Allison Moorer to release “Crows” in February

Allison Moorer, who is set to release her Ryko debut, Crows, on February 9th, 2010, will make a special appearance in The History Channel documentary, The People Speak, which will re-air this Saturday, December 19th at 3pm. The Grammy and Academy Award nominated singer-songwriter performs a stirring rendition of the Great Depression anthem “Brother, Can You Spare A Dime” in this poignant film inspired by Howard Zinn’s best-seller A People’s History of the United States. Through a series of dramatized readings and performances by Morgan Freeman, Bruce Springsteen, Matt Damon, Eddie Vedder, John Legend, Rosario Dawson, Josh Brolin and many more, The People Speak reenacts extraordinary stories of everyday Americans who helped shape our democracy.

Moorer is no stranger to Zinn’s work. In 2008, she starred in Rebel Voices, a theatrical adaptation of the Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove’s book Voices of a People’s History of the United States. The play combated hopelessness by igniting the forces responsible for arousing change in the past and thus celebrating the indomitable human spirit.

In The People Speak, Moorer sings a heartrending acoustic version of Yip Harburg and Jay Gorney’s “Brother, Can You Spare A Dime.” This pivotal 1930’s anthem candidly speaks of the average citizen’s day-to-day struggle during that period and achieved popularity after it was sung by Bing Crosby.

Moorer is extremely honored to participate in the film. “I’ve been giving copies of’ ‘A People’s History’ as Christmas gifts for years now — it’s such an important piece of work and I’m a huge fan of Mr. Zinn as an Academic and as a human being. It has been a joy to be involved with this project from that first reading I did at Cooper Union in the spring of 2007, to the theatrical staging at the Culture Project, and now to have it all come together with this documentary, all I can say is thank you for letting me be a part of it and congratulations to everyone who has worked so hard to make it happen. Now it’s time for me to go re-read my copy of the book,” she adds.

Following this stellar premiere, Moorer anticipates the release of her eagerly awaited album Crows on February 9th, 2010. Produced by R.S. Field (Buddy Guy, John Mayall), the 13-track album is a refined and lyrically honest collection of songs that is a marked stylistic departure from her previous work. Crows is the follow up to her critically acclaimed 2008 album, Mockingbird, which was a celebration of songs composed by a stunning cast of female songwriters including Nina Simone, Patti Smith, Cat Power, her sister Shelby Lynne, and more. It also follows Moorer’s first Grammy Award Nomination for the song “Days Aren’t Long Enough,” a composition she co-wrote with her husband, Steve Earle, for his Grammy Award Winning 2007 album Washington Square Serenade.