The Strength, Resilience, and Joy of Songwriter Allison Russell
Nashville-based Montreal-born Scottish-Grenadian-Canadian multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, poet, mother, and runner Allison Russell (Birds of Chicago, Our Native Daughters, Po’ Girl) presents her autobiographical record, Outside Child, which sees her breaking the cycles of abuse and violence and celebrating having found her chosen community and chosen family. These cycles of abuse stretch far back to an enslaved ancestor, about whom she wrote in the song "Quasheba, Quasheba" (written with Our Native Daughters) and those she endured at the hands of an abusive stepfather from a sundown town, as in her songs "Part-Time Poppa" and on "Persephone." Yet, Persephone, the character of myth, embodies spring, renewal and stepping into the light. Which might be a lovely metaphor for Allison Russell's re-emergence on Outside Child.
She speaks to the significance of the album's title as well, from the perspective of the teenage runaway, literally living outside, and the othering that she'd experienced growing up with white supremacist relatives on the Scottish-Canadian side. Then there was also what Russell called the gift of being “Outside Child” which, for her Grenadian family, meant she was conceived outside of marriage, but welcomed nonetheless.
Allison Russell and her band - some of the members of her musical community- play some of these songs from Outside Child remotely.
Set list: “Persephone” “Montreal” “4th Day Prayer”
Here's more from her record, Outside Child:
