The fiddle-banjo duets of Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson in “What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow is a statement of defiance, a reunion, and a bold assertion of freedom all at once, without being the least bit overt. The two former members of the trio Carolina Chocolate Drops haven’t played together on record since Robinson left the group in 2011. They carry on the Southern Black String Band tradition at a time when DEI has been dissolved and when there have been failed attempts to erase Black military heroes from the record books. The outspoken Giddens, especially, could have continued on a more commercial path. Her 2023 You’re the One proved she could deliver upbeat folk-rock, soul, and even hints of rock ‘n roll. Instead, she says this, “With the assaults on reality going on in the world today, we wanted to offer another kind of record like walking back onto a gravel or dirt road while a stampede goes the other way.”
The album is as raw as it gets, simply down-home porch music. In fact, they recorded eighteen of their favorite North Carolina tunes outside, accompanied by sounds of nature, including two different broods of cicadas. These are a mix of instrumental and vocal tunes, but if you’re expecting to hear Giddens’ gorgeous voice alone, there are few opportunities as the duo sings together on the songs with words. Most of these tunes were learned from their late mentor, the North Carolina Piedmont musician Joe Thompson. One is from another of their heroes, the late Etta Baker. Accordingly, they recorded at Thompson’s and Baker’s North Carolina homes and the former plantation Mill Prong House. The music is so intentionally old-fashioned that it symbolically places a flag of freedom in the ground, signifying that Black history is to be embraced and not erased. They are making music for their community while using their (Giddens’) platform to deliver a loud reminder to the rest of the world. Whether most people acknowledge it or not, the fiddle and the banjo are African instruments by origin. To further their mission, the duo and four other string musicians, including the multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell, will commence the Rhiannon Giddens &The Old-Time Revue Tour.
Robinson takes a different tact in speaking about the album, citing home, the cicadas, the storms, the music, and the people who make it feel like home. He proudly reminisces what he, Giddens, and Dom Flemons learned from Thompson in traditional apprentice/mentor relationships to keep the legacy of Black string band music alive. Indeed, when viewing the track list, even the relatively unacquainted will recognize such tunes as “Little Brown Jug,” “Molly Put the Kettle On,” “John Henry,” and “Old Joe Clark.”
The duo went beyond the simple to embrace these traditions. They added other special touches by using just two folding chairs and microphones for both the music and picking up the sounds of nature. While at Thompson’s house, his nephew brought out one of his uncle’s restored fiddles, which Robinson played on the recording. While at Baker’s North Carolina home, Baker’s son mentioned that his mother recorded “Carolina Breakdown” (not on this album) in her yard and that a Carolina wren ended up on the recording. That very recording was the inspiration to make this album the way they did, and they proceeded to record Baker’s version of “Marching Jaybird” in that same yard, with Baker’s son listening.
It’s been more than a decade since the Carolina Chocolate Drops disbanded, but we now have a vivid reminder of what traditional Black string music sounds like, at a time when those in power want to ignore and even erase such important legacies.
