Allison Crowe's Spring Show - Powell River March 27, 2009

Expect overtones of Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, jazz and Broadway when Allison Crowe, Canada's exciting, bicoastal, singer-songwriter, performs in concert at the Powell River Academy of Music (7280 Kemano Street) on Friday, March 27 at 8:00 p.m.

Born and raised in Nanaimo, BC, now living in Corner Brook, NL, internationally-acclaimed Crowe delights in a wide range of roles. She's performed for the Queen's Master of Music, headlined a concert for the John Lennon Memorial Garden in the Scottish Highlands, joined the ensemble cast of The Vagina Monologues at Nanaimo's Malaspina College Theatre, and, online, her simple, honest, music videos have been enjoyed by more than five million people.

"Treat yourself to one of the mightiest talents on the singer-songwriter scene today," says Bob Muller, song curator at JoniMitchell.com "Ever wonder what it would have been like to listen to a gifted singer/songwriter from Saskatchewan in a small, intimate hall before she became Joni Mitchell? Don't fret the missed opportunity. There's no need to turn back the clock. Check out Allison Crowe," writes Robert Reid in The Record.

Crowe's rare gift and talent in communicating emotions not only make her a thrilling original act, her role as an interpreter is getting much recognition. "Her version of 'I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)' would give Aretha Franklin goose-bumps," notes Robert Moyes in Boulevard. Recently, two major tributes to Leonard Cohen have featured her song contributions.

During her triumphal Beatles Week 2008 concert series, BBC Radio 2 interviewed and recorded Allison Crowe in Liverpool performing "Hallelujah" for an hour-long documentary, "The Fourth, The Fifth, The Minor Fall", that explores the many facets of this Leonard Cohen creation. Other participants include musicians Imogen Heap and Kathryn Williams alongside producers John Lissauer (Leonard Cohen) and Andy Wallace (Jeff Buckley).

UK-based MOJO magazine's December '08 issue paid tribute to Cohen with a feature celebrating "deep and moving music". Of Allison Crowe's contribution of "Joan of Arc" to its 'All Star Tribute", (alongside Judy Collins, Nick Cave, Martha Wainwright and others), a cover-mount CD titled "Cohen
Covered", MOJO says: "Once famously described by the Vancouver Courier as possessing a style akin to 'Elton John meets Edith Piaf', the Canadian singer-songwriter Allison Crowe is renowned for her ability to blend control and melodrama. Certainly she does so on this spirited cover of Cohen's Songs of Love and Hate classic, a track which also powerfully showcases her considerable talent as a fine interpreter of song."

Longtime NPR Radio host Ross Hocker calls a performance by Allison Crowe: "The most honest, heartfelt, and directly intimate concert in my entire life."

For her first-ever visit to Powell River, this coming weekend Allison Crowe is joined by a trio of fine west coast musicians. Hailing from Salt Spring Island, Billie Woods, guitarist in Crowe's band, opens the show with songs inspired by life in Canada's Pacific northwestern coastal forest, and infused with the warmth and vitality of the sambas,
bossa novas and other cultural rhythms of Brazil. Crowe's band on the bill also features a pair of top-flight rhythm-makers: jazzer Dave Baird on acoustic and electric bass, and percussionist Laurent Boucher, renowned for his playing with Sunyata and other combos making music from Big Band to world beat.

Official Website: http://www.allisoncrowe.com