She comes from a land of ice and snow. Some years more-so
than others. And, like such phenomena, Allison Crowe’s
preternatural talent, and her peerless body of music, is
marked by a pure, crystalline, uniqueness.
"How can someone so small and young have such a big voice
and write such heavy duty songs?,” legendary West-coast
Canada musician and publisher Barry Newman found himself
wondering upon discovering a teen-aged Crowe on a Vancouver
Island stage in the year 2000. For a cover feature in
Cosmic Debris, (the magazine he founded), Newman
observed: “The inflections in her piano stylings were so
mature too... there was a blues edge in there."
"The first thing you notice about Allison Crowe is her
voice. Rich and dark, it seems to come from a place most
singers can only dream of accessing. Then there are the
songs. Filled with raw passion and accompanied by eloquent
piano playing," notes Clodagh O'Connell, (The Courier,
Rolling Stone+), in a maiden review of Crowe’s
voyage to new lands.
Cultural critic for The Times Colonist newspaper
in Victoria, BC, Adrian Chamberlain, also caught the artist
in her early concert rounds: “(Listening to) Crowe is akin
to sipping the richest of brandies.” The writer, himself a
funk soul musician, explained: “Crowe's singing is
tremendously powerful; almost operatic. When she digs into
a sustained note, as she so often does, the voice is huge,
rounded, with a dark timbre.”
The amazing sound crossed the main. Before long UK music
maven Dave Henderson, (MOJO, Q and
Kerrang!+), was tipping MOJO mag’s audience
to this siren from o’er the sea: "Once famously described
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."
Moving deeper into this century, the musician’s voice is
ever more complex – striking on its own and, most
frequently, accompanied by 88 hammers of the gods in the
hands of a virtuoso. "You really have to see Allison Crowe
live. The way she splits those notes, it's like light
through a prism - all the colours of a song," says Canadian
radio and television veteran Rick Dennis.
Eight years back, Crowe migrated from her island
birth-place of Nanaimo, BC, on the Pacific Ocean, to Corner
Brook, nestled on another lovely isle, Newfoundland – near
the Viking Trail on Atlantic shores. Acoustic guitar,
fiddle and tin-whistle now figure alongside voice and piano
in her musical palette – creating rock, folk, jazz, roots,
country, Celtic and more thrills. Her newest recording,
(released globally April 28), is an addictive variant of a
centuries-old song of the seacoast, “
Tarry Trousers”.
“Weirdly typical” is how BC dean of Canuck rock writers,
Tom Harrison, describes a new album from Allison Crowe –
and that legend is key to any map of her course. She
presents bi-coastal “Tidings” concerts each
Christmas season in her homeland. These past two years
Crowe’s focused on: recording (four acclaimed albums – “Tidings
Concert”, “Newfoundland Vinyl”, “Heavy
Graces”, and “Songbook”); dance (performing
songs of Leonard Cohen on-stage with Canada’s brilliant
Royal Winnipeg Ballet); theatre (musically directing
Theatre Newfoundland and Labrador’s rollicking hit
show, “Newfoundland Vinyl”); and film projects -
one recording riveting in the trailer for a major indie
motion picture (“The Pardon”), and cameoing,
pretty much as herself, in “Man of Steel”- a #1
box-office Superman movie among the decade’s biggest
Hollywood blockbusters.
Steering well clear of the corporate record industry’s
shallows, Crowe’s integrity is as steadfast as her sound is
remarkable – a double-helix of traits akin to the DNA of
previous generations’ mavericks. “I’m a big Johnny Cash
fan. And I’m a big Allison Crowe fan. So the combination to
me seemed like an awesome opportunity if we could make it
happen,” explains “Man of Steel” Director Zack
Snyder. “Allison and I had talked about trying to get some
of her music in one of my movies whenever we could – and I
thought, well, if I just put her in the film then there’s
no way that it won’t work. So, that’s where you get Allison
from.”
Allison Crowe's "Heavy Graces"
Tour reaches Europe this May
For her next act, Allison Crowe returns to the
international concert stage this May – with eight concerts
upcoming in Europe: Bernau (03.05); Frankfurt (07.05);
Freiburg (11.05); Neunkirchen (13.05); Inning (15.05);
Florence (17.05); Münster (20.05); and Potsdam (22.05). The
opening concert on this “
Heavy Graces” tour
quickly sold out – Ausverkaft! Full event calendar @
http://allisoncrowe.com/tour.html
For most of these dates, Crowe’s joined by special guest
artist, and super-simpatico tour partner, Billie Woods
http://www.facebook.com/billiewoodsmusic Woods’
distinctive vocal and nylon-string guitar style is rooted
in Canada's Pacific Northwest and infused with the warmth
and vitality of cultural rhythms of Brazil. From home-base
on Salt Spring Island, BC, in “Canada’s banana belt”, she’s
blended a life of passions - principally music and
photography.
Crowe’s Road/Stage manager, Axel Dollheiser, hails from
Bavaria and Salt Spring. popTrip Entertainment,
(currently moving headquarters from Berlin, Germany to
Toronto, Canada), is booking agent.
Toronto-based author and visual artist Lorette C. Luzajic
concludes: “Not everyone can bring down the divine, not
everyone can be vast and mythological or bring the gifts of
the gods into a winter’s night. But Allison Crowe channels
the spirit each and every time."
Labels: Allison Crowe, Axel Dollheiser, beauty, Bernau, Billie Woods, concert, concerto, Europe, Firenze, Frankfurt, Freiburg, Germany, Inning, Italy, Muenster, musica, Neunkirchen, Potsdam, tour, tournee
