Rhiannon Giddens makes history with banjo prize
Rhiannon Giddens, one of the most acclaimed performers in contemporary folk music, has won the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass.
She is both the first woman and the first African-American to do so.
The 39-year-old Greensboro, N.C., native, a co-founder of string band Carolina Chocolate Drops, is the seventh winner of the prize created by the banjo-playing humourist. It carries an unrestricted cash prize of $50,000 and a bronze sculpture created by the artist Eric Fischl.
“Rhiannon has made a rare contribution to American music,” Martin said in a statement. “She, along with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, has resurrected and revitalized an important part of banjo history.”
The trio of Giddens, Dom Flemons and Justin Robinson met in 2005 at the Black Banjo Gathering in Boone, forming as the Chocolate Drops soon afterward. After years of apprenticing with Mebane, N.C., fiddler Joe Thompson and other old-time elders, the Chocolate Drops cracked the pop charts with their provocatively titled 2010 album “Genuine Negro Jig,” which also won a Grammy Award.
Giddens, who splits her time between North Carolina and Ireland nowadays, has since launched a solo career. She scored another Grammy nomination with last year’s T Bone Burnett-produced solo debut “Tomorrow Is My Turn.” She’s also a new cast member in the upcoming fifth season of the television series “Nashville.”