Allison Russell, SistaStrings

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Francesca Cepero

Allison Russell

Do you remember Birds of Chicago? No? What about Barack Obama? You remember him? The former president listed the Birds on his favorite music list of 2021. The on-hiatus band was led by JT Nero and Allison Russell. Russell is touring on her own now and wowing audiences with gorgeous, sophisticated folk pop, cosmopolitan and comforting at the same time. She’s fresh off a January appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Milwaukee’s SistaStrings is a made-in-heaven opener.

media release: Tickets: $25

On Jan. 13, Allison Russell performed her single “Persephone” on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Watch the performance here. “Persephone” is featured on Russell’s debut album Outside Child (Fantasy Records) which earned her three GRAMMY Award nominations this year. The debut solo album topped numerous year-end lists including Barack Obama’s Favorite Music of 2021. Today, Flatiron Books (a division of MacMillan) has announced that they’ve inked a deal with Russell to publish her debut memoir which will be a deep dive / excavation of her life sprung from the material of her award winning album. Senior Editor, Bryn Clark whose credits include books with Oprah Winfrey and ‘me too’ founder Tarana Burke will edit the book. Russell’s agent Meg Thompson of the Thompson Literary Agency negotiated the deal. Flatiron Books, founded in 2014 has published over 70 New York Times Bestsellers including works from President Joe Biden, Oprah Winfrey, Ashley C. Ford, Liane Moriarty and more.

On the critically acclaimed Outside Child (produced by Dan Knobler), Allison Russell,  the poet, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, activist and co-founder of Our Native Daughters and Birds of Chicago, unpacks her youth in searing detail. She sings about deliverance and redemption, about the places and people and realizations that helped her survive and claim her freedom. It’s an album of strength and affirmation, not victimization,” said The New York Times in their profile on Russell. Following the release of Outside Child, she performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and CBS This Morning, made her Opry debut and appeared at the Country Music Hall of Fame. This year, Allison Russell was nominated for 2 Americana Awards, included on the prestigious Polaris Prize long list, nominated for 4 Canadian Folk Music Awards and 3 UK Americana Music Awards in addition to her 3 GRAMMY Award Nominations.  Russell also acted as the closing curator at the 63rd annual Newport Folk Festival. In the set, she brought together BIPOC/LGBTQIA+/Ally visionaries for a landmark collaboration with a mission of placing Black Womxn and active Allies at the center, the event included Adia Victoria, Brandi Carlile, Chaka Khan, Margo Price, Kyshona, Yasmin Williams and so many more. 

Allison Russell is on tour throughout North America, the UK and Europe throughout 2022. Highlights include a run of dates opening for Brandi Carlile this fall.

PRAISE FOR ALLISON RUSSELL’S OUTSIDE CHILD

“The singer and songwriter’s debut solo album, ‘Outside Child,’ tells a harrowing story with a survivor’s joy. Throughout the album, she sings about deliverance and redemption, about the places and people and realizations that helped her survive and claim her freedom. It’s an album of strength and affirmation, not victimization.” - New York Times

"Musical memoirs don’t come any braver, or any better than this album-of-the-year contender...Can an album be a trip through hell and also something you put on again and again for pleasure? ‘Outside Child’ walks that line, with its harrowing truths and ultimately joyful noise.” - Variety

"Singing a blend of elegant torch songs, ancestral ballads (in French and English), gentle country shuffles, and Al-Green inspired R&B, Russell embarks on a fresh musical beginning by dealing directly with her traumatic upbringing...Despite its heavy inspirations, ‘Outside Child’ is anything but despairing or academic." - Rolling Stone

"One of the most exciting voices in roots music. Russell explores her troubled upbringing, and how her creative life helped her overcome pain and abuse." - San Francisco Chronicle

"With her gorgeously soulful and often sad voice, this singer-songwriter by way of Montreal and Nashville confronts the trauma of her abusive upbringing. Whether sung in French, with a light twang or as southern soul, the songs are deeply emotional and righteously liberating. Maybe the best album of 2021 so far." - Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Allison Russell’s first solo album, soars on wings of resilience and redemption, but not before walking through the valley of the shadows of pain and abuse and desolate loneliness. The 11-song cycle circles outward in ever expanding arcs.” - No Depression

“A stunning exploration of trauma she endured in her youth, examined with new insight and wisdom that only time and distance can bring” - Nashville Scene

"The lyrics to ‘Nightflyer’ are mostly a list, a poetic and far-reaching one: ‘I’m the moon’s dark side, I’m the solar flare/the child of the earth, the child of the air/I am the mother of the evening star/I am the love that conquers all.’ Allison Russell sings them over a stately blend of country and church as she summons a congregation of her own vocal harmonies, gathering strength as she promises reassurance." - The New York Times on “Nightflyer”

"Triumph glistens along poetic lyric lines as Russell uncovers unforeseen strength. Understanding this deeply rooted resilience derives from generations of strife, the artist beams with pride knowing the same strength will continue to build for her daughter and generations to come." - American Songwriter

LISTEN TO OUTSIDE CHILD HERE 

Born and raised in Montreal, Russell imbues her music with the colors of her city - the light, the landscape, the language - but also the trauma that she suffered there. It is a heartbreaking reflection on a childhood no one should have to endure, and at the same time a powerful and warm statement of hope - asserted from a place of healing, of motherhood, of partnership - and from a new home made in Nashville. The record features contributions from many of the artistic family members she has found there including producer Dan Knobler, Erin Rae, Jamie Dick, Joe Pisapia, The McCrary Sisters, Ruth Moody, Yola, and her partner JT Nero.

“It was just about making these songs live and breathe in the most honest way,” Russell says. “We were laughing, we were crying. And the communion between musicians, I hope people can hear that on the record. It felt like magic.”

“Outside Child, Russell added, “is about resilience, survival, transcendence, the redemptive power of art, community, connection, and chosen family.” The album is both a radical reclamation of a traumatic childhood and lost home, and a lantern light for survivors of all stripes - a fervent reminder of the resuscitative power of art. “Allison’s new album, Outside Child, draws water from the dark well of a violent past,” says poet and songwriter Joe Henry.” “The songs themselves ––though iron-hard in their concerns–– are exultant: exercising haunted dream-like clean bedsheets snapped and hung out into broad daylight, and with the romantic poet’s lust for living and audacity of endurance.”

www.allisonrussellmusic.com