“Heavy Graces” includes new songs from the pen and soul of Allison Crowe, alongside the Canadian artist's interpretations of tunes composed by Leonard Cohen and Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder.
Here she covers a favourite by Eddie Vedder - first performed by EV with the band Bad Radio - and, then, naturally, with Pearl Jam.
Allison Crowe identifies "Vitalogy", PJ's 1994 album, as one of the central music influences during her formative teen years. She tells music blogger, Stephen Thomas (co-founder of the UK's Folkroom Records):
"And, of course, I have ALWAYS dreamed in colour and loved Better Man."
"Singing along to ‘Better Man’ with an entire Vancouver concert audience the first time I ever managed to experience Pearl Jam live... is something I will never forget. We were freaking GOOD singers! I can’t wait to experience that again."
With her own, roots rock, version of the song, Crowe brings past and present together musically.
Visually, as well, time is elastic and themes impressionistic.
The music is joined by an excerpt from the silent film classic "Broken Blossoms" - directed by D.W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish as Lucy Burrows, Donald Crisp as Battling Burrows, (her abusive father), and Richard Barthelmess as Cheng Huan (who befriends and nurses Lucy).
