Allson Russell knows how to bide her time. The Montreal-born singer and multi-instrumentalist cut her teeth and honed her craft in bands (Po’ Girl, Birds of Chicago and Our Native Daughters) for twenty years before releasing her first solo album, Outside Child, in 2021. It went on to win Junos, got nominated for Grammys and introduced Russell to a whole new range of listeners. Outside Child is a message to her younger self. Montreal landmarks pepper the album's lyrics as she grapples with surviving her abusive father, running away from home and eventually finding what she refers to as her “beloved community.”
She brought these songs to life on stage at Koerner Hall, her vulnerable power palpable as she performed with her five-piece band. Her voice is undeniable and her hopefulness infectious. In between songs, she shared how she reclaimed her autonomy and how her life experience informs her activism. Enter Russell’s world in the video above and discover why she sees live performance as “one of the few times in our modern culture where people from all kinds of backgrounds can come together and feel things together in real time.”
