Allison Louise Crowe (born
November 16, 1981) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist from
Nanaimo
, British
Columbia
who now also
lives in Corner Brook
, Newfoundland and Labrador
, communities spanning the breadth of Canada.
Crowe records on her own
record label,
Rubenesque Records Ltd. (formed in 2003) and releases her original
music under
Creative Commons
licensing.
History
Allison
Crowe began performing professionally in 1996, at age 15, doing
regular sets in the coffee-houses and bars of Vancouver
Island
. Crowe's recording debut came in 2001, with
an EP subsequently reissued (in 2003) as
Lisa’s Song + 6 Songs. Her first
full-length
albums,
Secrets and
Tidings, were released in 2004, when Crowe was
22. (
Tidings was originally
released in EP form in 2003.)
Allison Crowe:
Live at Wood Hall, a double concert
album, was released in July 2005. A
DVD
featuring live-in-the-studio performances of
Tidings songs
was created for her fan club in November 2005.
Crowe, of
Scottish, Irish, and Manx
descent,
grew up surrounded by jazz, classical and rock music, and
discovered additional influences on her own such as Ani DiFranco, Pearl
Jam, Tori Amos and Counting Crows. She plays music of all
these genres, making her difficult to
categorize: in Amazon.com’s downloads,
she has simultaneously been in the top three on the Rock
Singer-Songwriters, Hymns, Blues, Jazz, Broadway
and British
& Celtic Folk charts. "Drawing from classical, jazz, pop
and gospel sources, the young singer has created singular,
inspiring music both in the studio and in the concert hall.”
(Joseph Blake,
Victoria
Times Colonist, March 24, 2005).
Crowe’s most mentioned characteristics are her remarkable live
performance ability and her distinctive
voice, the natural force of which has been
compared to that of
Mahalia Jackson.
"With the soul of
Janis Joplin and the
tenderness of fellow Canuck
Sarah
McLachlan, Crowe rocks with her own unique brand of roots
charm." (David McPherson,
Exclaim!, October 5, 2004). She accompanies
herself on
guitar and the
piano, on which she has been classically trained. Her
physical, percussive, piano style has been likened to that of
R&B and
rock
and roll pioneers such as
Fats
Domino. She is largely a
solo
performer, though she has been part of
bands as well, notably in a trio format as the
Allison Crowe Band (2000 to 2003). Her passionate, visceral style
has been referred to as “
Elton John meets
Édith Piaf” (Clodagh O’Connell,
Vancouver Courier, May
23, 2001).
Crowe mostly performs her own
songs, which she
has been quoted as saying vary among
rock,
jazz and
folk, with
lyrics and an
intensity that has been compared to that of
Laura Nyro,
Eddie
Vedder,
Tori Amos and
Patti Smith. "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.
"Whether I'm Wrong", an original song of social conscience penned
in early 2003, has been featured by the UNESCO-endorsed New Songs
for Peace initiative. Crowe is also acclaimed for her
interpretations of songs by a wide variety of
composers, from
Jerome
Kern to
Pearl Jam, including
Lennon/McCartney and fellow Canadians
Joni Mitchell and
Leonard Cohen. Her
cover of Cohen’s "
Hallelujah" was named
Record of the Week by
Record of the
Day (UK) in August 2004 and again in November 2005.
Crowe has toured across Canada and in the northeastern United
States as headliner. Two one-hour
television specials have been broadcast across
Canada, with her
Allison Crowe: Tidings special telecast
each December since 2003.
Allison Crowe pre-concert, Munich,
2005
In late
2005 she performed for the first time in western Europe, with concerts in Dublin
, London,
Munich
, Frankfurt
, Amsterdam
and Paris.
In the Spring of 2006, Allison Crowe toured coast-to-coast in her
homeland, covering most of the distance by
VIA Rail Canada train on the "Rock'n'Rail
Revue".
In October
2006, Allison Crowe released a new album, This Little Bird, which she began
recording in February 2006 in her new home of Corner Brook
. The album was completed some 6000 kilometres
west, on Vancouver
Island, and Salt Spring Island
, British
Columbia.
Following the release of
This
Little Bird, Allison Crowe visited England, Ireland, and
Scotland on a concert tour.
In 2007 Crowe's touring included a series of
concerts across North America and a return to Europe where she
performed to great acclaim at the John Lennon Northern Lights
Festival in Durness
,
Scotland. The event was subsequently crowned the "UK's Best
New Festival".
Allison Crowe, Trinity College,
Dublin
Piano, guitar and lead vocal tracks for two albums were recorded by
Allison Crowe throughout 2007 and early 2008. One release, with the
working title of
Aquarius Rising, is anticipated to
include expanded instrumentation and orchestration. In May 2008
Crowe released an eclectic, acoustic, song collection called
Little Light.
Allison Crowe in concert, NYC
In May 2009 she was prevented from performing in Edinburgh,
Scotland and London, England after being turned away by British
officials at Gatwick Airport for not having a "Certificate of
Sponsorship". This requirement of a controversial new
"anti-terrorism" and "illegal immigration" policy in the UK is not
shared by countries of continental Europe and Crowe's tour with her
band resumed days later in Germany.
Crowe's touring band, her first since 2003, comprises Billie Woods
on guitar, Dave Baird on bass, and Laurent Boucher on percussion.
This quartet has toured Canada's Pacific and Atlantic coasts, as
well as continental Europe.
Following
a string of successful concert performances in Germany
, the
Czech
Republic
, and
Austria
, Allison
Crowe returned home to Canada and during the Summer of 2009
selected songs for a new album to be titled Spiral.
Some of this collection comprises never-heard songs from
Aquarius Rising (those for which orchestration was not
found in 2007), along with new originals and cover songs.
Discography
After learning how the mainstream recording industry operates, in
2003, inspired by the examples of
Ani
DiFranco and
Loreena
McKennitt, and
Creative Commons
licensing opening new avenues for musicians, Allison Crowe launched
her own record label, Rubenesque Records Ltd. She has released the
following albums independently.
Albums
Little Light (2008)
Compilations
- Open Minds Open Windows: Songwriter's Stories (2003)
West coast Canadian musicians
- It Was 40 Years Ago Today (2004) indie, punk,
alternative tribute to The Beatles
- Christmas in Rock Vol. 4 (2005) German
release of Christmas songs
- Cohen Covered (2008) Mojo tribute compilation
Videos
- Inside Pandora’s Box: Allison Crowe (2002) (one-hour
television broadcast in Canada)
- Allison Crowe: Tidings (2003) (one-hour television
broadcast annually in Canada)
- Tidings (2005) (DVD fan-club-only
release)
Allison Crowe "Tidings" video
capture
Cover Songs
Acclaimed
as a songwriter and live performer, Allison Crowe's reputation and
audience worldwide is also based significantly on her
intrepetations of songs in the popular music canon alongside
classical and traditional works, and songs from musical theatre,
especially Broadway.
This unique aspect of Crowe's artistry, combining original material
with a range of covers to equal praise and draw, has been commented
upon extensively in print and broadcast media, including a November
2008
BBC radio documentary, "
The Fourth, The
Fifth, The Minor Fall". Her interpretations of
Leonard Cohen songs have received particular
recognition in features by
BBC Radio and
MOJO magazine. Crowe's single/first
take recording of
Hallelujah was slated
to be the soundtrack to a quirky scene in the 2009 Hollywood
blockbuster,
Watchmen, before being
replaced by a Cohen recording. "I originally had a different
version of 'Hallelujah' on that scene (involving Nite Owl and Silk
Spectre II) - it was the version by Allison Crowe, and it was
really beautiful. Too beautiful, as it turned out..." explains the
movie's Director
Zack Snyder. In another
interview, Snyder explained that Crowe's recording is "too
romantic" and "too sexy" for the scene which is meant to come
across as ironic and "ridiculous".
Some of the most artistically and commercially successful cover
songs in Crowe's recorded and published repertoire include:
In addition to these prominent examples of studio and live tracks
there are numerous other
cover songs
which have been performed by Allison Crowe. Only those
interpretations which have been officially released on recordings
are noted here.
References
- [1]New Songs for Peace
-
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2009/05/25/crowe-britain.html
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