Allison Crowe's Spring Show with special guest Apogee - Gibsons, Sunshine Coast April 10, 2009

Expect overtones of Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, jazz and Broadway and Celtic music when Allison Crowe, Canada's exciting, bicoastal, singer-songwriter, performs in concert with special guest Apogee at the Heritage Playhouse Theatre, 662 North Road, Gibsons on Friday, April 10 at 8:00 p.m.

Launching the night's fun is Apogee - a quintet of 5 young performers aged 15 to 18 whose ability and talent exceed their years. With a total of more than 50 years of musical training behind them, this eclectic group has at its center its love and influence of Celtic music, nourished through their involvement with the Coast String Fiddlers. Revolving around this focus are the influences of the Elphinstone Jazz Band, the Creek Big Band, Choralations Choir, the Community Orchestra, and the support of the many local music professionals and teachers, resulting in a unique blend of jazz, celtic, and classical music. The group consists of Holly Beckmyer (fiddle, vocals), Tiegan Daniels (cello, vocals), David Williams (percussion), Emily Wood (keyboards, vocals), and Henry Wood (fiddle, guitar, saxophone).

Born and raised in Nanaimo, BC, now living in Corner Brook, NL, internationally-acclaimed Allison Crowe (www.allisoncrowe.com) 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, been featured on BBC Radio, and in MOJO magazine and
media across Europe and North America. 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."

Along with special guest Apogee, for the upcoming Heritage Playhouse concert Allison Crowe is joined by a trio of fine west coast musicians. Hailing from Salt Spring Island, Billie Woods, guitarist in Crowe's band, infuses her playing 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.

Date/Time: Friday, April 10 Doors: 7:30 p.m. Music: 8:00 p.m.

Venue: Heritage Playhouse Theatre, 662 North Road, Gibsons

Tickets: $20 General/ $15 Students & Seniors ($22/$17 door)

Advance tickets at: Coast Books, Gaia's Fair Trade, Hallmark Cards (Gibsons); MELOmania (Roberts Creek); Sechelt Visitor Info Centre, Wind Song Gallery (Sechelt); & Copper Sky Gallery & Café (Madeira Park).

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