Allison Lickley

Artist Information

Biography

Winner 2009 'Best Vocal Performance on a Recording' at the Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards
Nominee 2009 'Best Album' at the Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards
Nominee 2009 'Best Songwriter' at the Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards

BRIEF BIO

Allison Lickley is a singer/songwriter that charms audiences with her stories and captures them with her songs. Known for her honest, intimate performances, her voice is often compared to those of Joni Mitchell and Sarah McLachlan. CBC Radio writes that "Allison Lickley has a haunting quality to her voice and lyrics that compel you to play every track on her disc."

With multiple tours across Canada, a month of concerts in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan, regular interviews and radio-play on CBC Radio One and Two (including Vinyl Cafe), song placement in films, and two previously released EPs, Lickley has only just begun. The next year will be a busy one for this award winning musician as she continues to promote her album with tours across Canada and the United States.


THE ELABORATE BIO

Allison Lickley is a singer/songwriter that charms audiences with her stories and captures them with her songs. Known for her honest, intimate performances, her voice is often compared to those of Joni Mitchell and Sarah McLachlan. Wolf/Furey Productions writes that Allison is a "painter of musical vistas both tender and sweeping, with a voice as clear and rich as a star-swept Canadian winter sky."

Born in Edmonton, raised in Sudbury, schooled in the Maritimes, and currently living in Montreal, this Canadian singer/songwriter has come a long way since writing her first song in the back of her parents Volvo wagon. The daughter of two scientist/musician parents, it seemed almost logical that Lickley would first earn a degree in Chemistry before moving to Montreal to officially start her music career.

And now, four years after moving to Montreal, Lickley has released her first full-length, fully-produced record, You Might Find Me Here. This twelve-song album is the culmination of a year's work with LA/Montreal producer/engineer, Robert-Eric Gaskell. You Might Find Me Here is a fusion of Lickley's minimalist folk style and Gaskell's urban music background. The album has already started garnering attention from the critics; of You Might Find Me Here, CBC's Dan Lessard writes: "Allison Lickley has a haunting quality to her voice and lyrics that compel you to play every track on her disc. This up-and-coming young lady has soul, track to track, and by listening to her music, you get the sense you know her." In 2009 the album was nominated for Best Vocal Performance on a Recording, Best Songwriter, and Best Album at the 2009 Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards. Lickley was the first artist in the seven years of NOMFA's existence to be nominated for three awards. The first track, Smoky Nights, took home Best Vocal Performance on a Recording.

With multiple tours across Canada, a month of concerts in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan, regular interviews and radio-play on CBC Radio One and Two (including Vinyl Cafe), song placement in films, and two previously released EPs, Lickley has only just begun. The next year will be a busy one for Lickley as she continues to promote her album with tours across Canada and the United States.

Instrumentation

Allison Lickley: vocals, guitar, piano, charming stories

Discography

'You Might Find Me Here', 2008
-Winner of 'Best Vocal Performance on a Recording' at the 2009 Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards
-Nominated for 'Best Vocal Performance', 'Best Album' and 'Best Songwriter' at the 2009 Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards
-received placement in the large format film, Mysteries of the Great Lakes
-chosen by CBC's Mark Rheaume for top new albums in June 2008
-regular airplay on CBC Radio One and Two, including The Vinyl Cafe
-won a spot on MAP's 2008 Compilation disc

'Late September' EP, 2006
-regularly played on CBC Radio One
-reached top 30 for CHMA Radio
-played across Canada on campus radio stations

'Allison Lickley', 2001
-received airtime on CBC Radio One
-reached top 30 on CHMA Radio for several weeks
-chosen for compilation albums: Conduct Becoming 2, Conduct Becoming 3

Links

• MySpace

Audio

• Mountains
  Listen  
• Smoky Nights
  Listen  
• Einstein
  Listen  
• Late September
  Listen  

Lyrics

• Mountains
• Smoky Nights
• Einstein
• Late September

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• CBC Review of 'You Might Find Me Here' [+ Show ]
  

  "Allison Lickley has a haunting quality to her voice and lyrics that compel you to play every track..."Allison Lickley has a haunting quality to her voice and lyrics that
  compel you to play every track on her disc. This up and coming young
  lady has soul, track to track, and by listening to her music, you get
  the sense you know her. Now that's storytelling!"
  Dan Lessard, CBC Radio

• Revue de spectacle (français) [+ Show ]
  

  "Allison est une jeune artiste qu'on se doit de découvrir. Sa voix chaude et envoûtante transcende l..."Allison est une jeune artiste qu'on se doit de découvrir. Sa voix chaude et envoûtante transcende les barrières langagières pour nous ramener à l'essentiel : un spectacle charmant livré avec brio par une jeune femme attachante. Ses textes sont intelligents, son succès, assuré; ne manquez pas votre chance d'entendre ce phénomène musical qui vous transportera au coeur de son intimité. Vous ne voudrez plus en partir." - François Girard, directeur artistique, Conseil des Arts de Hearst

• Review by 105.3 EZ Rock
  

  "Allison Lickley is one of those artists who sounds incredible on CD and even better in person."

• Concert Review from Parks Tour [+ Show ]
  

  "Allison Lickley is an outstanding artist who is able to capture an audience through the soothing so..."Allison Lickley is an outstanding artist who is able to capture an audience through the soothing sound of her voice. Her songs relate to her life experiences and the experiences that campers have while at parks...I strongly recommend that Allison play at all parks across the province, and beyond, as anyone would be privileged to have her."
  -Lyndsey McLellan, NHE Leader, Grundy Lake Provincial Park
  

• Rob Slack Review of 'You Might Find Me Here' [+ Show ]
  

  She has a haunting quality that sticks to my soul and stays there for a long, long, long time after ...She has a haunting quality that sticks to my soul and stays there for a long, long, long time after the song ends. Doesn�t matter if it is a folk-like number or a gospel backed hymn, the effect is always the same for me. A weird kind of melancholy mixed with the happy energy that such a voice still exists in this world of pre-packaged Idol worship. She leaves me with a stupid smile I can�t shake.
  -by Rob Slack

• Make yourself comfortable... [+ Show ]
  

  "Make yourself comfortable. Allison's musical poetry will hang crescent moons, make cold fall wind... "Make yourself comfortable. Allison's musical poetry will hang crescent
  moons, make cold fall winds swirl, bring back memories of childhood joys,
  rekindle the bitter-sweet pangs of first love. A painter of musical vistas
  both tender and sweeping, with a voice as clear and rich as a star-swept
  Canadian winter sky."

• Awesome house concert [+ Show ]
  

  "What a splendid way to unwind on a Friday night surrounded by good friends and colleagues to hear A..."What a splendid way to unwind on a Friday night surrounded by good friends and colleagues to hear Allison's voice grace our home. We had 40 in attendance to our house concert, all keen to hear the young, yet mature beyond her years, Allison Lickley. She is an extraordinary singer/songwriter and we considered it a real privilege to have her entertain us in Blackstock, Ontario. An event we hope to repeat in the years to come. Allison, you are a rising star!"

• Starting to Happen [+ Show ]
  

  by Ian Gormely "Allison Lickley wants to move to Halifax. Currently living in Montreal, the singe...by Ian Gormely
  
  "Allison Lickley wants to move to Halifax. Currently living in Montreal, the singer-songwriter is using her current month-and-a-half long pseudo-tour of Atlantic Canada as an opportunity to quiz anyone and everyone about our fair city. The thumbs-ups she's received are encouraging.
  
  "Not everybody feels that way about their hometown," she says.
  
  Lickley's desire to move here is hardly impulsive. Originally from Sudbury, Ontario, Lickley's family vacationed in the Maritimes when she was a child and when it came time to choose a university, Lickley picked Mount Allison in Sackville, New Brunswick, where she studied chemistry: "There's something about the feel of the east coast that just really appeals to me."
  
  Though she was "very studious" while at school, Lickley still found time to play gigs around town supporting the self-titled nine-song record she put out in 2001. While in Sackville she shared stages with In-Flight Safety, whose members were still students but well on their way to conquering the east coast, and Jill Barber.
  
  Though Lickley didn't release another collection of her own songs until last October, she has continued writing and enjoys reading books about her craft. A current favourite is The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron who talks about unlocking the inner artist. Lickley describes herself as more of a "cerebral" songwriter, but since reading Cameron's book, she says she's trying to branch out.
  
  "I'm working now at just being a bit more free-flowing with it," she says.
  
  She admires the way Randy Newman writes. Though he mostly composes film scores these days (most notably for Pixar films like Toy Story), Lickley says the eclectic singer-songwriter wakes up every day, turns off his phone and writes for five or six hours. She admires his discipline and structure. "I dream about having that kind of life," she says, compared to the frantic chaos of managing and promoting herself.
  
  Following her stint at Mount Allison, Lickley spent three months in Europe, travelling through Italy, Spain and France. But rather than going the traditional hostel route, Lickley used couchsurfing.com, a networking sight for travellers looking for couches to crash on in foreign towns. It was while surfing one particular sofa in Paris that Lickley decided music would be her calling.
  
  "I stayed with this couple in Paris one night," she recalls. "They made me this beautiful meal and to thank them I played a little concert for them. It was actually a moment during one of my songs that I was just like, "Yeah, I have to do this for my career.'"
  
  Returning to Canada re-purposed, Lickley moved to Montreal, choosing the city partly because of its geographic proximity to both Ontario and Atlantic Canada—handy for touring.
  
  "It was a huge leap for me," she says of the move. Lickley had grown up in the country and Sackville, despite a vibrant student population, is still a town of just 5,500 people. "I didn't know if I could live in a city and I thought Montreal was big enough that I'd get an idea if I could do that," she says. "It was a good challenge."
  
  Montreal has been good to Lickley. "I find it buzzes," she says. A pair of producers from McGill's Music Recording program, Robert-Eric Gaskell and Jason O'Connell, happened to see her playing in a bar one night. O'Connell approached her about recording for a class project. The resulting sessions yielded last fall's Late September EP. She's just completed work on a full-length she plans to release in November with Gaskell. Lickley will be spending four days in New York prior to her show at One World Cafe shooting photos to accompany the record.
  
  Like her current EP, Lickley's LP will be released 100 percent independently. She sees Late September as more of a demo and didn't really consider trying to get the record on store shelves, selling it at shows instead. She hopes the LP will get a more proper release.
  
  "It's really fun work and you're in complete control," she says. "You care so much about what you're doing so you really push."

Setlist

A typical show consists of two 45-minute sets.
The material is 25% covers and 75% originals.

Covers:
Allison's a Tired Girl (D. Lickley)
Up to the Mountain (P. Griffin)
Crazy Love (V. Morrisson)
May You Never (J. Martyn)
I Wish You Love (L. Chauliac, A. Beach)
Angel from Montgomery (J. Prine)
You're Gonna Make me Lonesome
When You Go (B. Dylan)
When I'm Gone (P. Ochs)
One Day I Walk (B. Cockburn)
Unsung Psalm (T. Chapman)
This Must be the Place (Naive Melody)
(D. Byrne, T. Weymouth, C. Frantz, J. Harrison)

Originals:
Mountains
Smoky Nights
Einstein
There is a Mouse In My House
The Guest
I Saw You
What I Believe
Long Time
If I Were Braver
Twenty Songs
Forty five (un mois)
All My Men
It Wasn't Love
It Takes Time
My Home
Their Calling
My Ground
The Grudge
Late September
Good Man
I Wanna Be a Buddhist
Don't Worry
Time
My Blues

Basic Requirements

Calendar