allison russell

ABOUT this week’s guest:

You'll often hear Allison Russell speak of “circle work”, and this is a very full circle moment. 2026 marks the fifth anniversary of her critically hailed and four-time Grammy-nominated 2021 solo debut Outside Child. The album is a deeply moving chronicle of escaping from childhood abuse and trauma, to finding healing and chosen family in art, music, and community, and it set off a truly remarkable chain of events and meteoric rise of Allison's career. From headlining Newport Folk Festival curating her historic Once and Future Sounds set with what she calls “The Rainbow Coalition”, to a long list of awards and nominations including 8 Grammy nominations and one win, multiple Americana Music Award nominations and award for album of the year, a Juno award, and was shortlisted for the coveted Polaris Prize. In 2024 Allison made her Broadway debut as Persephone in Anaïs Mitchell's Hadestown, and then was asked back for a second run in the role. All the while, she has remained a devoted activist and organizer, co-founding Love Rising, which has raised over $550,000 in support of LGBTQIA+ communities. What some may not realize is that prior to her 2021 solo debut, this accomplished, Montreal-born singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist already had over two decades of hard work as a career musician with over a dozen albums across three bands to her name, including Po’ Girl, Birds of Chicago, and the supergroup Our Native Daughters, with Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, and Leyla McCalla. Just a couple weeks before the fifth anniversary of her historic Newport Folk Festival set, Allison released her third solo album, In the Hour of Chaos, which includes many of the collaborators who were part of that unforgettable set. And on the heels of this year’s Newport Folk Festival, it felt like a perfect time to welcome back Allison Russell as this week’s SHERO in the Spotlight.

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