With the Grammy’s just over a week away, host Carmel Holt welcomes back the extraordinary multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, poet, and activist Allison Russell, who is up for four Grammy’s this year for her second solo album, The Returner, making her an eight-time nominee in three short years. Allison’s career spans over two decades, and over a dozen albums recorded with her bands Po’ Girl, Birds of Chicago, and Our Native Daughters – her collaborative project with Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, and Leyla McCalla. But it was Outside Child, Allison Russell’s critically acclaimed, and four-time Grammy-nominated 2021 solo debut, that set off what has been a whirlwind three years of awards, accolades, touring, headlining Newport Folk Festival, collaborating, activism, and building what she calls “the Rainbow Coalition”. In today’s conversation, Allison reflects on the last couple of years, discusses what awards mean to her, and shares the story of making The Returner as a second chapter of a trilogy: Outside Child was a chronicle of her escape from childhood abuse and trauma, to finding healing, love and chosen family in art, music, and community, and The Returner is the next chapter: a celebration of survivor’s joy.
