What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow

Justin Robinson and Rhiannon Giddens are two of the few people from the Black community caretaking Joe Thompson’s family tradition of fiddle and banjo music. For both, their Black banjo bodylands are primarily rooted in the North Carolina Piedmont, where Joe mentored them. The term “Black banjo bodylands” describes the deep connection between banjos, land, and the Black musicians who breathe life into them. Intimate engagements with place, nature, and community around this musical practice are essential to the tradition’s continuation. These bodylands constitute not just the individual player but the traditions, knowledge, and spirit handed down from their musical ancestors. On What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow, Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson simply chose to bring the places and people—even the season—with them. Heralded by the cawing of American crows, shot through with the round thrumming of periodical cicadas, these recordings represent the music exactly as it is: a particularly engaging piece of a particular place’s rich sonic ecosystem. Giddens and Robinson emphasize place, communication and collaboration in these sound offerings from the North Carolina Piedmont homes of Joe Thompson and Etta Baker and the historic Mill Prong House. This record is not about flashy arrangements, or displays of virtuosity for its own sake. It’s about the relaxed,understated flow that arises at the junction of long friendship, a sense of belonging, and monstrous technical proficiency. We make this music, we make it together, and we make it here. This record refuses to be removed.