Allison Russell's Headshot

Allison Russell

Award-winning Singer, Songwriter, and Activist - Panelist Blurb

Allison Russell, musician, poet, singer, songwriter, and activist (and co-founder of Our Native Daughters and Birds of Chicago) is an extraordinary artist of power, empathy, and grace.

Outside Child, the Montreal native’s acclaimed debut solo LP, hailed around the world as one of 2021’s best and most essential new albums, is a heartbreaking reflection and powerful reclamation of her childhood.

Honors and awards for Russell and Outside Child include three 2022 Americana Award nominations, two International Folk Music Awards, a Juno Award for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year, three Canadian Folk Music Awards, two UK Americana Music Awards, and three GRAMMY Award nominations.

Russell has been profiled in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, and on NPR and has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel LIVE!, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Ellen, CBS Saturday, and PBS’ Austin City Limits.

An acclaimed performer, Russell tours regularly in the U.S. and around the world, headlining and supporting contemporaries such as Brandi Carlile, Nathaniel Rateliff, and Jason Isbell. In 2023, Russell and Flatiron Books will release her debut book, a memoir based on her life and the material that inspired Outside Child.