Week 2 of "Allison Crowe August" Live

Woke this morning to the sounds of ‘The Friday Morning Markout’ on CHMR Radio – with genial show-host FanBoy Mark Jabroni ringing in “week 2 of ‪#‎AllisonCroweAugust‬!”

Hearing the DJ spin almost the entire two-night concert set of Allison – “Live at Wood Hall” – on the air’s a welcome reminder of how great is this release: http://music.allisoncrowe.com/album/live-at-wood-hall It’s an all-time fan fave, particularly in Europe where the sound of solo voice and piano is especially appreciated. Here’s a capsule description from when Rubenesque Records first posted this double-disc – dim the lights and enjoy the concerts:

Live at Wood Hall is an exciting journey through Allison Crowe's concert repertoire, recorded with a simple clarity in the converted chapel of Victoria (B.C.)'s Conservatory of Music. Alongside more than an album's worth of original songs of love and hope, social and political conscience, and real beauty, Allison covers cherished favourites - including Ani DiFranco ("Independence Day"), Counting Crows ("A Murder of One"), Tori Amos ("Playboy Mommy"), Janis Joplin ("Me and Bobby McGee"), and John Lennon ("Imagine"). Colours in the artist's musical palette range from roots & blues, through folk, pop/rock, jazz and Broadway. There's even a traditional Irish aire, "Believe Me If All (Those Endearing Young Charms)", sung acappella. Once again, Larry Anschell (Turtle Studios) captures the music on tape and Alix Whitmire designs the beautiful artwork/CD cover. " 'Music, man, that's where it's at'/ it is a religious line/ outside, the chimes rung/ an they/ are still ringin."

Full album credits, track-listing and all at the link below. And, to enjoy week 3 of “Allison Crowe August” upcoming - search "CHMR's RING RUST" on the Stitcher app, or listen live via http://www.chmr.ca/main.html 

Independence Day - July 4th Musical Salute!

The independent spirit fuels the music and operations of Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records. It’s only natural that Allison Crowe, since embarking on her own course as an international touring and recording artist, looks to Ani as a model. Allison’s Rubenesque Records Ltd. has taken the road less traveled since 2001. From “Live at Wood Hall”, (released by RRL in 2005), here’s Allison in concert with a cover of Ani’s song, “Independence Day”: https://allisoncrowe.bandcamp.com/track/independence-day

This track joins a cadre of tunes for a July 4^th feature of the “Cover Lay Down” blog. Boyhowdy presents music of Allison + Ani alongside Eva Cassidy, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Richard Shindell and a dozen more artists performing songs of Paul Simon, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bobby Darin and more.

"Cover Lay Down" founder Boyhowdy, aka Joshua Farber, pens the latest installment to an eloquent "America The Beautiful: More Coverfolk For A Thoughtful Fourth" posting this Independence Day for our American friends and neighbours. It's an episode worth revisiting, notes Farber, "as music which speaks of and for a people, American folk music holds a particular place in the conversation which is America...making it real and vivid, whether it is through the lens of policy critique or protest cry, the immigrant experience or the internal monologue of a singer-songwriter struggling to be free."

Farber wraps the intro to this musical salute: "Happy Birthday, America. Long may your contradictions endear us to you. May you never lose hope. And may we never stop singing."

Independence Day - July 4th Musical Salute!

The independent spirit fuels the music and operations of Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records. It’s only natural that Allison Crowe, since embarking on her own course as an international touring and recording artist, looks to Ani as a model. Allison’s Rubenesque Records Ltd. has taken the road less traveled since 2001. From “Live at Wood Hall”, (released by RRL in 2005), here’s Allison in concert with a cover of Ani’s song, “Independence Day”: https://allisoncrowe.bandcamp.com/track/independence-day

This track joins a cadre of tunes for a July 4^th feature of the “Cover Lay Down” blog. Boyhowdy presents music of Allison + Ani alongside Eva Cassidy, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Richard Shindell and a dozen more artists performing songs of Paul Simon, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bobby Darrin and more.

"Cover Lay Down" founder Boyhowdy, aka Joshua Farber, pens the latest installment to an eloquent "America The Beautiful: More Coverfolk For A Thoughtful Fourth" posting this Independence Day for our American friends and neighbours. It's an episode worth revisiting, notes Farber, "as music which speaks of and for a people, American folk music holds a particular place in the conversation which is America...making it real and vivid, whether it is through the lens of policy critique or protest cry, the immigrant experience or the internal monologue of a singer-songwriter struggling to be free."

Farber wraps the intro to this musical salute: "Happy Birthday, America. Long may your contradictions endear us to you. May you never lose hope. And may we never stop singing."

Allison Crowe in Be-CREATIVE: Found in Translation

Italy’s Be-CREATIVE has Allison on its cover this month - http://be-creative.lifestylecommunity.it/3 - and, now, the feature is translated for us all by the fine Italian hand of Rhonda C.

“Allison Crowe: La Sua Voce Ha Stregato Anche L’uomo D’acciaio,” says the publication’s cover - "Allison Crowe: her voice has bewitched even the Man of Steel" – and, here’s the rest of the story:

Allison Crowe, originally from Nanaimo, (November 16, 1981), is a Canadian singer-songwriter and pianist. She records for her own label, Rubenesque Records Ltd.  Her first albums, Secrets and Tidings, were published in 2004, while the double album Live at Wood Hall, recorded live on tour, was published in July, 2005.  She also produced a DVD containing live in-the-studio performances made during the recording of Tidings, in November 2005.

Of Irish, Scottish and Manx descent, Allison grew up listening to jazz, classical, and rock, and under the influences of musicians such as Ani DiFranco, Pearl Jam, Tori Amos, and Counting Crows.

Her music is the result of the union of all these genres, and the uniqueness of her voice has such force that it has been compared to that of Mahalia Jackson.  She usually accompanies herself with the piano.

Her percussive style, characterized by a great physicality, was often associated with the pioneers of R&B and rock and roll like Fats Domino. She perform as a soloist, and has also been a part of musical bands, specifically a trio known as the Allison Crowe Band (2000-2003).

One of her songs, Whether I'm Wrong, composed in early 2003, was selected for the initiative endorsed by UNESCO, New Songs for Peace.  However, she is also very popular for her interpretations of songs by other authors, from Jerome Kern and Pearl Jam, through to John Lennon, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. Her interpretation of the song Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen) was named Record of the Week by Record of the Day (UK) in August 2004, and again in November, 2005.  Towards the end of 2005, she held a series of concerts in Europe, with stops in Dublin, London, Monaco, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, and Paris.  In the spring of 2006, Allison Crowe made a coast-to-coast tour of her own country, making most of the journey by VIA Rail Canada Company.

In October 2006, she released her new album, This Little Bird, and subsequently held a series of concerts that have touched England, Ireland, and Scotland. On March 17, 2010, she released the album "Spiral".  Recently, she has also performed in Italy, specifically in 2010, and 2012, at the Teatro del Sale in Florence. In 2013, she appeared in a cameo role in the film "Man of Steel" directed by Zack Snyder and released in Italian cinemas on June 20.

Q: Hi Allison, how are you?  Singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist: with which of these roles do you identify most?

A: I'm doing great, thanks! I don't know if there is one thing that I do that expresses myself the best - I'd have to say it's likely a combo of all of these things! I'm always wanting to learn new ways to express myself and explore new things, and they sort of all work together in that way.

Q: In addition to having made several albums, you also really love the connection with the audience, and the thing that is more amazing is that your voice is as beautiful, and vibrant live as on CD.  How important is it for you the relationship with your fans?

A: I think my favourite part of what I do is the live performance and getting to interact with a live audience, and see and hear how they respond. My relationship with my audience is incredibly important to me, as the energy I get from people is energy I put in to doing what I do.

Q: Where do you prefer to perform: in large concert halls, or in a more intimate environment, perhaps with fewer people?

A: All of the different types of venues all have great features! A smaller, cozier show is nice because everyone is up close and it's such a nice feeling, whereas a larger seated theatre show is maybe more dramatic and theatrical - due to the various circumstances that come with that. (lighting, seating, etc.) - and outdoor shows are big, fun and lively events with lots of energy. They are pretty much all good, in their different ways!

Q: From where does the  inspiration for your albums come?

A: I get inspiration for writing from different places for each album - a lot of it has come from my past relationships with people or the world around me. This new album (Heavy Graces) is more to do with my relationship with myself, than anything else, and how I go about dealing with and viewing that, from both in and outside of myself.

Q: Your slogan is “Why music?  Why breathing?”. With this phrase it is as if you want to say that music is life, energy for your soul. True?

A: It is! I find if I go too long without music, in one way or another, I feel like something is missing - especially live performance. It's just who I am

Q: You recently loaned your song “Snow” for a dance performance - Ellipses Dance Company’s debut on video of a work entitled “The Writer”.  How has this experience left you?

A: It's very cool to see a song I've written be used for dance - I love dance (and I wish I could dance like that!). I love seeing someone's interpretation of what I've written through movement, and they've done such a wonderful job!

Q: You recently participated in the film “Man of Steel” about the origins of Superman. How’s it to play "yourself", a singer, in such an important movie?

A: It was such a cool experience being in Man of Steel - just to see how everything works, and what everyone else does in making a movie, and how good they are at what they do! For me, playing a singer in a bar definitely wasn't a stretch, and is something I've done for a very long time, so it felt pretty natural.

Q: Plans for the future?  Maybe a visit to Italy for your concerts?

A: My new album, Heavy Graces, was released on October 15, and I will be in Europe for a tour in 2014, in the Spring, and hopefully in Italy soon.


Nota Bene: Allison Crowe anticipates at least two European tour visits in 2014

To the Be-CREATIVE collaborators we say grazie!! Buon Natale – to all! :)

"Canadian Music Rocks the Global Stage" reports Epoch Times

Journalist Justina Reichel keys on the Canadian music revolution in The Epoch Times. US-based blogger Muruch recently commented: "I’m starting to think Allison Crowe’s DIY folk style is Canada’s answer to Ani DiFranco..." and in this new feature article Crowe reveals her recipe for success.



B.C. musician Allison Crowe with Hollywood director Zack Snyder on the set of "Man of Steel" in Cassidy, B.C. Canadian music is becoming more popular and lucrative around the world, according to the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada. (Courtesy Clay Enos/Warner Bros)

Above - as pictured and reported in The Epoch Times feature: "Canadian Music Rocks the Global Stage" - click on the photo or newspaper and story titles for links to reach the full, in-depth, news reportage. Or, or use this URL below:

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/244344-canadian-music-rocks-the-global-stage

Free to Fly

It's four in the afternoon and not raining. Not in Baltimore. Not in Cleveland where the world's first rock concert happened - sixty years ago this weekend.

In 2006, the wonderful songwriter and jug-band-Jedi, John Sebastian, told The New York Times: "The (record) industry has been in the corporate noose for so long, it doesn't even have a leg jiggle left. There's no one left saying, 'Wait, we want to make art'."

Keith Richards' tranfusion at a Swiss clinic is urban legend. The new cultural blood that's coursing through our digital world is ready to become truly legendary. A force :)

It's a fantastic voyage from the "Moondog Coronation Ball" to now.

Among this week's way-stations, we hear from the newest blogger to enter ourstream: THW - the UK music blog of The Human Wreckage - very kindly features Allison today, and says: "In a nutshell; Allison Crowe is what is missing from the music industry. She has a strong mind, follows her heart and just oozes talent." With Allison blazing her own path, and such pioneers as Ani DiFranco and Janis Ian showing what's possible, making music stronger than the corporate establishment, these are the best of times for music-makers andmusic-lovers!

Sister THW blog - Forget the Freak You're Just Nature - presents Allison's captured-live-in-the-studio performance of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah".

And the buffet is laid out at Muruch - enriching blogger on music, literature and film, and a site familiar to fans of Allison Crowe. Muruch premieres a new recording of "Disease" - an exciting early listen to "Tidings Live" :)



Tough Mama. Katey Sagal and the Sons of Anarchy.

Allison Crowe, with Zimmy's "world of illusion" at her feet, is free to fly. "Free to possess truth in one soul and one body".

Allison Crowe Lands on MarsBands

The universal appeal of Allison Crowe now includes Mars - the founder of MarsBands.com - which launches its web station today with this entertaining interview. On this well-read planet it's reigning cats and dog. ack! ack!

More exploration of MarsBands turns up this fun profile - which describes Allison Crowe as "the best thing to come out of Canada since hockey." High praise, indeed :)

Fourth of July reflections

boyhowdy at the Cover Lay Down blog presents a genuinely thoughtful reflection and celebration of America for this July 4 weekend. And, he includes, in a terrific song selection, Allison Crowe's cover of "Independence Day" by Ani DiFranco.


The post's final note: "Happy Birthday, America. Long may your contradictions endear us to you. May you never lose hope. And may we never stop singing."

Newest Last.fm Hall of Fame Singer-Songwriter Nod

In March 2011, Allison Crowe was voted into the Hall of Fame by the Singer Songwriter group on Last.fm (the world's largest online music catalogue and recommendation site). Today, more recognition - Allison joins Ani DiFranco, Joni Mitchell, Patty Griffin, Carole King, Tori Amos and a mix of artists in the Female Singer-Songwriter Hall of Fame - creators of dance/electronica, Americana, folk, soul+ music.

Allison Crowe’s Rock and Roll Recipe: The Magic’s in the Music

At the start of this millennium, Allison Crowe embarked from her Pacific Ocean home, Vancouver Island, to perform a pair of concerts in Seattle, Washington, at a “Worldwide Jammer Convergence” of Pearl Jam fans. There was no roadmap for her success.

Today, Crowe is an internationally-acclaimed and much-loved singer-songwriter. Readying for another season of touring, and creation of her eighth album/song collection, she’s navigating a life in music.

Ahead of the 20th century recording industry’s entry into the digital age, Allison Crowe emerges in a new DIY generation. Decades earlier, punk, and, resonantly, pop culture revolution in the 1960s, erupted. Then, institutionalized payola and greedy elements smothered music radio. “Company men”, as John Lennon labeled them, took over – on stage as well as in the boardroom.

Rock’s bold promise to squeeze your lemons was reconstituted in this new era - a branding pitch hot-blooded as ice-tea. In 2006, John Sebastian, jug-band music-maker, writer of classic songs for The Lovin’ Spoonful, tells The New York Times: "The industry has been in the corporate noose for so long, it doesn't even have a leg jiggle left. There's no one left saying, 'Wait we want to make art'."

Rock and roll spirit, magnificent and wild as rebellion, lives on - vital tendrils reaching out through the casement. On Allison Crowe’s path, classical and jazz roots meet with teenage influences Ani DiFranco, PJ, Tori Amos and Counting Crows. Independents DiFranco, Loreena McKennitt and Janis Ian show there is a way – and it’s different for each.

Coursing freely, Crowe’s real “story” is her immense creativity – talents and gifts of writing and musicianship, (voice, piano and guitar), which she shares openly. Communicating emotion, crossing over language, sex, religion, race, age and other dividers, performing original compositions and as interpreter.

Forming Rubenesque Records Ltd. to market her recordings, since 2003 Allison Crowe has released a series of seven albums/CDs singularly remarkable in its diversity and quality of writing and performance – and delivered epiphanies amid concert fun and excitement. (Testifying are music writers the world over – find a sampling below and more @ http://www.allisoncrowe.com/pressquotes.html)

"Soulful. Alive. Joyous. Grievous. Real, true, music is what I want to make," Crowe says. Embracing the web, she and her audience have found each other - big-time.

On Last.fm, the world's largest online music catalogue and recommendation site, (where her song tracks enjoy over 100,000 listeners and nearing 700,000 plays), Allison Crowe’s been voted by some very discerning music-lovers into the "Singer-Songwriter of the Week" group's Hall of Fame – joining Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Townes van Zandt, Carole King, Neil Young, Van Morrison, other legends, and a handful of younger artists. Crowe, 29, is the only singer-songwriter under 30 selected – closest her age in this august company is Conor Oberst (32) and Sufjan Stevens (35).

On Jamendo, the planet’s premiere platform for free music and a community of Creative Commons music authors, Crowe’s original songs have been played over one million times by 200,000 regular listeners. On YouTube, the video site which serves as a top music discovery forum, Crowe’s music videos have over 10 million, (un-bought and un-rigged), listens/views. Add one-million-plus plays and downloads of original music from her own website, and the totality represents a musical connection achievable in pre-internet times only by gold-to-platinum-selling acts with label muscle flexing major financial support.

For Allison Crowe, wholly-independent, this exposure also translates into sales, as people still want physical CDs, and, so far, more than 500,000 paid downloads/streams (via iTunes – and such ‘etailers’ as CD Baby, Amazon, Emusic, among others, which serve their own music-buying bases).

Bicoastal Crowe calls Corner Brook, NL, and Nanaimo, BC, home. Outside her native land, Canada, she’s especially popular in the USA, Europe, and, increasingly, Australia, New Zealand and South America. Running her own operations, it’s an incremental process to physically traverse the globe and perform. Bonds initiated online strengthen in the flesh. It’s the stuff of legend.

A sensation in the Village Hall, Durness, Scottish Highlands, just a few years ago, Allison Crowe’s on a bill with Carol Ann Duffy, currently Britain’s Poet Laureate, and the Royal Academy of Music Players under the Master of the Queen's Music, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. Her set included Beatles' favourite “In My Life” - for members of the Lennon clan, local villagers, musicians and global celebrants come together for the "John Lennon Northern Lights Festival." Crowe’s latest European tour wrapped, this past October, in the birthplace of a nation, atop Germany’s fabled Harz Mountains. Medieval Quedlinburg, an UNESCO World Heritage Site, hosted Crowe who performed for an SRO crowd inside Blasiikirche, and an overflow audience circling outside the historic church.

Publicly, Dance Ensemble students at Lindenhurst High, New York, gambitsurya in Chennai, India, young folks ’round the world are singing and dancing to Allison’s music for their communities, for themselves. In the present semester, Christina, Polly, Jess, Jil, Tamanna, Shamima, Nilufa, and Sabina, high school and college students at disparate UK learning institutions have made Allison Crowe songs, “Skeletons and Spirits”, “This Little Bird”, and “Lisa’s Song”, course projects in Media and Video. In Hollywood, director Zack Snyder, (300, Watchmen, Sucker Punch), helming the reboot of the Superman movie series, tells ArtistDirect: "Right now, I've been trying to find a really good cover of 'Battle Hymn of the Republic.' I can't find one that I really like with all five verses, so that's a problem. I was going to call someone up like Allison Crowe and be like, 'Can you record a version of this?' That's how my brain works!”

Privately, families are paying their last earthly respects to loved ones accompanied by Crowe’s musical voice. Mothers are welcoming their newborns to this sound.

Allison Crowe’s Spring Show comes to: Fredericton, NB (April 29), to aid The Kidney Foundation of Canada’s “A Brush of Hope” campaign; Halifax, NS (April 30); and St. John’s, NL (May 7).

Music and more @ http://www.allisoncrowe.com



What people say about Allison Crowe:

"Una voce incredibile per una forza della natura." ~ Reset Radio (Italy)

"There are some voices that speak (or sing) for themselves. You know the ones. Voices where it doesn’t matter what they sing. Voices where it doesn’t really matter what instruments support them. Solomon Burke has such a voice. Jeff Buckley had it. Allison Crowe has it too." ~ Ray Padgett, Cover Me (USA)

"Canada's finest songwriter" ~ Stephen Thomas, We Write Lists (UK)

"Ever wonder what it would have been like to listen to a gifted singer/songwriter from Saskatchewan in a small, intimate hall before she became Joni Mitchell? Don't fret the missed opportunity. There's no need to turn back the clock. Check out Allison Crowe." ~ Robert Reid, The Record (Canada)

"Once famously described by the Vancouver Courier as possessing a style akin to 'Elton John meets Edith Piaf', the Canadian singer-songwriter Allison Crowe is renowned for her ability to blend control and melodrama." ~ MOJO (UK)

"One of the best interpreters to come along since Joe Cocker" ~ Bob Bishop, Editor, Paris Voice (France)

"J'ai rarement été bouleversée à ce point par une voix féminine. Pure comme de la glace, puissante et même violente... qu'il est impossible de ne pas mettre son coeur en jeu en l'écoutant... faîtes place à une virtuose nom de Zeus!" ~ SplinterMuse (France)

"Ihre gestalteten Emotionen umfassen sowohl stürmische, dramatische Prozesse, Wut, Verzweiflung, aber auch spielerischen Übermut und einen unbändigen Lebenswillen. Im Kontext dazu stehen ihre zarten, hingebungsvollen Empfindungen, eine Lyrik, in denen sie die breit gefächerte Facette ihrer gesanglichen Begabung zum Klingen bringt." ~ Barbara Kirchner-Babinecz, Mitteldeutsche Zeitung (Germany)

"the most honest, heartfelt, and directly intimate concert in my entire life." ~ Ross Hocker, WGTE/NPR (USA)

Independence Day

Ani DiFranco is inspiring to Allison Crowe for so many reasons. Here's a musical one - "Independence Day". Allison has been performing this song in concert pretty much since she took to the stage as a teenager. The passion level is ever constant. Track banter/intro for this song

It’s Snowy Rock and Roll but Allison Crowe Likes It. She’s In Good Company.

Allison Crowe, one of the greatest voices and natural talents in popular music, is home in snowy Corner Brook, Canada this Winter, writing and recording songs before launching a new concert touring year.

So far, in 2011, Crowe has captured basic vocal, piano and guitar tracks for five originals – “Arthur”, “By Any Terms”, “Chasing the Rain”, “Don’t Breathe”, and “Pull You Through” – and, for more fun, she’s covering two ‘Americana’-hued songs by sublime singer-songwriter Patty Griffin – “Mary” and “Up to the Mountain (MLK Song)”.

It’s a welcome, extended, stay in one spot, after a hectic 2010 that saw Allison Crowe again navigate concert dates between her Atlantic and Pacific Ocean homes, and expand continental touring territory. Crowe’s latest album, (of seven), “Spiral”, made best of lists from America to Europe and beyond.

Arts and entertainment blog Muruch, naming “Spiral” one of the top releases of last year, says: “Her voice flawlessly flows between the most pristine soprano and gut-wrenching, full-bodied wails… I hear Allison Crowe sing, and I remember the effect music is supposed to have on you."

Crowe’s reputation encompasses her original songwriting, and singularly exciting live performances – and her art of interpretation. On her most recent visit to the City of Lights, Paris Voice Editor Bob Bishop called her "one of the best interpreters to come along since Joe Cocker".

Allan Showalter, author of the uniquely popular Leonard Cohen-centric blog, “One Heck of a Guy”, expands on this theme: "Allison, whose covers include not only outstanding versions of Joni Mitchell’s 'River' and 'A Case of You,' Leonard Cohen’s 'Hallelujah,' 'The Beatles’ 'In My Life' and 'Let It Be,' Lennon’s 'Imagine,' and Cyndi Lauper’s 'Time After Time,' but also the most provocative and seductive (forgive me, Aretha) take I’ve heard on Ronnie Shannon’s 'I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You).' And, I stand by my conviction that Allison Crowe is the best thing to happen to 'Me And Bobby McGee' since Janis Joplin changed Kristofferson’s lyrics."

On YouTube, Allison Crowe’s audience is approaching nearly ten million (non-rigged) views. When makers of Hollywood movie, "Sucker Punch", were searching for how to reinvent the Annie Lennox - Eurythmics song, “Sweet Dreams”, they called on the “mistress of coversongs” as Crowe’s been crowned by “Cover Lay Down” blog. Director Zack Snyder loves Allison's approach so they asked her to strip the song to an emotional core. Actress Emily Browning performs the movie version (out later this month).

In present culture, it can seem anachronistic that popular music was once a fertile community for rebellion and honesty, and the mainstream of pop and rock artists aspired to something more substantial than a bauble in a corporate chain. As rare as her talent is Allison Crowe’s integrity. Like inspirations Janis Ian, Ani DiFranco, and a few others making music today, she does not “play the game”.

Allison Crowe’s path less-travelled brings her to Fredericton, New Brunswick, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and St. John’s, Newfoundland for concerts this Spring – before her next European tour. Details of all shows and music is available @ http://www.allisoncrowe.com/

'We Write Lists' Interviews: Allison Crowe

UK blog 'We Write Lists' caps its multi-part exploration of music and more with this week's thoughtful Q&A with Allison Crowe.

Click on the banner above to enjoy this interview session.

Both Hands

Today, as pioneering musician Janis Ian is joined in a march forward by such high profile recording acts as Radiohead and Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), Ani DiFranco’s DIY beacon shines ever-bright.

Asked “Why music?”, Allison Crowe responds: “Why breathing?”

Just as naturally, the Canadian musician embraces DiFranco’s truth: “If you are disgustingly sincere and terribly diligent, there are ways for any serious artist to operate outside the corporate structure.”

Which makes it really about the music. Best-known for her piano music, one of the first guitar songs Allison Crowe performed on-stage was the Ani DiFranco song “Both Hands”. Fortunately, Nanaimo, B.C.’s Scott Littlejohn was on hand to record this moment live (in 2004).



“The one person who really knows me best says I’m like a cat…” ~ ‘Virtue’, Ani DiFranco

32 Flavors

Ani DiFranco ~ "songwriter, musicmaker, storyteller, freak".

In 1989/90, years before digital/online technology helped light up the terrain, Buffalo-based DiFranco was showing us how DIY is done. In creating her own label, Righteous Babe Records, and charting a path that includes loyalty and integrity as touchstones, "the little folksinger that could" - did!

"I don't think the music industry is conducive to artistic and social change and growth. It does a lot to exploit and homogenize art and artists. In order to challenge the corporate music industry, I feel it necessary to remain outside it. I could be selling a lot more albums. Life could be a lot more cushy. But it's much more interesting to try and hammer out an alternative route without the music industry and maybe be an example for other musicians. You don't have to play ball," notes Ani DiFranco.

Major inspiration to Allison Crowe, who created her own label, Rubenesque Records Ltd., (about to release a seventh CD/album since 2003), the music of Ani DiFranco is a cherished feature of Crowe's live performances.



Heres Ani's song "32 Flavors" performed by Allison (vocals, piano) and Dave Baird (bass), and Kevin Clevette (drums) live at Lucky Bar, Victoria, Canada in 2001. One of the earliest live recordings of Crowe, it's first captured by Condor, and later engineered by Welsh audio-tech David Powell.

The image of Allison Crowe is by the ever fabulous photog Billie Woods.

Off-track: Canada's Pop Music Funding Gravy-Train

It’s not very often that someone in the music industry impresses with their passion and candour, but, this holiday weekend I became aware of Greg Ipp, an independent record label owner, based in Toronto, Canada. Ipp gives every indication of being able to stimulate review, and, potentially, reform of some dubious aspects of this country's system of pop/rock+ music subsidies.

Allison and I look to Buffalo, NY-based musician Ani DiFranco and her manager Scot Fisher as models. The true DIY path is arduous, challenging – and it’s fulfilling and doable. In Ani’s words: "If you are disgustingly sincere and terribly diligent, there are ways for any serious artist to operate outside the corporate structure."

In Canada, where folks may be complacent or reluctant to stir things up, it’s exciting and heartening to see there’s a new breed rising. Ipp is among a community of music-lovers and music-makers that sees through, and beyond, the machinations of the status quo.

Two letters published recently on the Daily Swarm blog help frame the issues vis-à-vis pop music funding in Canada (popular, that is, as opposed to the, generally, less-commercial-arts funding that comes from agencies such as The Canada Council).

The first shot across the bow, an open letter from Greg Ipp, co-founder of Unfamiliar Records, argues that the FACTOR (Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent on Recordings)+ grant/loans system could be implemented more fairly and effectively. Ipp’s letter highlights how funding, (much of it backed by Canadian taxpayers and/or existing as mechanisms to fulfil government licensing conditions for media companies), disportionately supports a group of connected players who are exploiting the system – to the detriment of broader culture and commerce.

A counter position is staked out in the response from Matt Drouin, a principal of Equator Music, and partner to Canuck industry stalwarts Arts and Crafts Productions, lawyer Chris Taylor (Last Gang Records), and promoter/impresario Donald K. Donald (Donald K Donald Entertainment Group – DKD for short) – a network whose acts are among the prime beneficiaries of grant money. Matt Drouin, says DKD, “like Donald K. Donald himself, is rich enough to work for love, not money.” Despite this, Drouin’s organization, from its inception, has been designed to take greatest advantage of Canada’s system of funding for commercial pop/rock music. Naturally, Drouin doesn’t side with Ipp in calling for systemic reform.

Greg Ipp proffers “a few thoughts on potential solutions” in follow-up comments. This section is specific enough to, possibly, hold less interest for general, or internationally-based, readers of this blog, than is found in the Ipp/Drouin letters debate.

Still, the Canadian government has just announced five more years of funding for the Canada Music Fund - to the tune of CDN $27.3-million annually. Historically, reports the CBC, “About one-third of the money ends up in the hands of FACTOR.”

This makes most timely the prescription of Greg Ipp:

“1) Elimination of DBA (Direct Board Approval)
2) Implementation of a tiered level of grants such as what Stuart Duncan suggested… (1,000 units being an initial low-level goal). This will create a barrier of entry for bands who have shown they can be proven viable, or at least, who have shown they can pay back on a small investment. Percentages on the lower level loans would naturally be much higher in order to facilitate a return on investment.
3) Utilizing the tiered system to reward success in much the same way that Starmaker does.
4) Financial caps put on money that is given to both bands and labels, which works on a sliding scale keyed to the rate of return they have provided in the past. Again, rewarding success, but putting a limit on it so as to keep a focus on development rather than welfare-like subsistence. I think this would also limit a DBA-approved labels' ability to use FACTOR for expensive A&R projects.
5) A clear distinction between bands and labels/management/other controlling parties in the application process which allows for in-depth analysis on who the money is going to. This also allows for a percentage system to develop based on how much is given to labels/managers/etc vs. bands.
6) Clear, in-depth auditing of funds once they leave the hands of FACTOR.
7) Stronger representation across the board for truly independent parties.

Each of these are just ideas. This is not a cohesive mandate, but a starting point. I feel we need to start somewhere if we're going to make an attempt to really tap into the quality of artistry we have in Canada.”

D’accord!

Allison Crowe's Road Less-Travelled: Timeless Music on Tour

It's been a few years since Nick Hornby, in a New York Times op-ed piece, "Rock of Ages", spoke of "that high-low fork in the road" asking: "Who has the nerve to pick up where Dickens or John Ford left off? ...who wants to make art that is committed and authentic and intelligent, but that sets out to include, rather than exclude?"

An answer is Allison Crowe, creator of such recordings as "Disease", "Skeletons and Spirits" and "Wedding Song" and interpretations of popular music from Leonard Cohen to Pearl Jam and the Loving Spoonful.

This week the Chicago Tribune newspaper named the "5 best versions of Cohen's 'Hallelujah' " and counter-culture blog MIX listed the top "non-shills" in the music business. Allison Crowe is the only artist on both lists. Being ranked alongside Leonard Cohen, John Cale, Jeff Buckley and kd lang for her transcendent, single/first-take, recording of "Hallelujah", and lining up with Ani DiFranco, Janis Ian, Trent Reznor, Radiohead and others for her integrity, is emblematic of Crowe's singular success.

She launched her own record label, Rubenesque Records Ltd., in 2003 and approaches music very differently to the industry standard of recent decades. The wholly independent vocalist and multi-instrumentalist shows you don't need to "play the game". You simply need to make great music. And you need to mean it.

"In a world of copycats and wannabes in the singer-songwriter field, Crowe is a true original and is playing in a league of her own", writes Tom Mureika. In this latest concert review penned for Westcoaster.ca, Mureika, a writer for AllMusicGuide, describes Crowe as an "astonishingly gifted artist" with "a dynamic stage presence - she is at once commanding and enrapturing." Saying: "Crowe is easily the most talented singer-songwriter to burst on the scene in quite some time... There were even times when her compositions came across like a modern day Carole King." Mureika concludes: "Her unique stylings, incredible range of delivery, songwriting chops and knack for interpreting cover tunes sets her apart from her peers".

AMG/Westcoaster.ca's Mureika is reporting on a sound heard coast-to-coast in Canada, where Crowe resides on, both, Atlantic and Pacific shores, and 'round the world live, on the internet and mp3 players everywhere, on Rogers, ATV, and CHUM television, the BBC, CBC radio and more.

From Canadian college radio station CFBX, where Crowe's newest of six CDs/albums, "Little Light" was top of general and specialty charts for weeks running this Spring, (since replaced on the Roots chart by the latest from Neko Case, 'Middle Cyclone'), to audiences numbering in the millions worldwide for her videos on YouTube, and song tracks on such social networking platforms as Jamendo and Last.fm to mainstream outlets iTunes and Amazon, Crowe's appeal bridges the iconoclastic and the populist.

UK audiences heard from Allison Crowe when she was a sensation at the John Lennon Northern Lights Festival in Durness, Scotland (crowned the "UK's Best New Festival' in early 2008). Crowe's performance in the Scottish Highlands, on-stage between Carol Ann Duffy, appointed Britain's Poet Laureate just this month, and Master of The Queen's Music, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, is the stuff of legend.

Recently, two prominent tributes to Leonard Cohen have featured her song contributions. During a triumphal Beatles Week 2008 concert series, BBC Radio 2 interviewed and recorded Allison Crowe in Liverpool performing "Hallelujah" for its documentary, "The Fourth, The Fifth, The Minor Fall", that explores the many facets of this Leonard Cohen creation. Hosted by Guy Garvey of Elbow, other participants include musicians Imogen Heap and Kathryn Williams alongside producers John Lissauer and Andy Wallace.

MOJO magazine's December '08 issue paid tribute to Cohen with a celebration of his "deep and moving music". Of Allison Crowe's contribution of "Joan of Arc" to its 'All Star Tribute", (featuring Judy Collins, Nick Cave, Martha Wainwright and others), a cover-mount CD titled "Cohen Covered", MOJO says: "Once famously described by the Vancouver Courier as possessing a style akin to 'Elton John meets Edith Piaf', the Canadian singer-songwriter Allison Crowe is renowned for her ability to blend control and melodrama. Certainly she does so on this spirited cover of Cohen's Songs of Love and Hate classic, a track which also powerfully showcases her considerable talent as a fine interpreter of song."

Jeffrey Pitcher, Artistic Director of Theatre Newfoundland Labrador has worked with Crowe on TNL's "Sexy and Dangerous" production in Corner Brook for two years. He says: "No matter where she is in this world, that voice, that conviction, it crosses all borders. She's one of those rare artists that fits into any culture, any community because she is who she is – an incredible talent."

"Ever wonder what it would have been like to listen to a gifted singer/songwriter from Saskatchewan in a small, intimate hall before she became Joni Mitchell? Don't fret the missed opportunity. There's no need to turn back the clock. Check out Allison Crowe," says Robert Reid in The Record (Canada). Longtime WGTE/NPR (USA) host Ross Hocker calls a performance by Crowe "the most honest, heartfelt, and directly intimate concert in my entire life".

Allison Crowe (voice/piano/guitar) and her band-mates, Billie Woods (guitar), Dave Baird (bass) and Laurent Boucher (percussion), embark now on tour - a string of dates that launch in her Atlantic home, Newfoundland this Saturday, May 9, at Bianca's, in St. John's, NL and Wednesday, May 13 at the Arts and Culture Centre, Corner Brook, NL - and take the quartet to a range of European cultural capitals:

23.05.09 - The LOT, Edinburgh, Scotland
25.05.09 - The Halo, London, England
28.05.09 - Aula Carolina, Aachen, Germany
29.05.09 - Jazzbar Vogler, Munich, Germany
03.06.09 - Jazzlokal Mampf, Frankfurt, Germany
06.06.09 - venue/city tba
09.06.09 - Osterkirche, Berlin, Germany
11.06.09 - Divadlo Dobeska, Prague, Czech Republic
13.06.09 - Tunnel-Vienna-Live, Wien, Austria

For music and more info visit: allisoncrowe.com

Happy Mother's Day weekend!

I Dreamed a Dream + When I'm Gone - simple vids

A simple post now. We rarely have any video footage of Allison Crowe, however, we do see some beautiful still photography from Allison's friend, and fellow-musician, Billie Woods.

The images accompanying both of these vids come from Woods' portfolio - and were captured in concert at the Edmonds Centre for the Arts, Edmonds, Washington, USA on January 31, 2009.

First up is Allison's performance of Fantine's "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables - words and music by Alain Boublil & Claude-Michel Schönberg) - found on her "Live at Wood Hall" double-album.

US music blog Muruch says: "Here Allison Crowe once again proves that there is no song too great for her powerful voice to conquer. Her vocals on 'I Dreamed A Dream' are especially potent and moving. As with her cover of 'Hallelujah', she seems to put every fiber of her being into the song and it's an awe inspiring thing to hear."



British and American "reality" tv talent show maven Simon Cowell's newest signing looks to be Susan Boyle, from Blackburn, West Lothian, Scotland. Her recent appearance on the UK program "Britain's Got Talent" singing "I Dreamed a Dream" has brought the song to the front of public attention - much as Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" was brought to a mass audience via "X Factor"-winner Alexandra Burke.

In times when much of the world is being bombarded by news stories that make people fearful and distressed, the story of an underdog wins hearts and minds.

This song has been rarely performed by Allison - I remember this time so well ( :

And, here's Allison performing Phil Ochs' elegiac "When I'm Gone":



With this choice, Allison gives a nod to, not only the late great activist/singer-songwriter, Ochs, but, also, to righteous babe Ani DiFranco who's recorded this song for the soundtrack of "Steal This Movie" - a film based on the life and adventures of '60s radical, Yippie Abbie Hoffman. Crowe's recording of "When I'm Gone" is on her newest album/CD, "Little Light".

Artist and Audience Come Together: C’est si bon, si bon!!

For such an independent soul and musician as Allison Crowe, this is the best time since she’s been born to be creating music, recording and performing for people all over the world. It’s a time for music lovers to rejoice.

The internet has profoundly altered the way artist and audience can now come together. It’s a wonderful thing to behold, and, pretty much every day brings reason to welcome, and be joyed by, a world that is connected online.

An interview with songwriter/poet+ Leonard Cohen, appearing earlier this Summer in Montreal’s La Presse newspaper, goes to the essence of this new reality:

"I was never convinced about my success because my recording company never consider me as a viable singer. I made discs, that were little promoted. I was not told my discs were selling and I was not paying attention to that. I toured, venues were filled and critics were mostly modest, some very positive but I never had the impression that things were exploding, that people were looking forward to see me. What changed everything was the internet. The internet is democratic; it does not depend on journalists or the promotion service of record companies; all that is obsolete today. When I started receiving a lot of feed back from Finland, Iceland, Taiwan, Africa, South America, I suddenly understood that there was a public I never suspected existed. It grew, my work got known and, at a given point in time a Finn, Jarkko Arjatsalo launched the Leonard Cohen Files and became the secretary general of the party. It includes more than 800 web pages, fascinating archives. I understood it was a work of love, I started contributing and we became good friends".

The above text en Anglais is translated courtesy of Velovermont, a member of the discussion forums @ The Leonard Cohen Files - the great compendium of all things Cohen. Here be the original quote en français:

“Je n'ai jamais été convaincu de mon succès parce quema compagnie de disques ne m'a jamais vu comme un chanteur viable. Je faisais des disques et on n'en faisait pas la promotion. On ne me disait pas que mes disques se vendaient et je ne surveillais pas ça. Je partais en tournée, il y avait des salles combles, et je lisais les critiques, la plupart plutôt modestes, certaines très positives, mais je n'ai jamais eu l'impression que ça explosait, que les gens avaient hâte de me voir. Ce qui a vraiment tout changé, c'est l'Internet. L'Internet est démocratique et il ne dépend pas des journalistes ou du service de promotion de la compagnie de disques, tout cela est obsolète aujourd'hui. Quand j'ai commencé à recevoir beaucoup de feed-back de Finlande, d'Islande, de Taiwan, d'Afrique, d'Amérique du Sud, j'ai compris tout à coup qu'il y avait un public dont je ne soupçonnais pas l'existence. Ça s'est mis à grossir, mon travail s'est fait connaître et, à un moment donné, (le Finlandais) Jarkko Arjatsalo a lancé les Leonard Cohen Files, et il est devenu le secrétaire général du parti. Ce sont plus de 800 pages web, des archives fascinantes. C'est un travail d'amour, je l'ai compris, j'ai commencé à y contribuer et nous sommes devenus de bons amis.”

Cohen, today enjoying his widest appreciation, has seen his songs, such as Hallelujah, become popular standards, heard in a global chorus of voices, around the new age campfire that’s kindled via such sites as YouTube and a community of bloggers, webcasters, podcasters and all ’round music fans online.

Posts this year on this, Allison Crowe’s site, have introduced authors, visual artists, other musicians, each discovering one another through/on the web.

Emblematic is Jessica Kuijer, artist manager to French singer-songwriter Sandra Poulain, and a promoter for Canadian Allison, Ireland’s Gemma Hayes and more - creators, performers, no longer bound by rules of industry or by geography in getting their music “out there” and reaching the world.

Earlier this year, Kuijer teamed up with Moroccan-based impresario and IT specialist Olivier Rohart for the first presentation of Allison Crowe’s spectacular spectacular at L’Archipel in Paris - a bill that also included Parisienne artist Sugar Plum Visions (Emily Green) - also a friend found thanks to the internet.

On her website, Where the Lions Weep, Jessica Kuijer chronicles the adventure across France, from her home in Toulouse to the concert in Paris. In French et en Anglais she reveals the “work of love”.

Of Allison’s musical performance, she notes: “I really liked ‘When I’m Gone’, (Phil Ochs’) lyrics were much more stronger with her voice. I don’t know why but I thought about my grandmother’s recent death during this song…cannot describe what I felt, but I wasn’t sad. We have just to live our lives while we can!

She spoke about Ani DiFranco. Allison is just following her steps as an independent singer in the wild musical industry as they both produced themselves their records since the beginning.

She sang my song ‘Whether I’m Wrong’ and told about me… I was more than happy.

She almost missed the steps to leave the scene, so I gave her my hand. (…)
’It was just fantastic!, that’s what I said to Angus when I had to pick up my luggage in the ‘loges’. It was a really beautiful event, there’s magic in her voice.
While she was singing “Disease”, she made the drums with her feet… I was like diving into the song. (I know this is not possible!)
Then she was always joking and was enthusiastic all the time. It was so cute when she wanted to speak French.
I can’t wait for September to see her again!!”

En français: “j’ai beaucoup aimé ainsi que la reprise (Phil Ochs’) ‘When I’m Gone’ dont les paroles avaient encore plus de sens de par son interprétation. Je ne sais pas pourquoi mais j’ai pensé à ma grand mère récemment décédé durant cette chanson et ça m’a beaucoup émue. En gros il faut profiter de la vie tant qu’on le peut. Elle a cité Ani DiFranco qui je pense est un peu son modèle surtout concernant l’auto-production musicale.
En rappel, elle ne manqua pas de me citer pour ‘Whether I’m Wrong’, c’était très émouvant et je ne la remercierai jamais assez. Elle faillit manquer les marches en descendant de la scène, je lui ai tendit ma main pour l’aider.(…)
“It was just fantastic!” c’est ce que j’ai dit à Angus quand je suis allé récupérer mon bagage dans les loges. C’était magnifique, d’une justesse vocale et d’un contrôle précis. Pendant qu’elle jouait sur “Disease”, elle marquait le rythme du pied, ce qui nous entrainait dans son univers que plus encore.
Ce qui enrichissait le tout fut cette bonne dose d’humour dont elle fait preuve constamment et de joie de vivre du début à la fin en s’exprimant en français comme elle pouvait.
Vivement Septembre pour un concert du même acabit…”

This diary entry concludes: “Ce fut une superbe expérience humaine, j’espère aller au Canada un jour.” = “It was a human experience that I won’t forget, I hope to come to Canada real soon.”


Jessica Kuijer and Allison Crowe outside a famous Paris bookshop... can you guess which?

Allison's next concert in The City of Light, La Ville-lumière, performing again on the Fazioli piano at L'Archipel, is Saturday, September 27 - Jessica's birthday!

Right now, there is a contest, un concours, at Where the Lions Weep - giving people a chance to win Allison’s Paris concert tickets and “Little Light” CDs - by identifying the legendary bookstore visited by Allison and Jessy and seen in this image above. (The answer is found in Jessica's The Days I've Met Allison Crowe diary.)

Curious about the site’s name? It’s inspired by the Stanley Kubrick/Steven Spielberg film AI: Artificial Intelligence. Says Jessica, “and so it is: where the lions weep, the place of discoveries and where dreams can be born.”