Allison Russell has recruited Brandi Carlile, her sister in the historic Newport Folk Festival Joni Jam fam, for new single "You're Not Alone."
Written and produced by Russell, the song originally appeared on Our Native Daughters' 2019 debut album, Songs of Our Native Daughters. Following her Grammy-nominated solo debut, 2021's Outside Child, the new version of "You're Not Alone" features an elegant string arrangement performed by SistaStrings — Monique Ross and Chauntee Ross — and Larissa Maestro. The powerhouse duo's vocals serve as the guiding light, weaving together to lead the strings and a sparse acoustic guitar, crescendoing with each repetition of the affirmation: "Anywhere you go / You're not alone."
Of her collaboration with Carlile, who released her seventh studio effort In These Silent Days last year, the Canadian singer-songwriter (who is in the midst of writing a memoir) shared in a poetic statement:
We are not alone.
We are not what we have lost.
We are more than the sum of our scars.
We are the dust of the stars, the bones of the Earth, the breath of the void, the expanse of our imaginations, the arc of art, the love in our hearts.
We lift each other up.
We are the "Beloved Community" every time we choose to be. Our Circle is battered and bloody but still, whole. None above, none below— our one human family— equal under the listening sky.
I believe what Alice Walker wrote:
"We are the ones we have been waiting for."
Every child deserves to be loved and protected. Our families with LGBTQIA+ parents are just as precious.
No one should be forced into the sacred role of parenthood against their will.
Human Rights are worth fighting for.
We've come a long way, but we must go farther still.
I am grateful to my chosen family, Brandi, for singing "You're Not Alone" with me, for inspiring me every day, for elevating everything, for leading the way.
We will not be turned back.
Love & Revolution
Listen to "You're Not Alone" below.
Written and produced by Russell, the song originally appeared on Our Native Daughters' 2019 debut album, Songs of Our Native Daughters. Following her Grammy-nominated solo debut, 2021's Outside Child, the new version of "You're Not Alone" features an elegant string arrangement performed by SistaStrings — Monique Ross and Chauntee Ross — and Larissa Maestro. The powerhouse duo's vocals serve as the guiding light, weaving together to lead the strings and a sparse acoustic guitar, crescendoing with each repetition of the affirmation: "Anywhere you go / You're not alone."
Of her collaboration with Carlile, who released her seventh studio effort In These Silent Days last year, the Canadian singer-songwriter (who is in the midst of writing a memoir) shared in a poetic statement:
We are not alone.
We are not what we have lost.
We are more than the sum of our scars.
We are the dust of the stars, the bones of the Earth, the breath of the void, the expanse of our imaginations, the arc of art, the love in our hearts.
We lift each other up.
We are the "Beloved Community" every time we choose to be. Our Circle is battered and bloody but still, whole. None above, none below— our one human family— equal under the listening sky.
I believe what Alice Walker wrote:
"We are the ones we have been waiting for."
Every child deserves to be loved and protected. Our families with LGBTQIA+ parents are just as precious.
No one should be forced into the sacred role of parenthood against their will.
Human Rights are worth fighting for.
We've come a long way, but we must go farther still.
I am grateful to my chosen family, Brandi, for singing "You're Not Alone" with me, for inspiring me every day, for elevating everything, for leading the way.
We will not be turned back.
Love & Revolution
Listen to "You're Not Alone" below.
