Freedom Highway

RhiannonGiddens (Nonesuch Records)

Rhiannon Giddens’s vocal versatility made her first solo album Tomorrow Is My Turn a delight. She covered artists as diverse as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Dolly Parton and Charles Aznavour with aplomb. Here whether it be Mississippi John Hurt’s The Angels Laid Him Away or Richard Fariña’s heart-breaking Birmingham Sunday she challenges previous versions for definitiveness. She has written nine songs here and their stories of the struggles of African-Americans through 400 years of oppression are delivered with authority.