Canada Crooning: Allison Crowe

What it is it about the Great White North that inspires women to write songs that wrench your heart? I’m not sure, but welcome singer-songwriter Allison Crowe (2005) to that long-standing tradition. Crowe walks in some fierce footsteps, including such Canadian crooners as Jann Arden, Amanda Marshall, Sarah McLachlan, and Alanis Morissette … all the way back to Joni Mitchell.

Crowe has previewed her fourth album “Live at Wood Hall (2005)” on MusicStrands. The album is an intimate collection of Crowe’s own songs, produced under her label “Rubenesque Records Ltd.” We wish she would post more of her albums… but additional works are available for streaming on her website.

Check out a selection of tracks to fully appreciate the expressive range of Crowe’s voice. She runs the gamut from the raspy expressiveness of The Cranberries’ Dolores O’Riordan to the sweet and subtle crooning of Jewel (Pop) or Tori Amos. (A version of Amos’ Playboy Mommie is on the album). Fans of acoustic piano music and passionate female voices will definitely want to add “There Is” to their playlists. Other songs evoke associations to everything from the popular jazzer and fellow Nanaimo-ite Diana Krall (whom Crowe has shared a stage with) all the way to the more experimental, iconoclastic Ani DiFranco. (Listen to Crowe’s version of DiFranco's "Independence Day" on the album).

Crowe has just ended a European tour, covering major cities like Dublin, London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Paris. Although we missed her in Barcelona, at least she had the grace to stop by MuscStrands upon her return to North America.

Byron Prong, Music Strands