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:
www.allisoncrowe.com
on Allison Crowe - Gabriola Island, Canada - Billie Woods photo