While her deep knowledge of southern folk music made her a key player in Ken Burns’ “Country Music” series for PBS, banjo and violin virtuoso Giddens shows off her affinity for folk music from across the Atlantic Ocean on her “There Is No Other,” her new Joe Henry-produced album with Italian jazz percussionist Turrisi. The album is laced with Mediterranean and North African sounds alongside lyrics of freedom and displacement. -Jon Bream
Combining borderless curiosity, genuine roots savvy, academic rigor, a sense of justice, and a glorious, classically trained voice, Rhiannon Giddens is on a cosmic roll. Initially reviving the African-American string band legacy with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, she subsequently creatively surfaced everywhere from Obama’s White House to Greenwich Village to Nashville. Her latest, There Is No Other, is a brilliant collaboration with Italian multi-instrumentalist Turrisi, exploring indelible global connections in a divisive era and illuminating African, Arab, American, and European musical links. .—Rick Mason
Thurs. & Fri., Oct. 31st & Nov. 1st (SOLD OUT)