Rhiannon Giddens Joins CMT's "Nashville" Cast

Rhiannon Giddens, whose new album, Freedom Highway, is out February 24 on Nonesuch Records, joins the cast of the television show Nashville as it returns for its fifth season on CMT.  Giddens made her own acting debut playing the role of Hanna Lee "Hallie" Jordan, a young social worker with "the voice of an angel," when CMT gave an hour-long sneak peek of the two-hour episode last month, leaving many a fan looking forward all the more to tonight's premiere. Nashville airs Thursday nights on CMT.

Freedom Highway, Giddens' follow-up to her highly praised solo debut album, Tomorrow Is My Turn, includes nine original songs she wrote or co-wrote; a traditional tune; and two civil rights–era songs, "Birmingham Sunday" and Staple Singers' "Freedom Highway." She co-produced the album with multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell in his Louisiana studio, with the bulk of recording done in wooden rooms built prior to the Civil War, over an intense eight-day period. The result is an album that is rawer and more personal than its predecessor.

Listen to the album's title track, below.