Rhiannon Giddens’ instrument of choice is the banjo, but not a typical banjo. As she explains in an interview with NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, she plays a replica of an early version of the banjo designed by Levi Brown in 1858, made today by Jim Hartel. This model of the banjo has a deeper sound than the standard contemporary versions.

The song was inspired by an ad for a slave being sold whose nine month-old child was described in the ad as a purchasing “option”.
(h/t to AGD)

 

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