Linda Allen
Country of origin:
U.S.
Type of music generally:
Contemporary and traditional folk
Status:
Most recent release, Failure Is Impossible: Traditional Songs of the Suffragists (with Kristin Allen-Zito and Phil Heaven, 2019)
See also:
Linda Allen's site
Comparisons:
Linda Allen has a beautiful voice, clear, expressive and evocative of Kate Wolf. Linda's songs are more in the traditional/contemporary vein of Kate Wolf's and Iris DeMent's oeuvre, rather than the more folk/pop or folkie style of two other contemporary folksingers: Dar Williams and Catie Curtis. (world@oz.net)
Covers/own material:
Own, occasional traditional songs covered
General comments:
"O Dwellers in the Dust, Awake and Sing for Joy! For your dew is a radiant dew, and the Earth will give birth to those long dead" (Isaiah 26:19). Linda Allen's melodic folk songs of loss, loneliness, melancholy, taking the less-traveled road, surviving and through friendships built along the way, even prospering, call out to the listener to awaken, and to reach for the stars! As Linda sings, "Our lives are lived like a flash across the sky." Search no further for wisdom, tempered with compassion, than in the 15 songs on "The Long Way Home." From the traditional lament, "Echo Song" to the anti-war "A Small Vase of Flowers" to the catchy and wry tune of "The Bargain," these are songs and singing that you won't soon forget. (world@oz.net)
Recordings include:
- Mama Wanted to be a Rainbow Dancer
- Washington Notebook (with Victory Music)
- Women's Work
- October Roses
- Lay it Down: Images of the Sacred
- The Long Way Home (1999)
- Where I Stand (2006)
- Here's to the Women! (2010)
- Carry Us Through This Night (2012)
- Into the Promise of Morning (2018)
- Singing the News (2019)
- Failure Is Impossible: Traditional Songs of the Suffragists (with Kristin Allen-Zito and Phil Heaven, 2019)
The Long Way Home
Release info:
1999—October Rose Productions—PR 1012
Availability:
See Linda Allen's site
Ecto priority:
Highly recommended for fans of traditional and contemporary folksinging.
Group members:
Linda Allen—vocals
Guest artists:
Jen and Kristin Allen-Zito—backing vocals
Jim Nunally—guitar
Bill Douglass—bass
Laura Smith—banjo
David MacVittie—bouzouki, harmonica, pennywhistle, dobro, flute
David Lange—piano
Julian Smedley—violin, viola
Jami Sieber—cello
Produced by:
Julian Smedley & Linda Allen
Comments:
See general comments above. The backing vocals of Jen and Kristin Allen-Zito are a strong accompaniment to their mother Linda's singing. (world@oz.net)
Here's to the Women!
Release info:
2010—October Rose Productions—OR1017
Availability:
See Linda Allen's site
Ecto priority:
Recommended to fans of story songs and/or of the political tradition of folk music
Group members:
Linda—vocals, guitar
Guest artists:
Tracy Spring—additional vocals, vocal choir
Jen Allen-Zito—additional vocals
Cary Black—bass
Jan Peters—mandolin
Laura Smith—banjo
Phil Heaven—violin, viola
Burke Mulvaney—djembe
Gwen Hunger, Ellen Springer—Colleen O'Rell, Michaelle Riggs, Kamalla Rose Kaur, Lori Douglas—vocal choir
Produced by:
Linda Allen
Comments:
Though these songs often are more didactic than I prefer my music, this album makes a strong contribution to women's music. It's an album of songs telling women's history and arguing equality and the importance of women's place in the world. My favourites are the songs about particular women—which, really, most of them are—that make their experiences come alive. It's delightful to hear songs in the voices of pioneer women, of Sojourner Truth (using her own words), of farmers, of suffragettes (focused on those of Washington State), of activists. This is an album that has a lot to say and that should be heard. (sophiagurley@hotmail.com)
Further info:
Write: October Rose Productions, 2224 Utter St, Bellingham WA 98225, U.S.A., phone: 306-734-7979. Email: lindaallen@memes.com
Thanks to Dave Nelson and Sophia Gurley for work on this entry.
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