Description
You’re the One is the third solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Rhiannon Giddens. The album was produced by Jack Splash with a guest appearance by Jason Isbell. On her first album of all original songs, the folk polyglot seeks livelier rhythms and vocal styles infused with jazz, country, and zydeco.
Her classically trained voice and virtuosity on both minstrel and modern banjo have infused her stories—many of them historically rooted—with an urgency that pangs into the present. It’s work she has undertaken independently and collectively (with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Our Native Daughters, and through collaborative albums), and explored through multiple forms—song, ballet, opera. This boundless approach has earned Giddens a MacArthur “Genius” grant, a Pulitzer Prize, and two Grammys.
On You’re the One, Giddens’ first solo album in six years, she seems more interested in playing a variety of parts than fully inhabiting any one. Each song feels like a costume she dons for the duration of the track—and the changes are many. She’s often ventured from the shores of American folk to touch the waters of blues, soul, and gospel, but this time the shifting itself seems to be the point as Giddens stretches her reach further.
