Common Biography
Vincent Van Gogh "loved life so bad, his paintings had twice the color
other paintings had". So sings Jonathan Richman (on Rockin' and Romance).
And that tells you something about musician Allison Crowe.
A modern lover of music, US-based blogger Muruch
puts it like this: "There's really no way to convey through mere words how
much the music... moves me, or how I want other people to listen to and adore it
as much as I do. Allison sings with such an intensity of emotion, it's easy to
see why she's often quoted as saying 'Why music? Why breathing?'... that kind of
artistic passion seems extremely rare these days."
"I love singing for people," says Allison Crowe. "It's a way to
connect and share with others. Communication is crucial. Just being able to do
what I do, to write and sing and perform, makes me feel not only alive, but
incredibly lucky. Knowing at any moment everything could change, I don't take
one second for granted."
Born 25 years ago, on an island, in the harbour city of Nanaimo,
British Columbia, today Crowe's force reaches 'round the world.
"Allison Crowe has a voice to fall in love with," says Record
of the Day, the UK's essential music industry news service. "She is
from Vancouver Island in Canada, descended from Irish and Manx stock. She's
exactly the sort of artist who can make serious headway on her own label and
that's just what she's doing."
Eight years of connecting with her audience through concerts and touring led the
singer-songwriter to Ani DiFranco and Loreena McKennitt as models for creating
her own record label. Since 2003, Rubenesque Records Ltd. has released five
Allison Crowe albums: Lisa's
Song+ 6 Songs; Secrets;
Tidings;
Live
at Wood Hall; and This
Little Bird. Each has earned great critical acclaim and found heart-felt
support. A true grassroots success, all of Crowe's CDs continue to grow in
popular appeal - as her music travels globally via the internet and more
traditional distribution channels & media.
"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 Crowe's
eloquent piano playing," observes journalist Clodagh O'Connell. When this
phenomenon 'from the islands' initially reached the mainland, O'Connell puzzled
over a defining echo: "Elton John meets Edith Piaf?"
These days, Crowe is praised not only as a singularly exciting songwriter and
live performer, but, also, as a song interpreter. Her freshly definitive takes
on such 21st century standards as Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"
and Joni Mitchell's "River" are applauded as "truly
transcendent". Tidings, an innovative mix of traditional carols and songs
of joy, peace, and redemption from the secular songbook, is an emerging classic
- "music for the season and all time".
As well as helping launch her second one-hour television special broadcast
across Canada, upon its release, Crowe's Tidings CD was one of only two
albums awarded four stars by The Toronto Sun in its holiday CD roundup -
the other being The Christmas Collection, an evergreen Frank Sinatra
reissue.
"Her voice celebrates the music with a bluesy rock-gospel intensity; her
controlled vibrato, silken rasp, and powerful projection rivet your attention.
This is no casual background music. be prepared to be amazed," says Hamline
University Professor Of Law - and CD reviewer - Carol Swanson. "Every song
radiates sincerity, creative flair, and emotional intensity."
Of her just-released album, This Little Bird, (which landed on year end
top-ten lists from the USA to Sweden), Bob Muller comments: "Allison really
comes into her own on this CD - her wonderful songs, supported by her emotive
vocals, strong and confident, navigates them with feeling and strength. I mean,
it takes a lot of self-confidence to tackle Aretha (Franklin)'s version of 'I
Never Loved a Man...' but Allison does and nails it just as good as the Queen
of Soul herself. Her piano playing is equally exquisite." Muller, the
veteran keeper of song covers at JoniMitchell.com, (an archive
now totaling 2228 wide-spread covers), sums up: "Treat yourself to one
of the mightiest talents on the singer-songwriter scene today."
Forgoing standard studio enhancement, let alone the sonic trickery so
commonplace, from Nanaimo, B.C. to Corner
Brook, Newfoundland, (home-bases that span the breadth of Canada), Allison
Crowe makes honest, often live, records that outpace a brace of acts produced by
the status quo of, both, mainstream, and, indie, marketing.
Perhaps that's only natural for music made with a genuine pulse. Eclectic, too.
Allison Crowe is the only musician of this generation to share a stage with
jazzer, and fellow-Nanaimo-ite, Diana Krall, have a Beatles cover join Dee Dee
Ramone, Sylvain Sylvain and punk/alt performers on a Fab Four tribute, blow away
Pearl Jammers in Seattle, pair Tori Amos, Counting
Crows, Broadway tunes, and Celtic aires with original, melodic, songcraft
and, joyously, sound like no one else.
"Allison has a special gift that is so very rare in musicians today. She is
true to her mind, heart and spirit," says Ross Hocker, long-time public
broadcaster with NPR affiliate WGTE. Hocker, whose musical taste embraces
Thelonious Monk, Bela Bartok and Charles Gounod, calls Allison Crowe's live
performance "the most honest, heartfelt, and directly intimate concert in
my entire life."
"In an entertainment world that increasingly genuflects at the altar of
instant fame, Crowe seems an anomaly, building her career slowly and
carefully," notes Adrian Chamberlain, of Canada's Times Colonist
newspaper.
"Soulful. Alive. Joyous. Grievous. Real, true, music is what I want to
make," says Allison Crowe.
You can lend an ear...
