December is here and easing into a relaxing and reflective holiday season.

Excited to report that my Christmas Card Fundraiser was an incredible success and I got very, very close to my $500 goal with $457.00 in Christmas Card sales.. thanks so much to everyone who ordered cards and happy to know my special hand-cut greetings will arrive in the mailboxes of your friends and family this year!

Not too much on the gig calendar for December, but I am heading out to the Oxley Winery on Friday, December 14th for the Vintage Sessions Acoustic Theatre:

And... coming up on a very special Christmas Eve "Border City Roots" I'll be hosting my annual "Fireside Christmas Hour" on CJAM 99.1fm where I bring all the broadcasting gear up to my secret snow covered cabin in the woods and broadcast live from the fireside.  Tune in December 24th at 5pm on CJAM 99.1fm in Windsor/Detroit or on www.cjam.ca.

And you may see me through December in my sweet leather jacket selling Harley Davidson Raffle Tickets raising funds for United Way Windsor Essex... I'll be at some Spitfires games, at the Downtown Winterfest on December 15th and at Canadian Tire on Walker Road on December 22nd..!  Get your chance to ride on the wild side - you can buy your $20.00 ticket online at http://www.weareunited.com/harley.

Have a Merry Christmas - lots going on in the new year so stay tuned here to allisonbrown.ca, the site will be going through a big update in January!
Allison

October flew by with a trip up to Algonquin Park, some fun shows at Phog and the FM Lounge here in Windsor, and work on some features for CBC's Bandwidth...


My Christmas Card campaign is still going strong but I'm still pretty far away from my $500.00 goal towards my trip to Nashville and recording!
Order your set today!
http://allisonbrownmusic.blogspot.ca/p/merch.html
New Design - Christmas Socks!
"Border City Roots" on CJAM is gearing up for the annual PLEDGE DRIVE! Make your pledge on www.cjam.ca!

Lots of shows coming up in November...

I'm back at Taloola for another unplugged, solo show on November 10th. Yep, everybody else is keeping calm and carrying on.... so why not me?

 

And I'm playing for the first time at The Gourmet Emporium on Thursday, November 29th with Detroit's Mike Galbraith...

 

Part of a Back-To-Back end of November weekend with another show on Friday, November 30th at the F.M. Lounge with The Blackwood Two and Uncle Dan!  These are my last two shows of a great 2012 so cmon' out!

And hey - my songs are finally on I-Tunes!

See you in Windsor for these three great shows!

Allison

Autumn is breezing in here in Windsor, and October is starting to ease in... fall days...
Plans for the next while include a soujourn to Algonquin Park, and a couple days of hanging out in Toronto.  Next show coming up is a cool one - bring your guns to town for a show featuring UNCLE DAN & THE NEPHEWS and myself at the FM LOUNGE (The Fish Market) on Saturday, October 20th for a night of saloon songs, cowboy melodies and ruckus rockabilly...!

Copies of "Viper At The Virgin's Feet" are starting to dwindle... but a couple new stores are now stocking their shelves with my most recent record - Ah Some Records and Shop Eco now have copies available.

Things are cookin' with Brown Paper Publicity - working with Montreal's The Jimmyriggers, with Whoa Nellie! and Manitoba Hal - lots of great music coming your way!


And my Christmas Card Fundraiser is off to an excellent start!!!  Order early, as orders are piling up... make a lovely handcrafted way to greet the season.  You can order from my Kapipal Page at
http://www.kapipal.com/allisonbrownchristmascards

Here's a couple photos of my designs!
Cheers to Autumn!
Ab

The bitter end of summer... sigh.. it's been a different, relaxing, hot & sticky, and inspiring summer here in Souwesto.. had a couple of short 'vacation' style road trips, but all in all curbed my highway tendencies getting ready for a busy 2013 on the horizon.

Coming up next is SEPTEMBER SONGS ~ a 'songs in the round' concert with Newfoundland's Ian Foster, and Toronto's Shawna Caspi. Saturday, September 15th at the Mackenzie Hall Gallery; $15.00 in advance at the Hall or at Dr. Disc. My wildly popular ginger cookies will make a repeat appearance as well as some apple muffins to celebrate the autumn rolling in. The real treat is having Ian and Shawna in Windsor for their very first area performances!

More shows are cookin' up for the autumn, stay tuned to the "Shows" page for updated info on Windsor shows with Uncle Dan Henshall, and a November solo show at Taloola!

Brown Paper Publicity is in full swing and looking ahead to a busy autumn getting the word out about great independent folk/roots music in Canada - the new website is finally mostly finished!
www.brownpaper.ca

Also this fall I'm starting up a little CHRISTMAS CARD fundraising initiative to help pay for touring and recording in 2013..! I do have some loose plans to head to Nashville for the first time in the spring, and to start recording a new project in April or May of next year! Here's some previews of what the cards will look like and soon I'll be putting together a Kapipal Page where you can pre-order sets of 5, 10 or 20 cards with whichever designs you like, or with a custom message. Have a look at some of my sparkley cut and paste designs:

August is on the horizon after a relaxing July here in Windsor... been working on a few things amid the lazy sweltering summer weather... updates to allisonbrown.ca! You can now listen to, purchase and download selections from my whole discography on the 'Music' page directly. Soon most of these will be available on I-Tunes as well.


Coming up in August I'll be playing three sets on Saturday, August 4th at the Roots To Boots Festival in Amherstburg commemorating the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. Lonesome Lefty is my special guest accompanist.. I'm on at 3pm, 5pm and at 8pm!


A busy weekend, Sunday, August 5th I'm back at one of my favourite outdoor venues at the Two Creeks Conservation Area in Wheatley for a concert with songwriter Glen MacNeil.. it's the fish fest weekend in Wheatley so we may reel in a few special fishin' numbers just for the occasion!

August 10th I join a fantastic lineup of local musicians for a fundraiser concert for Life Christian Centre Ministry in Aenon Town, Jamaica. Proceeds from "Workin' On A Building!" go towards a building a new church and helping youth break free from poverty.. tickets are $15.00 at New Song Church.

Thursday, August 16th brings me back to London for a benefit concert for Aeolian Hall..! It's my first London show since back in May - it's been a while so I hope to see a lot of my pals supporting one of Canada's most perfect venues..! It's a stellar lineup - I do a three song set with "Uncle" Dan Henshall!


And my last show of a slow but sweet summer is on August 25th for Art In The Lakeside Park in Kingsville!
Here's to the home stretch of summer - make sure and enjoy it !!
AB

Summer is heating up here in Windsor... looking forward to spending the dog days down here in the deep south of Ontario, working on some interesting projects and writing some new tunes.  Just because I haven't hit the highway doesn't mean I don't have lots of musical adventures on the horizon....

Thrilled that BC's KARYN ELLIS is coming to Windsor for a show at Taloola on July 6th - 8pm, Pass The Hat... I'll be playing a few songs to kick off the evening, as Karyn hits the Taloola stage for a full unplugged set.

The following week on Friday, July 13th I'm opening for Stratford Celtic-World band RANT MAGGIE RANT at the Mackenzie Hall Gazebo for an outdoor "Celtic Sunset" show. Tickets are $15 in advance at Mackenzie Hall, Dr.Disc, or www.ticket-e-boo.com, $20 at the door the night of the show.

 

July 21st I'll be playing a set out at the Summer Symposium in Maidstone - a weekend of art and music, get in touch for details and directions!

Summer will also bring some updates and changes to allisonbrown.ca  ~ you may have noticed that my music players have mysteriously disappeared from the site.  I'll be fixer-upping here and soon you'll be able to purchase, download and listen to streaming music directly here on www.allisonbrown.ca, but in the meantime, check out my CBC Music Page at  http://music.cbc.ca/#/bands/Allison-Brown

Here's a great photo from the show out in Wheatley where I was a special guest with Lonesome Lefty!

Lonesome Lefty, Grandma Leah, Johnny G out at Two Creeks Conservation Area

Lots going on on August - stay tuned!

Allison

Eastern Ontario In May!

Warming up with some great tunes and getting set to hit the road in a few short weeks heading out to Eastern Ontario, Toronto, and the Middle bits of our fabulous province..!

On Mother's Day, treat your Mom with a show at MILK here in Windsor featuring myself, Crissi Cochrane and Dear Sister on May 13th...


and lots of shows at the end of May as we slip into June...

I take to the highway and once again drive the entire length of the 401 from Windsor to Montreal on a trip with Nancy Dutra and Willow Rutherford that takes us to Toronto, Campbellford, Perth, Ottawa and Montreal on our "Songs & Stories" Tour... 

Then I return to Toronto for a Song~Swap night with my pals Will Gillespie and Myke Mazzei at the Tranzac May 30th... I'm back to back at the Tranzac two Wednesdays at the end of May! 

Rounding out the Month, I head for Oakville and Hamilton for two shows with String Bone on May 31st and June 1st respectively...

And then I head right back for the south for a show at Taloola on June 2nd with Sioux Lookout's Nick Sherman!

Keep your eyes on July for shows in Windsor with Karyn Ellis at Taloola on July 6th, and at Mackenzie Hall with Rant Maggie Rant for a Celtic evening in the Gazebo July 13th!

See you out on the road!
Allison

Lots of May Shows!

Howdy folks... writing to you from my new digs along the banks of the Detroit River here in downtown Windsor.. I'm finally a city slicker again after leaving the Paquette Corners HQ.  April has so far seen me painting and fixing up my new place... with lots of gigs cookin' up for May as we round into summer.

Starting off May with three shows with my friends, Puzzleroot, coming to Southern Ontario from Vancouver Island... we're at the Gallery Restaurant in Leamington on May 1st (a fundraiser for The Bank Theatre http://www.banktheatre.com/) , at Phog here in Windsor on May 2nd and on Thursday May 3rd we're at The London Music Club... Chris Crossroads joins me for my set...!

And... I've got a two week trip coming up at the end of May with Nancy Dutra and Willow Rutherford, and rounding off the month of May with my good pal String Bone...!  I head to Toronto, Campbellford, Perth, Ottawa, Montreal, Oakville, and Hamilton with a show at the 'end' with Nick Sherman here in Windsor at Taloola...

Would really love to thank all the listeners for voting "Border City Roots" as best Folk/Roots show as part of this year's Jammy Awards...!  Was very honored the show earned this win in its first year of being on the CJAM 99.1fm airwaves!

Also - I'm still doing weekly Friday music features on CBC Radio Windsor's "Early Shift" - Harper's almighty scissors have spared me for now, but more feedback always helps - be sure and let them know by using the contact form that you're digging my features and hope to continue to hear me..!

More to come as summer is on the horizon, looking forward to a hot time in the southlands!
Allison

March Music..!

March 24th at Taloola

March is easing in with a couple gigs on the calendar... March 10th I'll be playing at a special fundraiser at the Cooper's Hawk Winery in Harrow with Erin Gignac and Monique Belanger... then on Saturday, March 24th I'm back at Taloola for a show with Chris Crossroads, 9pm, PWYC...

The annual CJAM Jammy Awards are gearing up - you can vote for Border City Roots as favourite Folk/Roots show HERE... keep tuning in Monday's from 5 to 6pm on 99.1fm or the archive podcast at www.cjam.ca.

April 14th I join up once again with Lonesome Lefty & The Cryin' Shames as a special guest for the annual Harrow Fair Roast Beef Dinner at the Fairgrounds...

Coming up in May, I take the stage May 2nd with BC's Puzzleroot at Phog here in Windsor, and on May 3rd at the London Music Club....

Working on some spring singing across Ontario; stay tuned for more details on a tour at the end of May and early June that takes me to Montreal, Ottawa, Perth, Campbellford, Toronto, Oakville and Hamilton with Nancy Dutra and Willow Rutherford, and String Bone..!


Happy singing, Happy springing!
AB

Get Out Of Your Groundhog Hole..!

I confess,  I'm still 'hibernating' through February here at the homestead in Paquette Corners... but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy!  I've officially launched my new publicity/promotion business, "Brown Paper Publicity", and my first client is DAVID ESSIG, touring through Ontario this February on his "Rolling Fork" Tour.  

David Essig's Rolling Fork Tour - Poster By Tim Swaddling

David's "Rolling Fork Tour" is highlighted by a show in Toronto at the Tranzac on Sunday, February 12th, in Hamilton on February 16th at the Artword Artbar, and Winterfolk in Toronto the weekend of February 17th to the 19th.  David brings the Mississippi Delta blues to Ontario's deep south in Windsor on Friday, February 24th at Mackenzie Hall and London at Grosvenor Lodge as part of Home County's Acoustic Series on Saturday, February 25th.  


As for me, I'm not on the gig trail too much this month, but thrilled to be playing as part of the Rebel Cowboy Music Second Saturday Songwriter Series at the Wheatley Legion on Saturday night, February 11th..!

Next up, I'll be playing with Lonesome Lefty and The Cryin' Shames at a wedding out in Arner at Heritage Village....  March 3rd and I think the public is invited - stay tuned for details.

And March brings me back to Taloola on the 24th where I'll be sharing the stage with Chris Crossroads...!


On the horizon for the springtime I'll be heading out to Montreal and the Eastern bits of Ontario with NANCY DUTRA and WILLOW RUTHERFORD reprising our super fun tour we did last May.  We'll be stopping in Toronto, Campbellford, Perth, Ottawa and Montreal.  


Had some great interviews in the early parts of 2012 as part of CBC Radio Windsor's "Early Shift" show on 97.5fm... from Elvis Impersonators to Garage Rock I cover it all when it comes to Windsor and Essex County's vibrant music scene.  I'm on Friday mornings at about 8:15am...!   And still more tunes for you on "Border City Roots" every Monday from 5pm to 6pm on CJAM 99.1fm.  My special Valentine's show airs on Monday, February 13th.... 


No need to stay in your groundhog hole this mild February - get out and see some live music!!!


Allison