Community. Hope. Connection. When you see Allison Russell perform, you are called to your better angels. You are called to see the better angels in others. You are called to experience joy as resistance.

When introducing her Grammy-awarding winning song, “Eve Was Black,” about halfway through her incredible set Saturday evening, Allison exhorted the audience to not take a word of it as judgment–not even of those who see others as less than. “Eve Was Black,” traces some of current racism to acts of erasure–namely, that Eve, and other figures of Christianity, were white; this erasure made it easier for white people to commit their brutal actions against people of color, because they saw Black and Indigenous people as less than human. And yet, even as the song excoriates “pale kin,” they are still kin. 

I have long been amazed by Allison’s ability to both name injustice and stand in a space of forgiveness. On her first record, Outside Child, she sings, “blessings be upon the thief of my childhood,” her stepfather who abused her and subjected her to his racist beliefs. Without excusing any awful beliefs or behavior, Allison reminded the audience that people who hate are “wounded,” and need to heal. “Eve Was Black,” transitions from the sharp and bitter truths of our racist past and present to the truth and hope that we are all interconnected, as Allison sings “une famille,” proclaiming that we are all one family. It made me think of Gwendowlyn Brooks’s beautiful poem, “Paul Robeson,” which celebrates his unmistakable, powerful voice, “Warning, in music-words devout and large, that we are each other’s harvest: we are each other’s business: we are each other’s magnitude and bond.” 

Allison’s stunning band was made up of Caoimhe Hopkinson (guitar), Ganessa James (bass), Elenna Canlas (synthesizer), and Caoi de Barra (drums), and she calls them Rainbow Coalition. She credits The Black Panthers, Young Lords for her inspiration. She named the facts that are so often distorted about the Panthers, that they established food, medical, and housing programs when the city would not provide for its people. This focus on community and taking care of each other was evident from the way the group came on stage, forming a semicircle with their hands together and from the way Allison shouted out each band member’s solo projects. From the way Allison performs, it almost seems as if she feels that she is the vessel for a message spoken long ago and that will carry on long after we have all gone–a timeless message that periodic messengers take up for their time. She sings as if our lives depend on it. 

Because of some family obligations, I wasn’t able to stay for the headliner, Hozier’s set. A friend asked me, “You’re driving an hour, arriving 90 minutes before the show to avoid traffic, to see a 40-minute set, and then driving an hour home?!” Allison Russell is on a very short list of artists who are completely worth that investment. If you have tickets for this Hozier tour, make sure you catch her opening set. You can listen to Allison’s music and find tour dates at her website. 

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