Getting into the banjo and discovering that it was an African-American instrument, it totally turned on its head my idea of American music - and then, through that, American history.

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• Rhiannon Giddens:

  When I first heard the minstrel banjo - I played a gourd first - I almost lost my mind. I was like,

• Rhiannon Giddens:

  Well, you know, the original banjos were all handmade instruments. Gourd - it would be made with go

• Rhiannon Giddens:

  So my mom's folks are from one side of Greensboro - and, you know, outside of Greensboro. And my da

• Rhiannon Giddens:

  I decided to study music my last year in high school.

• Rhiannon Giddens:

  History is my biggest teacher.

• Rhiannon Giddens:

  Black women have historically had the most to lose and have therefore been the fiercest fighters fo

• Rhiannon Giddens:

  I had this dream like years ago. I had this dream - I wanted to be in an all-black string band.

• Rhiannon Giddens:

  I think that we definitely want to experiment, and if there's a hip-hop song that we like, we'll co

• Rhiannon Giddens:

  There is a black folk music audience. They're just very small.

• Rhiannon Giddens:

  We're not here as a black band playing white string band music. You know, we play stuff in the Appa