TORONTO | Since she launched her first solo album, Outside Child, in the spring of 2021, Quebecer Allison Russell’s notoriety has skyrocketed in the United States and if we are to believe the projects offered to her, the star from the 42-year-old folk artist has not finished sparkling.
A month ago, Russell was up for three Grammy awards. This weekend, she’s making a whirlwind visit to Toronto because she’s earned two Juno nominations and will sing opening night on Saturday night.
She won’t stay long in the Queen City. As of Sunday morning, she will return to Nashville, where she has resided with her family for a few years, to sing at the funeral of country star Naomi Judd, at the express request of Emmylou Harris.
In addition, through the many concerts on her schedule over the next few months, she is currently writing her memoirs, in which she will return, as on her album, to the events of her youth marked by the sexual abuse of her stepfather, to Montreal.
As if that were not enough, it is not said that she will not become an actress since scenarios have been handed to her. ” This is completely crazy. There is a snowball effect, ”exclaims Allison Russell, met in a Toronto hotel on Friday.
Take nothing for granted
Don’t worry, you don’t have to spend more than a few seconds in her company to realize that she hasn’t caught the big head and that she appreciates everything that happens to her.
“In the arts, you never know if you will have work. So, I take what passes. I’ve been in the business for 20 years and I know that you shouldn’t take anything for granted and that it won’t always be like this, ”analyzes the talented and friendly singer-songwriter.
In her prime minister’s agenda, she even finds time to write songs for a second album, which will be “very different” from the first.
“I will not talk about my childhood again this time. That’s enough,” she laughs, while assuring that she intends to remain “emotionally authentic.”
Keep your French
In an interview, Allison Russel speaks French. Although she left Montreal two decades ago, she never forgot her Quebec roots. She even inserts passages in Tremblay’s language into her songs.
“I try not to completely lose my French. In Nashville, I can’t speak it much, but I try to watch movies in French, read in French, my eight-year-old daughter loves Passe-Partout, ever since I bought the box sets, the old ones, the ones I listened to when I was a kid. »
She even thinks of returning to settle in Montreal in a few years with her little family. “So that my daughter can experience this. She is canadian. And Quebecer too. »
Charlotte Cardin 6: People’s Choice, Single of the Year (Phoenix), Album of the Year (Phoenix), Artist of the Year, Pop Album of the Year (Phoenix), Music Video of the Year (Meaningless)
Yannick Nézet-Séguin: Solo Classical Album of the Year (Introspection: Solo Piano Sessions), Classical Album of the Year for Large Ensemble (Sibelius 3) and (Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 1 and Symphonic Dances)
Cœur de pirate: Instrumental Album of the Year (Perséides), Francophone Album of the Year (Impossible à aime)
Allison Russell: Songwriter of the Year, Contemporary Roots Album of the Year (Outside Child)
Kaytranada: Dance Recording of the Year (Caution), Director of the Year
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