Witnessing the series of Tidings concerts, originals and covers, of rock, folk, jazz, pop, gospel, and blues, settles the score - without need for overtime or shootout.
Many top talents have laced up their skates over the years. Supremely rare, though, is Wayne Gretzky. Bobby Orr. And, so it is with music.
Allison Crowe is emerging as one of the true greats in her arena. From hometown glory to international audiences.
Not since a post-Schmorgs-
And the testifying grows with each performance and recording.
Ted and Jerry Gibson, fans who traveled 650 miles, from Boise, Idaho to Victoria, B.C., for a December 8 concert were moved especially by an epic rendition of Allison Crowe’s song “Disease” - noting: “We loved it, were amazed by it, were consumed by it.” Writing in the current issue of Boulevard magazine, reviewer Robert Moyes says Crowe’s live take on “I Never Loved a Man”, (from her album “This Little Bird”), "would give Aretha Franklin goose-bumps."
Visceral North American reactions mirror those across the pond, where Allison Crowe was most recently a sensation at the John Lennon Northern Lights Festival in Durness, Scotland. Festival Director Mike Merritt describes Crowe's performance as "awesome" and "spine-tingling"
In a BBC documentary about the event, crowned the UK’s Best New Festival, Merritt recounts bringing Allison Crowe together with Carol Ann Duffy, the UK’s most popular living poet, and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, the Queen’s Master of Music, on the Lennon fest’s classical music night:
“I had a nightmare, I tell you, that day. I had a string quartet coming. And, unfortunately, literally as they checked in, the cellist was taken ill. As most people know you can’t replace a cellist, especially in Durness, at the last minute.
And, so, I was left with a dilemma - what do I do? And as I mentioned earlier, everything that happened I thought went wrong, happened for a reason to be better. And I brought in Allison Crowe.”
Merritt wondered how it’d work - a 26-year-old musician from Canada bridging performances by Carol Ann Duffy, “arguably the world’s greatest poet”, and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, “one of the world’s greatest-ever composers”. The gamble paid off magnificently. “My word, did that put hairs on the back of your neck! (Crowe’s performance)
Hear John Lennon Festival Director Mike Merritt chatting with BBC Radio Scotland’s Iain Anderson @ http://www.allisoncrowe.com/
And hear Allison Crowe's song. "Alive and Breathing" @ http://www.allisoncrowe.com/
European and North American tour dates are in planning for 2008.
