You can officially color singer Rhiannon Giddens country.
On Thursday, Nov. 20, the 48-year-old, two-time Grammy-winning folk-country star revealed both on Instagram and in People magazine that she’s illustrating the upcoming children’s book “Color Me Country: A Celebration of Black Women Who Shaped Country Music,” which spotlights the foundational contributions Black women have made to the genre.
“Excited to reveal the cover of Color Me Country: A Celebration of Black Women Who Shaped Country Music,” she wrote on Instagram. “I contributed illustrations to this beautiful new book, that was edited by Kelly McCartney and Rissi Palmer. All proceeds go to the Color Me Country Fund.”
Taking its title from Linda Martell’s groundbreaking 1970 album, “Color Me Country,” serves as a vibrant homage to the Black women who helped build, expand, and redefine country music — often in spaces that failed to embrace them.
According to its synopsis, the book honors the women who “defiantly loved a genre that didn’t always love them back,” celebrating artists across generations, including Martell, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Tina Turner, Odetta, and Valerie June. Their profiles were written by journalists affiliated with the Rainey Day Fund, the organization co-founded by editor Kelly McCartney to uplift marginalized voices in roots and country music.
“Color Me Country challenges stereotypes to inspire young readers, especially Black or brown girls with a dream, to lift their voices high,” the synopsis adds.
Giddens, who first broke through in the late 2000s as a founding member of the Grammy-winning old-time string band The Carolina Chocolate Drops, has long been one of the more visible Black women reclaiming space in folk and country music. Born and raised in North Carolina, and now based between the U.S. and Ireland, she has spent her career blending tradition with storytelling, earning critical acclaim as both a bandleader and a solo artist.
Just days before the official announcement, Giddens hinted that she was deep into a major endeavor. In a separate Instagram post, she shared that she’d been immersed in an “all-encompassing” project that has been “very important for me personally rather than my mission.”
“We all grow, heal and learn through the making of art — as a professional artist I sometimes get the perfect opportunity that marries a chance for emotional healing to artistic growth,” she continued. “Part of my journey has been walking into the fullness of myself as a woman, particularly as I undergo menopause and enter Act III of my woman’s timeline, which has been historically our most powerful. I have been a very closed, nerdy girl afraid of my own power my whole life, and have used the stage for an outlet, but it’s time to fully engage with it, not just on stage, but every day.”
“Color Me Country: A Celebration of Black Women Who Shaped Country Music” will be released by Candlewick Studio on May 5, 2026.
