Allison Russell

Nashville based, Scottish Grenadian Canadian writer/musician/composer/producer, Allison Russell, has walked through shadows that make the love light she beams so radiantly on stage seem like a miracle of grace. After running away from a severely abusive home at 15, she lived a vagabond life on the streets of Montreal for a time, often spending whole nights before school playing chess with the old men at some of the 24 hour cafés there... she eventually hitched a ride to Vancouver when she was 17. She had not been allowed to listen to popular music of any sort in her home, so when she stumbled upon a Library of Congress/Smithsonian archival compilation of early “race recordings” of 20’s era women blues singers (Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith among them), it was even more revelatory than it might have been for others . She heard freedom and power in their laments, and her path was set. She alway knew she could keep a tune, but now she knew she could sing her truth; more than that, she discovered that singular magic of songcraft - whereby the deepest pain can be conjured into something like joy. Soon after she bought a clarinet at a pawn shop and taught herself to play. Her winding musical path - from her first work in Canadian roots band, Po’ Girl, to Birds of Chicago, her current band with husband JT Nero - to her recent critically acclaimed collaborations like Songs of Our Native Daughters - Our Native Daughters - with Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, and Amythyst Kiah - has seen Russell emerge as one of the rarest singers, and a writer whose depth and scope is only now beginning to be fully appreciated. Her song, “Barley” - a song of defiant strength and love in the face of overwhelming darkness, has been covered by many - including jazz great, Lizz Wright, Rhiannon Giddens and Abigail Washburn. Music has saved Allison Russell’s life many times over. Her debut solo album “Outside Child” is coming soon...