Those in attendance at the Frost Amphitheater on October 1 were subject to the soulful waves of two talented singer-songwriters, both riding high on the power of much-hyped 2021 albums. Montreal’s Allison Russell is touring this year’s Outside Child, her debut album (at 39 years old!) The LP has won rave reviews for its lyric, bilingual meditations on both ancestor reverence and the healing of adolescent trauma—and at times, where the two intersect. She was joined at the gig by Grammy-winning Joni Mitchell intimate (and cover artist) and Washington State bard Brandi Carlile, whose 2021 10-song full-length In These Silent Days navigates spirituality and queer parenthood with equal aplomb.
Photographer Jon Bauer looked to capture the magic—check the emotion registered by his lens and tell us if this wasn’t an Americana moment in the best, multi-nation sense of the word.
