This Little Bird

This Little Bird contains everything to love about the music of Allison Crowe. Adding titles of engineer and producer to her vocal, piano and guitar credits, Crowe is joined on most of the album's tracks by an ideal rhythm section ~ Dave Baird (bass) and Laurent Boucher (percussion). Nine new originals map emotional and spiritual territory with fresh sounds, encompassing: the elegiac "Phoenix"; the ramble tamble "Alive and Breathing"; gorgeous songs of love and hope, "Effortless" and "There Is"; the jaunty dark humor of "Skeletons and Spirits"; the redemptive grace of "Now"; the raucous celebration of the title track; a joy of simplicity in "Circular Reasoning"; and "Silence", a song that stirs with gypsy romance.

Acclaimed not only as an exciting songwriter and live performer, but, also, as a supreme song interpreter, for her freshly definitive takes, Allison Crowe delivers a trio of remarkable covers on "This Little Bird" - giving her singular voice to "A Case of You" (Joni Mitchell's knowing paen to heart and homeland), "Darling Be Home Soon" (John Sebastian's lovin' spoonful of longing) and "I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)" (Ronnie Shannon's soulful song best-known as Aretha Franklin's break-out tune in 1967).

All images by photographer/musician Billie Woods.