Rhiannon Giddens signs with WME for worldwide music representation

Rhiannon Giddens WME representation is now official: the Grammy- and Pulitzer-winning musician and the agency announced Tuesday that WME will represent her in music worldwide.

The deal arrives as Giddens is preparing her seventh studio album, Hope Is the Thing With Feathers, due Sept. 18 through Nonesuch Records. The project has already been previewed with the single “Carolina Rain.”

Giddens, a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist closely associated with roots and Americana music, has described the coming album in a Variety interview as a marker of roughly 20 years in that field. She also spoke about responding to difficult times with joy and kindness.

What is Rhiannon Giddens working on next?

Giddens’ next major release is Hope Is the Thing With Feathers, her seventh studio album, scheduled for Sept. 18 on Nonesuch Records. The album follows a busy stretch that has put her across concerts, books, film work, documentaries and high-profile collaborations.

Her honors are stacked. Giddens received the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Music for the opera Omar, which tells the story of Omar ibn Said, a Muslim scholar from Africa who was sold into slavery in the 1800s. She has also received the National Humanities Medal, a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and two Grammy Awards.

Giddens has also appeared in prominent pop-culture moments outside the usual Americana lane. She contributed to the Sinners soundtrack and took part in the Oscars performance tied to that music. She also played banjo on Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ’Em.”

A major part of Giddens’ public work has focused on wider recognition of the banjo’s African American roots. Last year, she staged the Biscuits & Banjos Festival in her home state of North Carolina. In 2025, she presented “Rhiannon Giddens: American Tunes” at the Hollywood Bowl, with guests including Steve Martin and Our Native Daughters, her all-female, all-banjo supergroup.

This summer, she launched a brief concert series called “American Tunes: Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” centered on the American songbook. Guests included Mavis Staples, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Hurray for the Riff Raff.

Giddens has also continued performing with the Silkroad Ensemble, the collective founded by Yo-Yo Ma. She serves as its artistic director.

Her work on the page includes Go Back and Fetch It: Recovering Early Black Music in the Americas, written with Kristina R. Gaddy, as well as two children’s books. On television, she appeared as an expert witness in Ken Burns’ PBS series Country Music and has contributed music to Burns’ upcoming documentary The American Revolution.

Giddens has recently moved further into film as well. She shot her first lead role in a motion picture, An Ode to Mary Joe, and is also an executive producer and music supervisor on the film. The cast includes Ed Helms, Jason Isbell, Steve Earle, Regina Taylor and John Sayles.

This story draws on original reporting from Variety.