Song Review: Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson - “Marching Jaybird”
If sunshine sparkling on water had a sound, it might be Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson’s version of “Marching Jaybird.”
Arranged in an instrumental banjo duet, it finds the former Carolina Chocolate Drops taking tender care with Etta Baker’s song, recording it in the late guitarist’s home with Baker’s son keeping watch.
The experience “was pretty profound,” Giddens said in a statement.
As is the end result, a gentle cascade of banjo picking - quiet, peaceful. “Marching Jaybird” follows “Hook and Line” from the duo’s What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow: Fiddle and Banjo Music of North Carolina, which arrives April 18.
Grade card: Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson - “Marching Jaybird” - A
3/6/25
