12/05/2025
🌟 Allison Russell is a sensational artist in every sense of the word. A singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, poet, author, actor, and activist: Allison can (and does) do it all!
🪕 Having left home to escape a traumatic childhood, she found relief in making music in the folk music scene, playing in bands from a young age. She preferred collaborating with others, performing in Po'Girl, Birds of Chicago, and Our Native Daughters – a banjo-playing group highlighting Black women’s hidden histories and reclaiming their stories.
📝 While on tour with Our Native Daughters, she began to feel comfortable enough to pen autobiographical lyrics about her experiences, without resorting to writing in third-person. Her debut solo album, ‘Outside Child’, addresses the abuse she faced in her youth, but ensures the narrative is firmly fixed on the heroism that comes from resilience; surviving and overcoming trauma. Being able to record those songs helped to heal and bring closure to Allison, but also provides an uplifting and all-important message to others.
🏆 Her soulful voice and poignant lyrics on ‘Outside Child’ connected with millions worldwide, including critics, leading to nominations for three Grammy Awards and the Polaris Music Prize. Follow-up album ‘The Returner’ is a celebratory record, with a ton of groove, that showcases the joy felt from loving yourself, and accepting that you are worthy. A performance of the superb track "Eve Was Black" won in the ‘Best American Roots Performance’ category at the GRAMMYs.
🤝🏾 Even with her solo projects, Allison continues to find the time to collaborate with a whole host of amazing artists, releasing songs with Brandi Carlile, Orville Peck, Annie Lennox, and Hozier to name a few! Her latest song, ‘Love I Found’, was released last month with composer and Grammy-nominated producer Kristen Personius.
Listen to this week’s show to hear songs from Allison Russell!
