Press Quotes:

“I have not heard of anyone who sings with the vulnerability or childhood innocence and the piercing intensity of Edith Piaf the way she does, well at least not in this lifetime... It is quite amazing how she can do so many things with her voice. She’s a woman with a guitar who belts out like Aretha Franklin, a bodhran player with soul in her heart and, yes, a pianist with the grace of a classical performer.” ~ Baxter Labatos, Editor, The Celtic Music Fan (Phillipines) 

"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 eloquent piano playing" ~ Clodagh O'Connell, The Courier, Rolling Stone+ (North America) 

“Allison Crowe: La Sua Voce Ha Stregato Anche L’uomo D’acciaio” ~ Be-Creative (Italy) 

"No matter where Allison Crowe is in this world, that voice, that conviction, it crosses all borders. She's one of those rare artists that fits into any culture, any community because she is who she is - an incredible talent." ~ Jeffrey Pitcher, Artistic Director, Theatre Newfoundland and Labrador (Canada) 

"Bereits mit ihren ersten Ansagen gewinnt die kanadische Songwriterin mit eigenem Label die Gunst des Publikums, lässt mit ihrem Koloratur-Lachen die Erwartung auf Weiteres ansteigen. Mit kräftigem Zugriff spielt Allison Crowe das Klavier, zu dessen Klang ihre leicht rauchige, ausducksstarke, kurz: große Stimme hervorragend passt. Manchmal erinnert ihr Spiel an die Tasten-Eskapaden eines Konstantin Wecker, dann wieder gibt es Momente, die an den Stil von Modest Mussorgsky's „Bilder einer Ausstellung“ denken lassen." ~ Peter Baier, Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany) 

"Una voce incredibile per una forza della natura." ~ Reset Radio (Italy) 

"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." ~ Robert Reid, The Record  (Canada) 

"Canada's finest songwriter" ~ Stephen Thomas, Folkroom Records (UK) 

"There are some voices that speak (or sing) for themselves. You know the ones. Voices where it doesn’t matter what they sing. Voices where it doesn’t really matter what instruments support them. Solomon Burke has such a voice. Jeff Buckley had it. Allison Crowe has it too." ~ Ray Padgett, Cover Me (Mashable, Spin+) (USA) 

"Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah'... as performed by Allison Crowe, may be one of the most amazing things ever recorded onto magnetic tape." ~ Semper Ubi Sub Ubi  (USA) 

"J'ai rarement été bouleversée à ce point par une voix féminine. Pure comme de la glace, puissante et même violente... qu'il est impossible de ne pas mettre son coeur en jeu en l'écoutant... faîtes place à une virtuose nom de Zeus!" ~ SplinterMuse  (France) 

"I have never been so moved by a woman's voice. Pure as ice, powerful and even violent... it's impossible not to put your heart at stake when listening to her... behold this new virtuoso. By Zeus!" ~ SplinterMuse  (France) English translation 

"Allison Crowe is a stunningly talented performer. Her voice celebrates the music with a bluesy rock-gospel intensity; her controlled vibrato, silken rasp, and powerful projection rivet your attention. This is no casual background music... be prepared to be amazed." ~ Carol Swanson, Music Reviewer & Professor of Law at Hamline University, ChristmasReviews.com  (USA) 

"It takes a lot of self-confidence to tackle Aretha (Franklin)'s version of "I Never Loved a Man..." but Allison does and nails it just as good as the Queen of Soul herself. Her piano playing is equally exquisite. Treat yourself to one of the mightiest talents on the singer-songwriter scene today." ~ Bob Muller, JoniMitchell.com  (USA) 

"supernaturally agile and exquisite voice" ~ Music on Spotify blog 

"Crowe's voice (is) as much a manifestation of Christmas spirit today as Bing Crosby's was in 1942. It's as warm as an open fire; as gorgeous as snow-frosted evergreens; as tender as that hug you give your mother on Christmas day." ~ Stephen Smysnuik, The Pique  (Canada) 

"Expressing emotion is where Allison Crowe excels. Whether covering other artists... or performing her own songs... each track becomes alive and palpable." ~ Jen Carswell, Paris Voice  (France) 

"When I first heard Allison Crowe the 15 year-old teenager inside me yelled 'Where have you been all my life?!?' and my 28 year-old self agreed. Allison is the perfect mix of vibrato, soul, crashing pianos, tambourines, and gorgeous songs" ~ Katie Bowell, interrobangs anonymous  (USA) 

"You really have to see Allison Crowe live. The way she splits those notes, it's like light through a prism - all the colours of a song." ~ Rick Dennis, CICV Radio  (Canada) 

"In a world of copycats and wannabes in the singer-songwriter field, Crowe is a true original and is playing in a league of her own." ~ Tom Mureika, Westcoaster.ca, AMG+ (North America) 

"Allison Crowe has a voice to fall in love with. 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." ~ Record of the Day  (UK) 

"Once famously described 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." ~ MOJO  (UK) 

"I hear so much music these days, too much for one person really. I’m inundated with such a flood of sounds both good and bad that I sometimes forget what it feels like when a song literally produces chills on your arms. Then I hear Allison Crowe sing, and I remember the effect music is supposed to have on you." ~ pioneering music blog Muruch  (US) 

"The most honest, heartfelt, and directly intimate concert in my entire life. I have been to hundreds of concerts of all sorts of music, but nothing like Allison Crowe! She is fantastico! and so very sweet and marvelous to behold... Allison has a special gift that is so very rare in musicians today. She is true to her mind, heart and spirit. She also has a most wonderful humor which envelops her audience." ~ Ross Hocker, WGTE/NPR  (USA) 

"Ihre gestalteten Emotionen umfassen sowohl stürmische, dramatische Prozesse, Wut, Verzweiflung, aber auch spielerischen Übermut und einen unbändigen Lebenswillen. Im Kontext dazu stehen ihre zarten, hingebungsvollen Empfindungen, eine Lyrik, in denen sie die breit gefächerte Facette ihrer gesanglichen Begabung zum Klingen bringt." ~ Barbara Kirchner-Babinecz, Mitteldeutsche Zeitung  (Germany) 

"Allison has put Canada well and truly on the map here!" ~ Mike Merritt, Artistic Director, John Lennon Northern Lights Festival  (UK) 

"Classically-trained Canadian singer-songwriter and pianist Crowe performs covers and original songs with as much passion as one would expect from a singer with a five octave range and six independently funded albums." ~ TimeOut  (UK) 

"Not everyone can bring down the divine, not everyone can be vast and mythological or bring the gifts of the gods into a winter’s night. But Allison Crowe channels the spirit each and every time." ~ Lorette Luzajic, The Girl Can Write  (Canada) 

"Crowe’s originals are vivid, both musically and lyrically, and she also does memorable covers. Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You” has a stark beauty while her version of “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)” would give Aretha Franklin goose-bumps." ~ Robert Moyes, Boulevard  (Canada) 

“Ob am Piano oder an der Gitarre, Allison Crowe wusste auch musikalisch zu überzeugen: mal schnell und laut, aber auch langsam und leise. Ob gefühlvoll oder energisch, den Zuschauern wurde eine große Bandbreite an musikalischer Unterhaltung geboten. Neben Coverversionen von Songs der Beatles, Leonard Cohen oder Tori Amos, sang sie auch selbstkomponierte Stücke. Erschien sie zwischen ihren Liedern entspannt und humorvoll, so tauchte sie während der Songs komplett in die Musik ein. Dabei nahm sie das Publikum mit auf eine Reise durch verschiedene musikalische Genres…” ~ Kevin Gauer, Saarbrücker Zeitung  (Germany) 

"Canada's most charismatic arrival in recent years" ~ Billy Kelly, Producer, Big Big World Festival, Glasgow  (Scotland) 

"...bold, piano-based music supported by a frankly beautiful voice. Over the past three years she's proven herself again and again, and fantastically offers a huge amount of free downloads from her website. What's more, Allison would probably fall into that category of artists who have changed the way I think about music... Allison Crowe developed my love for the female voice." ~ This Fine Social Scene  (UK) 

"One of the best interpreters to come along since Joe Cocker" ~ Bob Roberts, Paris Voice  (France) 

"Drawing from classical, jazz, pop and gospel sources, the young singer has created singular, inspiring music both in the studio and in the concert hall." ~ The Times Colonist  (Canada) 

"Allison Crowe is the only living person - with the possible exception of Glen Hansard - that can pour their whole being into any cover and make it sound like an entirely new song." ~ Muruch  (USA) 

"Crowe's speciality is startlingly beautiful piano-based songs that sort of make you wonder why you bother with anything else." ~ We Write Lists  (UK) 

 "Crowe has the soaring, swooping vibrato of a dark angel" ~  Monday Magazine  (Canada) 

"Allison Crowe has the perfect country/folk voice, as warm and burnished as Kentucky Bourbon, or as honest and gritty as Mississippi mud. Like most of my favorite singer/songwriters she is somewhat of a student/archivist, digging through the Great American Songbook, reveling & marveling at the incredible diversity within. She's surprising in her choice of covers sometime, but she's almost always right." ~ deadman's MOG blog  (USA) 

"Beautifully moody, or riotously rocking, Allison Crowe creates piano-based music of transcendent quality" ~ jeweljk.com - Jewel's featured artist (USA) 

"Get a piece of paper and write Tori Amos in the top left hand corner. Then write Patti Smith top right, followed by Stevie Nicks and Leonard Cohen (stay with me) in the bottom two positions. Then draw diagonal lines from their names to the centre, forming a big symmetrical cross. Here is where you will find Allison Crowe's music. The Canadian singer/ songwriter's trademark piano ballads contain heavy chords and spacious grooves, which underpin her powerful yet delicate vocals to great effect. There is an almost Celtic timbre to Crowe's voice, which is crammed full of enough emotion to make anyone weep, but is carefully used to also make them smile." ~ The Scene  (Australia) 

"Her repertoire is an uniquely original blend of rock, jazz, folk, gospel and soul. It's a joyous sound that one music critic describes as 'Elton John meets Edith Piaf'." ~ Campbell River Mirror  (Canada) 

"In a nation that prides itself on hockey to the point of obsession, there is something else in which we can take justifiable national pride, our young, female singer-songwriters. And for my money Allison Crowe is the best of the bunch, certainly the most versatile." ~ Bruce Mason, Gabriola Sounder  (Canada) 

"Canadian singer/songwriter Allison Crowe combines the esoteric beauty of Tori Amos with the pop accessibility of Norah Jones to create beautiful folk/pop tracks." ~ Albums Galore  (USA) 

"And recorded that voice is no less expressive than it is live.  Ranging from pure and angelic to sultry and confessional, Crowe excels at all levels.  The cover of the Joni Mitchell classic, A Case of You, demonstrates this perfectly." ~ Trevor Raggatt, Wears The Trousers  (UK) 

"It's not hard to see why Crowe's Hallelujah -- recorded in a single take -- is popular. It's one of Leonard Cohen's most affecting songs, and the 26-year-old, accompanying herself on piano, makes it her own with raw honesty and formidable vocal power. It's simultaneously heart-breaking and redemptive, and it has captured the imaginations of people around the world." ~ Adrian Chamberlain, The Times Colonist  (Canada) 

"One thing is certain, in the future, when Allison truly gets the recognition she deserves she will be placed in the Canadian mind alongside names like Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Sarah McLachlan and Leonard Cohen." ~ Justin Beach, PublicBroadcasting.ca  (Canada) 

"Allison Crowe is the best thing to happen to 'Me And Bobby McGee' since Janis Joplin changed Kristofferson’s lyrics. Comparing Allison’s version of “Me and Bobby McGee”... and “Wedding Song” leads to an unavoidable conclusion: Once you’ve heard one Allison Crowe song, You’ve heard one Allison Crowe song." ~ Allan Showalter, 1 Heck of a Guy  (USA) 

"Crowe's singing is tremendously powerful; almost operatic. When she digs into a sustained note, as she so often does, the voice is huge, rounded, with a dark timbre. If listening to the garden-variety pop princess is like drinking insipid white wine... then Crowe is akin to sipping the richest of brandies." ~ The Times Colonist  (Canada) 

"Crowe has worked tirelessly over the last two years since launching her own record label with four albums, 40,000 km on the road, a pile of glowing press, and a content-packed web site..." ~ Alexandria Stuart, Nanaimo Daily News  (Canada) 

"Janis Joplin's 'ballsy' power and Sarah McLachlan's lilting sweetness" ~ Mark Hume, The National Post  (Canada) 

"Ed allora fatevi trascinare da questa voce, da questa miscela esplosiva di generi ed emozioni, dalla semplicità e dalla forza che sottolineano quanto la musica sia una forma d’arte e di vita." ~ Vladimiro Guindani, Life Style Radio  (Italy) 

"The music is the woman. She communicates about love, death and life through her songs. Her voice is unmistakable, and in the same song she can be powerfully raw, yet hit a high note so delicately it slips through her lips and kisses your ear" ~ Erin Fletcher, The Ladysmith Chronicle  (Canada) 

"Allison Crowe is one of the most amazing vocal talents anywhere today. She is reminiscent of some of the great women vocalists who shaped rock music in the late '60s and early '70s. Allison's emotional delivery is unique in today's music." ~ Peter Karroll, TKO Management/HRMR Records  (Bif Naked's label - Canada) 

"soulful, poignant, and always intense" ~ Delusions of Adequacy  (USA) 

"(Crowe has) profound skill both as a writer and as an interpreter of other people's songs... this is no Pro Tool'd and AutoTuned plastic pop opus but a real musician creating a real performance." ~ Wears the Trousers  (UK) 

"Thrilling. Displays the kind of courage and willingness to take artistic risks that suggests her future is rosy indeed" ~ The Times Colonist  (Canada) 

"A dark, powerful voice that seems to come out of nowhere, then thrusts into the stratosphere, falling somewhere between Alanis and Janis" ~ Alexandra Gill, The Globe and Mail  (Canada) 

"I find Allison's music and style captivating. She reminds me of early Elton John for some reason. I'd love to hear her with a large, full orchestra occasionally although I also appreciate the simplicity of having just her and the piano... I never tire of her music." ~ Jim Kloss, Whole Wheat Radio, Alaska (USA) 

"She can belt with the best of them, but she also knows when to hold back" ~ Luna Kafe  (Sweden) 

"Described as 'the next big thing to come from Vancouver Island,' singer-pianist Allison Crowe is definitely a phenomenon in the making. Crowe is a certified poet whose rich, powerful voice shows the influences of everyone from Tori Amos and Sarah McLachlan to Janis Joplin and even Nina Simone. Born and raised in Nanaimo, Crowe is a classically trained pianist who has gradually created her own special blend of jazz, folk, rock and blues." ~ Victoria Jazzfest International Guide  (Canada) 

"A confident, powerful voice, infused with passion. With the soul of Janis Joplin and the tenderness of fellow Canuck Sarah McLachlan, Crowe rocks with her own unique brand of roots charm." ~ exclaim!  (Canada) 

"The overall focus of Allison Crowe’s music is her voice and lyrics - and what a voice it is! Crowe has a strong and chillingly beautiful but decidedly feminine set of pipes, and it seems she can sing just about anything." ~ Jennifer Patton, Delusions of Adequacy  (USA) 

"She is a force to be reckoned with. Leaning more towards the jazzier side of roots music. A professional since she was fifteen, Allison is a road-hardened musician and her lyrics and music belie her years." ~ Maverick  (UK) 

"Many comparisons will be made concerning Nanaimo's Allison Crowe. Some will say her voice has a dreamy quality reminiscent of Sarah McLachlan or Beth Orton. When she really wails you might be tempted to think about Janis Joplin. Make your own comparisons, then forget them." ~ Nanaimo Daily News  (Canada) 

"In an entertainment world that increasingly genuflects at the altar of instant fame, Crowe seems an anomaly, building her career slowly and carefully." ~ The Times Colonist  (Canada) 

"a voice as big as all outdoors" ~ Harbour City Star  (Canada) 

"Allison Crowe is an unusual singer. If I had to pick a single word to describe her music, it would be 'passionate', but it is more than that. A lot more. She covers many other artists, and I like Allison's version of every one of them better than the original. She is passionate and intelligent, and has a voice that is, at times, as big as any voice you can imagine, and at other times as rich and sweet as a violin. (Hallelujah) has somehow become Crowe's signature, if a singer who defies description as stubbornly as she does has a signature... Cohen's original version is a spoken poem, all of the meaning contained in the words. Crowe's version is a living thing, a meditation and a celebration and a benediction." ~ anacronyms  (Canada) 

"Crowe is easily the most talented singer-songwriter to burst on the scene in quite some time... Her unique stylings, incredible range of delivery, songwriting chops and knack for interpreting cover tunes sets her apart from her peers." ~ Tom Mureika, Westcoaster.ca  (Canada) 

"Songwriter and mistress of coversongs Allison Crowe beat out Johnny Cash, Ben Lee, Chantal Kreviazuk and Shawn Colvin covers of In My Life at the last minute. Buy or download all Crowe’s albums via Rubenesque - her own label - and you’ll know why this Canadian youngster is one to watch for the next half-century." ~ Cover Lay Down  (USA) 

"Dat hoor je duidelijk in de intensiteit van haar zang en pianospel. Allison heeft een krachtige, emotioneel geladen stem." ~ dé Weekkrant  (Netherlands) 

"Simply, a song so beautiful (Hallelujah) has never been sung so beautifully." ~ We Write Lists  (UK) 

"Turns out all the hype about about Allison’s vast tonal, thematic, and emotional range is true." ~ Allan Showalter, DrH Guy & 1 Heck of a Guy blogger “On Life, Love, Lust, & Leonard Cohen” (USA) 

“Gänsehaut pur bei den Zuhörern... Diese außergewöhnliche Stimme kann man nicht genug hören.” - Sabine Rakitin, Märkische Oderzeitung  (Germany) 

"Allison Crowe is sending shivers up the spine of almost every onlooker. I've never seen talent that has affected me like this before." ~ March 1999 - Tina Ruotsalainen (Coldwell), veteran Booking Agent, Cosmic Debris Magazine (first-ever review - of then 17-year-old artist)