Acrpost: A Project of the Pacific Association of Artist Run Centres

Event Description

Expect plenty of holiday cheer, laced with overtones of Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, jazz and more, when Allison Crowe and guest artist Lena Birtwistle light up Ladysmith with “Tidings”.

"Music for the season and all time." Tidings stirs together traditional Christmas carols and holiday favourites with an organic blend of rock, jazz, folk, gospel and soul. "The Yuletide find of the year," says The Record. "Be prepared to be amazed," chimes ChristmasReviews.com

"Allison Crowe has a voice to fall in love with," says UK music industry journal Record of the Day. “She is from Vancouver Island in Canada, descended from Scottish, Irish and Manx stock. She's exactly the sort of artist who can make serious headway on her own label and that's just what she's doing." Longtime NPR broadcaster Ross Hocker calls Allison Crowe's show, "The most honest, heartfelt, and directly intimate concert in my entire life."

When this phenomenon 'from the islands' (Vancouver Island and Newfoundland) reached the mainland she steered a path clear of what Joni Mitchell knowingly calls the record business' "style inventions". With Ani DiFranco as a model of integrity, and Creative Commons licensing changing the "game" for resourceful musicians, Crowe created her own label. Since 2003, Rubenesque Records Ltd has released six critically and commercially successful albums: Lisa’s Song + 6 Songs; Secrets; Tidings; Live at Wood Hall; This Little Bird; and Little Light. Crowe's next album is Spiral.

"The first thing you notice about Allison Crowe is her voice. Rich and dark, it seems to come from a place most singers can only dream of accessing. Then there are the songs. Filled with raw passion and accompanied by Crowe's eloquent piano playing," writes Clodagh O'Connell (The Courier). Hers is a joyous sound: "Elton John meets Edith Piaf."

A sensation at the UK's John Lennon Northern Lights Festival, where she performed on a bill with the Queen's Master of Music, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, and the UK's Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, "Canadian angel Alison Crowe gave one of the weekend's most magical moments," says The Scotsman. Festival Director Mike Merritt describes Crowe as "awesome" and "spine-tingling", noting her performance "put hairs on the back of your neck! She brought the house down."

A true grassroots success, Crowe is praised not only as a singularly talented songwriter - on themes personal as well as worldly - and as an exciting, visceral, performer, but, also, as a supreme interpreter of song. Her vital takes on such 21st century standards as Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and Joni Mitchell's "River" are applauded as "truly transcendent" and her singular covers have achieved broad, even mainstream, popularity, featured by BBC Radio, MOJO magazine and by acclaimed Hollywood director Zack Snyder (300, The Watchmen).

Lena Birtwistle open this Tidings concert with a distinctive set of folk/pop songs tinged with country hues. The singer/songwriter, for whom Ladysmith is home, has been sharing her music and quirky sense of humour all over the Island for the last four years. Citing such inspirations as Eva Cassidy, Fleetwood Mac, The Dixie Chicks, Steve Poltz, and Barenaked Ladies, her songs and stories are blended with a touch that’s very much her own. Alongside a focus on her solo career, Lena Birtwistle has recently teamed up with musician Sid Johnson, (Holly McNarland, Kinnie Starr), to form "The Adamantines". The duo, more rock/roots based, is working hard on songwriting, recording, and promoting the release of their debut EP, "Empires" (created with Zak Cohen at the Woodshop Recording Studio just north of Duncan).

Date/Time: Friday, December 4, 2009 Doors: 7:00 p.m. Music: 7:30 p.m.

Venue: Ladysmith First United Church, 232 High Street

Tickets: $20 General/$15 Students & Seniors - Advance (all charges incl.)
(Door: $22/$17)

Tickets soon @ In the Beantime Cafe (18 High Street), & Salamander Books (535 First Ave.) in Ladysmith; + Toad Hall Emporium (9738 Willow St.) in Chemainus; now online @ http://www.allisoncrowe.com/shoptickets.html

Info: http://www.allisoncrowe.com + http://www.myspace.com/lenabirtwistle

Contact: 250-537-1286 or email management@allisoncrowe.com