MEMORIAL HALL
May 20th, 2018
(Cincinnati, OH – 1/29/18) – Freedom Highway the most recent release by Grammy award winning singer and instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens is an eclectic blend of influences and stylistic approaches. The album, composed of 9 original songs and two covers, wonderfully highlights the sheer power of Giddens’ versatile voice.
The album personifies struggle. Giddens uses her voice to interpret and comment on history and hardship. Freedom Highway is a story, connecting listeners to a timeline that traces back far beyond Giddens’ years. Sonically, the work utilizes a broad, yet simple palette of musical tonalities and textures. The direct makeup of the album’s composition adds extra emphasis to what the work fundamentally is — a continuation of the age-old tradition of storytelling through song.
Reserved tickets: $55.00, $47.50, and $40.00 (plus applicable fees), go on sale Friday, February 2nd at 12:00 PM at www.memorialhallotr.com, the Memorial Hall box office or charge by phone at 513-977-8838.
Rhiannon Giddens is the co-founder of the GRAMMY award-winning string band Carolina Chocolate Drops, in which she also plays banjo and fiddle. She began gaining recognition as a solo artist when she stole the show at the T Bone Burnett– produced Another Day, Another Time concert at New York City’s Town Hall in 2013. The elegant bearing, prodigious voice, and fierce spirit that brought the audience to its feet that night is also abundantly evident on Giddens’ critically acclaimed solo debut, the Grammy nominated album, Tomorrow Is My Turn, which masterfully blends American musical genres like gospel, jazz, blues, and country, showcasing her extraordinary emotional range and dazzling vocal prowess.
Giddens’ follow-up album Freedom Highway was released in February 2017. It includes 9 original songs Giddens wrote or co-wrote along with a traditional song and two civil rights-era songs, Birmingham Sunday and Staple Singers’ well-known “Freedom Highway,” from which the album takes its name.
For more information: