Hope Is the Thing With Feathers is a sort of homecoming for Rhiannon Giddens. The folk singer and string musician first gained acclaim for her work with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, a group dedicated to preserving traditional string band music of North Carolina. Since 2015, her solo career has taken her far afield, exploring the tributaries that flow from the folk music of the Carolinas: discovering austere, arty branches through her work with Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi and adding enough polish to her essential sound on 2023’s You’re the One so it resembled a crossover.
A slight echo of You’re the One’s smooth assurance surfaces on her new record via “Carolina Rain.” The tune is broad and insistent enough…

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