Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi have announced that their new album They’re Calling Me Home will be released by Nonesuch on April 9.
The album takes its title from a song by Alice Gerrard. “Some people just know how to tap into a tradition and an emotion so deep that it sounds like a song that has always been around,” says Giddens. “Alice Gerrard is one of those rarities. ‘Calling Me Home’ struck me forcefully and deeply the first time I heard it, and every time since. This song just wanted to be sung and so I listened.”
Watch a video for Giddens and Turrisi’s new version below:
They’re Calling Me Home features some of the first traditional songs that Giddens ever learned: “I Shall Not Be Moved”, “Black As Crow (Dearest Dear)” and “Waterbound”. The album also includes a new Giddens composition, “Avalon”, as well as an Italian lullaby, “Nenna Nenna”, that Turrisi used to sing to his infant daughter.
It was recorded at Hellfire, a small studio on a working farm outside of Dublin. The duo were joined on the record by Congolese guitarist Niwel Tsumbu and Irish traditional musician Emer Mayock on flute, whistle, and pipes. It was engineered by Ben Rawlins and produced by Giddens and Turrisi themselves.
Peruse the tracklisting for They’re Calling Me Home below and pre-order here.
1. Calling Me Home
2. Avalon
3. Si Dolce È’l Tormento
4. I Shall Not Be Moved
5. Black as Crow
6. O Death
7. Niwel Goes to Town
8. When I Was In My Prime
9. Waterbound
10. Bully For You
11. Nenna Nenna
12. Amazing Grace