Allison Russell is, as usual, filled to the brim with joy, excitement, musical inspiration, and a fire for creating positive change.
We reach the Grammy Award-winner at her home in East Nashville a couple of weeks before her new album, In The Hour of Chaos, is released on July 10.
It features an incredible lineup of collaborators, including Joy Oladokun, Julie Williams, Norah Jones, Brittney Spencer and Ruby Amanfu.
It’s Russell’s response to the polarization and darkness she is feeling in the world.
“I felt called to be in deep creative community and in conversation with artists who inspire me – not just as artists but as humans – by the way they move through the world and the way they build community and the way they are each in their own unique manner reducing harm through their transformative art,” she says.
“I have been taught that by the legacy of all those who came before me who survived far worse than what is happening now, that we find safety with each other,” she adds. “I was feeling the need very much to circle up with people I love, and people whose work and being and art I want to amplify.”
It’s a joyful album, on purpose. “I would say that the joy isn’t to deny the darkness,” she says. “The joy is to say, we’re in this darkness and we are not going to allow it to destroy us or our sense of ourselves.”
Even beyond the album excitement, Russell has a lot going on, as always. She is fresh off her second run playing Persephone in the hit Broadway musical Hadestown.
“I absolutely loved every moment,” says Russell. “Even after the hundreds of shows I’ve performed, I still cry every single time, at the power of that piece.”
“My Persephone believed every night that they were going to make it, even though we’re telling everyone from the beginning that it’s a tragedy,” she laughs.
Russell also just handed in her first draft of a memoir, likely to be published in 2027.
“It’s been one of the hardest things I’ve ever worked on,” she says. “I’ve never worked on a long form piece like this. And because it’s personal and because it’s delving into some of the more painful eras of my youth, it’s been a rough ride in some ways.”
It feels good to have the first draft of the book done, though, she says. “My hope is to have it totally finished before I begin my fall tour.”
Before that, she heads out on Sarah McLachlan’s Better Broken Tour.
“I am so excited. Baby Allison is doing backflips,” Russell laughs. “I was a young teen coming up when we were all obsessed with Sarah and Lilith Fair. I dreamt of playing Lilith Fair,” she says.
She met McLachlan at Joni Jam at The Gorge Amphitheatre in 2023. Brandi Carlile organized the special concert featuring Joni Mitchell.
Carlile told Russell that “Annie and Sarah” would sit with her. Russell assumed they were Mitchell’s caregivers.
“So I’m putting together my clarinet and I look up and Annie Lennox and Sarah McLachlan are walking towards me!” she says, laughing.
Russell released a single, “Superlover,” featuring Annie Lennox in 2025. And as mentioned, she and her band, the Rainbow Coalition, will open for McLachlan starting in July.
“The first song I ever sang in public, at high school, was Sarah McLachlan’s ‘Mary,’” says Russell. “So getting to open the tour with the Rainbow Coalition for Sarah now at these iconic places, these extraordinary venues, it’s a total dream.”
Russell will be in Alberta in November, performing in Edmonton and Calgary. All details can be found on her website.
“Black Lavender” (ft. Brittney Spencer) from In The Hour Of Chaos:
