Montreal singer-songwriter Allison Russell turns to memoir for healing

Allison Russell says she hopes the process of writing a memoir about her abusive upbringing in Montreal will help reclaim a piece of herself she lost along the way.

The Nashville-based folk singer-songwriter is in the midst of scouring old journals and photographs to jog her memory of a time she’d rather forget.

She first shared her life story on her Grammy- and Juno-nominated debut album Outside Child, recounting years of childhood sexual abuse that lasted until she left home as a teen and found refuge among friends and a “chosen family.”

Outside Child brought Russell two nominations at the Juno Awards set for May — one for songwriter of the year and another for contemporary roots album of the year.

The 42-year-old musician says she considers the memoir a companion piece to Outside Child, and that it will be written around more vivid memories in consultation with people she knew.

She says she hopes to revisit Montreal as part of the research, as she’s been “feeling the pull to return” with her partner and young daughter.

“I had inescapable feelings of threat, fear and danger whenever I was there that it took a long time to have that worked through,” she says in an interview last month.

“But the first time I went with my daughter when she was three, I really felt like it was my city again. I didn’t have that same fear.”

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