No Product Used: Rhiannon Giddens and "Black Is the Color"

Rhiannon Giddens brings us today's random tune, titled Black Is the Color. She is a founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, and a multi-instrumentalist (violin, banjo) and singer. She began her musical career in folk, competing in Scottish fiddle competitions, attending contra dances and performing as a member of the string band Sanfoka Strings and the traditional group Gaelwynd. Since forming the Carolina Chocolate Drops in 2005, she is currently the only remaining original member still active in the group. In 2013, she embarked on her solo career. In 2015, she released Tomorrow is My Turn, an album with songs originally made famous by artists such as Odetta, Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton and Nina Simone, and Giddens was praised by Wall Street Journal as "a significant talent" by the Wall Street Journal and "one of the bright new lights" by the Los Angeles Times. In 2016, Giddens became the first American honored as Folk Singer of the Year by the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Black Is the Color can be found on Giddens 2015 release Tomorrow is My Turn, and is a traditional folk song from Appalachia and is part of a traditional repertory of Celtic music artists but has been sung by artists as varied as Jo Stafford, Nina Simone, and Natacha Atlas.