Rhiannon Giddens, long time Centrum teaching faculty and recent Gala performer, has released a new recording of the song SWANNANOA TUNNEL/STEEL-DRIVING MAN. She recently spoke with NPR’s morning edition about the timely recording of the song, some of the history around the piece and the recent devastation in Rhiannon’s home state of North Carolina. Below is a selection of that interview.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Much of the community of Swannanoa, North Carolina, was severely damaged during Hurricane Helene. That made it all the more eerie when a new song was released. And actually, it’s a new recording of a very old song. It’s about a different tragedy in Swannanoa – the collapse of a mountainside train tunnel during its construction in the late 1800s.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SWANNANOA TUNNEL/STEEL-DRIVING MAN”)
RHIANNON GIDDENS: (Singing) Asheville Junction, Swannanoa Tunnel – all caved in, babe. All caved in…
My name is Rhiannon Giddens, and I’m the artistic director of Silkroad Ensemble. This is a song called “Swannanoa Tunnel,” and it’s an old work song. The Swannanoa Tunnel was being created by convict laborers. This was backbreaking, unbelievably difficult work. People died along the way. Cave-ins, such as the one that inspired the song, happened on a regular basis. This was a type of song that would keep a large group of people who are laboring together in sync with spaces for the pickaxes to come down as they’re working on the tunnel.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SWANNANOA TUNNEL/STEEL-DRIVING MAN”)
GIDDENS: (Singing) Somebody died, babe. Somebody died.
When Hurricane Helene came, it was, like, two days or something before the planned release of the song. I was like, well, we have to release this because, you know, even the words just took on a whole new meaning.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SWANNANOA TUNNEL/STEEL-DRIVING MAN”)
GIDDENS: (Singing) I’m going back to Swannanoa Tunnel. That’s my home.
This is a grieving song, you know? It was a grieving song for these men who lost their lives, and it’s now a grieving song for a whole nother calamity. You know, I’m a North Carolina gal, and (crying) it just makes me really sad. I mean, that’s what music is for, you know? You don’t want it to be like that, but it’s like we need to lean in to, what is our function? You know, why were we given the ability to sing and to touch people? And this is why. It’s because it’s – like, when you think about the destruction, there are no words. So a song can tap into something that then releases energy, and, you know, now I can cry. And it’s just like, that’s what it’s for – helping us all with the emotions that are bigger than we know what to do with.
(SOUNDBITE OF RHIANNON GIDDENS AND SILKROAD ENSEMBLE SONG, “SWANNANOA TUNNEL/STEEL-DRIVING MAN”)
https://youtu.be/y6bcjGFg9mA?feature=shared