On a weekend when a simple video of Allison Crowe performing, live-off-the-floor, a version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" passed 400,000 (legitimate) views on YouTube, the same video nestled in the Top Ten on Last.fm - one of the world's largest social music networks with 15 million active users in 232 countries. (Earlier this Summer, CBS Interactive purchased Last.fm for US $280 million making this the largest Web 2.0 purchase ever in Europe.)

In a recording industry in which money is the traditional gateway to public access, it's more than remarkable that Crowe's video, made for less than CDN $200, and without a single dollar of promotional muscle behind it, is able to reach people alongside such comparatively big budget productions and major label-promoted videos as Feist's "1234" and KT Tunstall's "Hold On".

There's a window open now for genuine musical talent, and Allison Crowe is flying straight through to reach her audience.

"Canada's most charismatic arrival in recent years," is how Crowe's described by top Scottish concert presenter, Billy Kelly. After performing last year at Kelly's 'Big, Big, World Festival' in Glasgow, Allison Crowe is honoured this year to journey to Durness, Scotland for the 'John Lennon Northern Lights Festival'. Mike Merritt, Coordinator of this event, billed as "Britain's most unique happening", reports that Crowe's newest album, "This Little Bird", is album of the week on Isles FM (covering the Outer Hebrides and West Coast Scotland).

Before the Yellow Submarine of festivals rocks full speed ahead across the Atlantic, Allison Crowe will perform a series of concerts in her homeland, Canada. Full details of these shows will be announced later this week:

Sept. 7 - Waterloo, ON @ Waterloo Community Arts Centre - a fundraiser
for the Kidney Foundation of Canada's "A Brush of Hope" campaign
Sept. 8 - Ottawa, ON @ Library and Archives Canada Auditorium - a
benefit for Canines with a Cause & Vision Theatre
Sept. 14 - Corner Brook, NL @ Arts & Culture Centre - with special
guest Trois Femmes
Sept. 21 - Halifax, NS - Fairview Heights School - "Pizza and Piano"
program for students
Sept. 22 - Halifax, NS @ The Music Room