I held my tongue about this the first time (I typed a message and then backspaced it multiple times) but while I love Giddens' body of work, her stage presence often irks me a bit. I'll admit, I haven't seen her in several years now (since 2018 I believe), but last I saw her, she spent too much time of every show perorating somewhat condescendingly to the crowd about how bluegrass/old time was really a music stolen from slaves and the unmistakable connection between the two. And I don't take umbridge with her mentioning it, or even being passionate about it, but the length and tone of the message, over several concerts a year or two apart, was a bit off-putting, especially when I felt her music does a much better job of exemplifying it.

All this is a whole lot of nothing: she very well could have reined it in by now, and regardless, I find her music very enjoyable. Just hope she has worked on her delivery some :)

Also, if you like this stuff, you should check out the work of New Dangerfield (click) and their individual members, who I had the fortune of seeing at IBMA this past week. (Looks like the band is a bit sparse on actual output at this point in time. In their stead, check out member Jake Blount playing Dangerfield, to which the band owes their name.)

/Thread derailment and pedantic rant over/