Angela Daddabbo remembers when she first heard Rhiannon Giddens in 2010. Her and the Carolina Chocolate Drops raucously covering Blu Cantrell’s “Hit ‘Em Up Style” with a banjo and fiddle isn’t the only thing Daddabbo remembers, though. The performance made such a mark on her that she remembers where she was and what she was wearing, Daddabbo said Wednesday.
She’s been trying to book Giddens in Auburn ever since. And in July, Daddabbo’s efforts will finally come to fruition.
The Grammy Award winner and MacArthur Fellow will perform July 11 at Cayuga Community College in a show produced by Auburn Public Theater, where Daddabbo is artistic director. Even though the concert was moved to the college’s auditorium because of its greater capacity than the downtown venue, tickets are still moving fast, Daddabbo cautioned.
It’s a history-making show,” she said. “People are going to be able to say, ‘I saw her when …'”
Giddens will also cap off three months of some of the most eclectic and elite musical talent Auburn Public Theater has brought to the area since opening in 2005.
The 12 performances the theater has scheduled prior to Giddens include Neyla Pekarek, former cellist for The Lumineers, on Thursday. Daddabbo recalled taking her daughter to see the popular folk rock band at Madison Square Garden as a 16th birthday present. Pekarek left the band last year to pursue a solo career, which brings her to Auburn in support of her debut, “Rattlesnake.”
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