Allison Russell

Born in Montreal, Canada, Allison Russell has, since the late 1990s, developed a career at the intersection of folk, Americana and roots music, with intimate songwriting and a performance that blends voice, guitar, banjo and clarinet. After a period in Vancouver early in her career, she started out in the Celtic-folk group Fear of Drinking before co‑founding Po’ Girl in 2003, a formation marked by a mix of folk, bluegrass, jazz and old‑time. In 2012 she formed Birds of Chicago with JT Nero, a duo rooted in supple, melodic Americana. She also joined the collective Our Native Daughters alongside Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla and Amythyst Kiah; their album Songs of Our Native Daughters was released in 2019. Her solo trajectory took shape with Outside Child in 2021, a record focused on childhood, memory and recovery, followed by The Returner in 2023, where she broadened her musical vocabulary with soul‑tinged colors and a stronger rhythmic foundation. Between North American folk stages, roots festivals and collaborations with Brandi Carlile, Aoife O’Donovan and Hozier, Allison Russell moves her work between acoustic heritage, personal narrative and contemporary expressions of Americana.