A Place in the Band: Rhiannon Giddens

Editor’s note: Register for the Blue Ridge Music Center’s FREE virtual A Place in the Band conference held Friday, February 26, 2021 here.

BGS is proud to announce our partnership with the Blue Ridge Music Center to debut their online series, A Place in the Band: Women in Bluegrass & American Roots Music. The 10-part series explores the triumphs and struggles of prominent women with careers in the music industry.

Over the course of three weeks the episodes – promoting the BRMC’s online conference in late February – will be made available on the Blue Ridge Music Center’s YouTube channel, on BlueRidgeMusicCenter.org, and here on BGS as part of a project that began in 2020 to honor the 100th anniversary of the 19^th Amendment granting women in the United States the right to vote.

North Carolina singer-songwriter and social justice activist Laurelyn Dossett acts as host, speaking with musicians and additional music industry leaders. Her subjects share behind the scenes stories, reveal their role models and mentors, discuss issues they’ve encountered specific to women in the industry, and highlight changes they’ve seen over the years. The individual stories show the collective strength and possibilities for women in bluegrass and American roots music.

The first three interviews feature North Carolina’s Rhiannon Giddens, Missy Raines (eight time-IBMA bass player of the year and member of the First Ladies of Bluegrass), and Amy Grossmann (Executive Director of the North Carolina Folk Festival). Additional interviews will be released on Tuesday, January 19, and Tuesday, January 26.

The first installment features Rhiannon Giddens. (Watch the full interview at the top of the page, watch a preview above.) A Greensboro, NC native, Grammy winner (and six-time nominee), and MacArthur Fellow, Giddens excavates the past to reveal truths about our present. A founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and Our Native Daughters, she also tours with Francesco Turrisi and as a solo artist. She is also known for her work onscreen, appearing in two seasons of the hit television series Nashville and in Ken Burns’s Country Music.

A Place in the Band: Women in Bluegrass and American Roots Music is sponsored and supported by the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, the Blue Ridge Parkway/National Park Service, National Endowment for the Arts, National Park Foundation, and The Bluegrass Situation.

Explore more from A Place in the Band, sign up for the conference, and learn more about the Blue Ridge Music Center here.

Video credit: Joe Dejarnette, Studio 808A
Graphic credit: Jacob LeBlanc, Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation