NEW YORK (by Adrian Du Plessis/ ALLISON CROWE MUSIC MANAGEMENT/ www.allisoncrowe.com) - Canadian singer-songwriter
Allison Crowe records most of her music live, in a single take. Crowe is earning growing critical and popular acclaim for her artistry. This recent holiday season her albums, (created at a cost that is a miniscule fraction of most recording artists), Secrets and Tidings, have been named as top picks by reviewers from indie webzines to mass-circulation newspapers.
This holiday season has been a warm one for singer-songwriter Allison Crowe despite some typically Canadian temperatures and plenty of snow. Her year closed with a series of concerts that united people in music and spirit.
On a professional level, things have, indeed, been joyful and triumphant. Tidings, Allison Crowe's hour-long tv special was broadcast on CHUM's NewNetwork delighting fans new and old. Crowe's singer-songwriter album, Secrets, was named one of the best CDs of 2004 by Collected Sounds.
Tidings, her holiday collection, received brilliant reviews in publications, literally, coast-to-coast ~ from Victoria's Times Colonist to the Halifax Herald, with plenty of thumbs up in-between and internationally. (Album reviews are found in the Press section of Allison Crowe's official web-site.)
"The Yuletide find of the year," said the Kitchener-Waterloo Record. In the Toronto Sun, one of Canada's largest circulation dailies, holiday albums from Allison Crowe and Frank Sinatra ranked highest, with Tidings, Crowe's live, single-take, recording topping a sack-full of popular big-budget label releases (from such acts as Chris Isaak, Jessica Simpson, Clay Aiken, Vanessa Williams and the Barenaked Ladies). And, following the marathon (six-day) radio program of Dr. Gerry Grzyb, (a holiday tradition broadcast on Wisconsin's WRST), 'Dr. Christmas' wrote to say: 'Of over 100 new Christmas CDs played on my show, Allison's drew the most listener interest.'
Over the holidays, John Intini, Assistant Editor of Canada's national news magazine, Maclean's, interviewed Allison Crowe for a fun little item to appear in that publication's current issue. The subject? A few of Alley's favourite things.
Here's an out-take of that interview ~ in which Crowe reveals her top classic rock picks:
The Ocean - Led Zeppelin - 'I grew up listening to quite a bit of Led Zeppelin, and I love everything to do with The Ocean, that is the ACTUAL ocean, so this track is a natural favourite of mine from the get go. Also, I quite enjoy the a cappella bridge of the song, with all the 'La-La's.'
Me and Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin - 'Piece of My Heart is a very, very close second, but I had to go with this one because it just rocks. The piano on this track and the rootsy rock feel are my favourite.'
The Weight - The Band - 'Every time I hear this song I just kind of go 'ahhhh'... and think, wow, I miss Woodstock. Those were the times. And then I remember I was born in 1981.'
'All Along the Watchtower - the Jimi Hendrix version would be my next pick'
To learn Allison Crowe's trio of most cherished jazz albums, check out the January 17, 2005 edition of Maclean's.
And, here's wishing you the best of New Years. May you and your loved ones enjoy good health and good times.
