Haunting and heavenly, Carolina Chocolate Drops vocalist Rhiannon Giddens hurls a soulful rendition of “Wayfaring Stranger.”
The Pulitzer musician enchanted fans and non-fans alike with her banjo when she performed the American folk-gospel song with Italian jazz musician Francesco Turrisi. Produced by Joe Henry, Giddens, and Turrisi released the track on May 3, 2019, for her collaborative studio album There is No Other. Since then, she has left an exemplary cover for the ages.
Before its official release, she performed the song on the BBC Northern Ireland program in 2017. Many admired her singing and felt they were taken into an unknown spiritual realm. Featuring a piano accordion, Gidden’s delicate play of banjo and operatic voice spurs an alchemy of musical excellence. Her vocals will take you to a holy destination you never thought you’d reach. It took over varied social media platforms where she received nothing but compliments.
One YouTube commenter said, “I am a million years old, and I hate bloody technology. I have just realized that without it, I would never have heard about this amazing lady. She is totally breathtaking in every way.”
Blogger Elouise Renich Fraser wrote on Telling the Truth, “Having heard Giddens’ stunning interpretation, it’s playing at will in my psyche, night and day.”
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On Reddit, one user commended Giddens’ rendition: “Beautifully done. That song isn’t easy to sing, through the years of translation and adaptation, it has relied more upon the emotions of the singer put into the verse than the verse itself.”
The earthly spirit of Gidden’s version fits the song’s country-gospel roots. “Wayfaring Stranger” traveled by oral tradition that can be traced back from the 1780s to the early 1800s. It had many titles before the official one, including “Poor Wayfaring Stranger,” “Libby Prison Hymn,” and “I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger.” But no matter the name, the lyrics speak of a lone drifter seeking salvation.
“Depending on who you’re talking to, the song may be a reworked black spiritual, a lifted native hymn, or even a creation of nomadic Portuguese settlers from the southern Appalachian region,” The Bluegrass Situation claimed. Countless artists from the 20th and 21st centuries have recorded the song by the likes of Bill Monroe, Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris, and Eva Cassidy.
Gidden’s version, however, is enough to make anyone ponder the bright land that awaits us after death. Her soaring vocals while singing “I’m going home to meet my savior” purely depict a solitary journey of leaving all the troubles behind on earth in exchange for divine liberation.
No matter your creed, watch as Rhiannon Giddens’ performance of “Wayfaring Stranger” blows you away.
