Tomorrow Is My Turn

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: Another Day, Another Time: Celebrating the Music of €œInside Llewyn Davis.€ 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 Marian Anderson, Odetta, Mahalia Jackson, Rosetta Tharpe,€ Burnett says. €œWe need that person in our culture.€

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.€

€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.

Tomorrow Is My Turn was recorded in Los Angeles and Nashville, with a multi-generational group of players whom Burnett assembled. Among them are fiddle player Gabe Witcher and double bassist Paul Kowert of label-mates Punch Brothers; percussionist Jack Ashford of Motown€s renowned Funk Brothers; drummer Jay Bellerose; 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.

Tomorrow Is My Turn follows Giddens€ work with Elvis Costello, Taylor Goldsmith, Jim James, and Marcus Mumford on Lost On The River: The New Basement Tapes, an album also produced by Burnett that was released in November 2014. Her contribution was hailed by Rolling Stone magazine as the €œshowstopper€¦evoking antebellum blues with a magnificent voice that interrogates the myths stirred up at Big Pink.€ The New York Times 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.€