Allison Russell

Canadian singer-songwriter Allison Russell has been making music for over two decades, but she’s not slowing down any time soon. In fact, this year, she started an all-new aspect of her career: organizing the Love Rising benefit concert in Nashville. Love Rising brought together an expansive, inclusive group of artists, activists, and allies to raise over $550,000 for Inclusion Tennessee, Tennessee Equality Project, Out Memphis, and the Tennessee Pride Chamber in an effort to push back against what Russell calls “the legislative terrorism attacking our LGBTQ+ community.”

Next, Russell is heading out on a world tour in support of her new album, The Returner, alongside “a rainbow coalition” of collaborators that will register voters at U.S. shows and raise money for the Trevor Project and the Human Rights Campaign. She wants to keep doing what she does best: to share music, empathy, and love, and to fight against fascism, bigotry, and hatred.

“I’m a hopeful agnostic. I believe that empathy is a superpower and that diversity is not a dirty word but the source of all life on Earth,” she says. “I resist the divide-and-conquer tactics of all toxic hierarchies, and I believe we are a beloved community every time we choose to be. Our differences are riches. Our circle is unbroken. Our circle is whole — none above and none below — every one of us, equal. We shall not be overcome. Our rainbow coalition is unstoppable.” @allisonrusselmusic