You,€ made famous by Patsy Cline; Dolly Parton€s €œDon't Let It Trouble Your Mind€; €œO Love Is Teasin€,€ popularized by the Kentucky-reared €œmother of folk€ Jean Ritchie; and Elizabeth Cotton€s €œShake Sugaree.€<br /><br />€œI had already started putting together a list of songs that didn€t really fit into the Chocolate Drops world,€ Giddens explains. €œAt the top was €˜Tomorrow Is My Turn€ [immortalized by Nina Simone]. Seeing Nina do it on YouTube was revelatory. I knew she€d gone through a lot of hard times, as so many people did in that time period. Watching her sing this song, with the words €˜tomorrow is my turn,€ I began to think about the struggle of her and women like her.€ The significance of this song led Giddens to make it the title of the album as well. €œOther songs started getting on my list and they were all by women or interpreted by women,€ she says.<br /><br /><strong><em>Tomorrow Is My Turn</em></strong> was recorded in Los Angeles and Nashville, with a multi-generational group of players whom Burnett assembled. Among them are fiddle player <strong>Gabe Witcher</strong> and double bassist <strong>Paul Kowert</strong> of label-mates <strong>Punch Brothers</strong>; percussionist Jack Ashford of Motown€s renowned Funk Brothers; drummer <strong>Jay Bellerose</strong>; guitarist Colin Linden; legendary backup singer Tata Vega; veteran Nashville session bassist Dennis Crouch; and Giddens€ Drops touring band-mates, multi-instrumentalist Hubby Jenkins and beat-boxer Adam Matta.<br /><br /><em>Tomorrow Is My Turn</em> follows Giddens€ work with Elvis Costello, Taylor Goldsmith, Jim James, and Marcus Mumford on <strong><em>Lost On The River: The New Basement Tapes</em></strong>, an album also produced by Burnett that was released in November 2014. Her contribution was hailed by <em>Rolling Stone</em> magazine as the €œshowstopper€¦evoking antebellum blues with a magnificent voice that interrogates the myths stirred up at Big Pink.€ The <em>New York Times</em> agreed, saying €œOn lead vocals she€s the album€s revelation, singing melodies that hark back to Celtic modes with a decisive presence and a haunting grace.€