| Allison Moorer | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Allison Moorer |
| Born | June 21, 1972 |
| Origin | Monroeville, Alabama, USA |
| Genres | country, folk, rock, pop |
| Occupations | singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | vocals, guitar, piano |
| Years active | 1998–present |
| Labels | MCA Nashville Records Universal South Sugar Hill Records New Line Records Ryko Records |
| Associated acts | Shelby Lynne, Steve Earle |
| Website | www.allisonmoorer.com |
Allison Moorer (born June 21, 1972) is an American alternative country singer and the younger sister of Shelby Lynne. She signed to MCA Nashville in 1998 and made her debut on the U.S. Billboard country charts with the release of her debut single "A Soft Place to Fall", which reached #73.
Since the release of her debut album Alabama Song, she released seven albums and 11 singles, five of which reached positions on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
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Allison was raised in Monroeville, Alabama, just north of Mobile. Raised on George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Emmylou Harris, she sang harmonies as a toddler, eventually thinking she'd make a career of it. Following the murder-suicide of her parents (perpetrated by her father) in 1986, she moved into her aunt and uncle's home.
Not long afterwards, sister Shelby Lynne moved to Nashville for a career in music, and after her high school graduation, Moorer followed. She sang harmonies with her sister for a while but returned to Alabama to earn a degree in public relations. She skipped the graduation ceremony to move back to Nashville.
There, she met Doyle "Butch" Primm, an Oklahoma-reared musician who soon became her husband and frequent songwriting partner. In June 1996, she took part in a series of tributes to her songwriter friend, the late Walter Hyatt, singing his "Tell Me Baby" at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. Nashville agent Bobby Cudd was sufficiently impressed to hook her up with producer Tony Brown. After a few meetings, Brown asked her to cut some demos, from which two tracks—"Pardon Me" and "Call My Name"—ended up on her first MCA album, Alabama Song.
Her song "A Soft Place to Fall" was tapped for Robert Redford's The Horse Whisperer in 1998, and she also appeared in the movie. Because the ballad earned her an Academy Award nomination,[1] she performed it on the 1999 Oscars ceremony. However, none of her singles from Alabama Song or its follow-up The Hardest Part caught on at radio, though both projects were highly praised by critics.
When Brown moved from MCA to sister label Universal South, Moorer followed. Her 2002 album Miss Fortune earned more raves, but didn't meet sales expectations. She almost got another big break by recording the duet "Picture" with Kid Rock after Sheryl Crow had bowed out. However, Crow changed her mind, and the Rock/Crow-version became a huge radio hit. Yet, the song was credited on the charts to both Crow and Moorer. In addition, the CD single featuring Moorer sold 500,000 copies and is certified Gold by the RIAA.
Her ballad "Tumbling Down" (from Miss Fortune) was featured on the soundtrack of the popular 2002 film The Rookie.
Her album Show was recorded in one night (two performances) at the 12th and Porter in Nashville and despite popular belief, it features the first recorded collaboration by both Moorer sisters.
After releasing Show and a DVD on Universal South, Moorer moved to independent label Sugar Hill Records. With a slightly rougher edge than past efforts, The Duel was released in April 2004.
A year after The Duel, Moorer divorced Primm and married Steve Earle, after serving as his opening act on a European tour. Earle produced her 2006 album, Getting Somewhere. Moorer wrote all the songs, with the exception of one co-written with Earle. The couple live in New York City. She and Earle were nominated for a Grammy award in the category Best Country Collaboration with Vocals, for the song "Days Aren't Long Enough" from Earle's "Washington Square Serenade." Moorer gave birth to the couples first child, John Henry Earle, on April 5, 2010.
Moorer released the Buddy Miller-produced Mockingbird in February 2008;[2] an album mainly of covers of songs by female singer/songwriters including her sister, Shelby Lynne.
In 2009, Moorer performed in The People Speak, a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States”.[3]
Also, in 2009, she appeared on the BBC series Transatlantic Sessions, Series 4, Episodes 4 and 5, performing a critically acclaimed version of the Irish folk song Carrickfergus.
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country [4] |
US Heat [5] |
US Indie [6] |
US Folk [7] |
||
| Alabama Song |
|
68 | — | — | — |
| The Hardest Part |
|
26 | 26 | — | — |
| Miss Fortune |
|
35 | 34 | — | — |
| Show |
|
49 | — | — | — |
| The Duel |
|
55 | — | 41 | — |
| Getting Somewhere |
|
— | — | — | — |
| Mockingbird |
|
— | 18 | 44 | — |
| Crows |
|
— | 18 | — | 11 |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| The Definitive Collection |
|
| The Ultimate Collection |
|
| Year | Single | Peak positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Country [8] |
|||
| 1998 | "A Soft Place to Fall" | 73 | Alabama Song |
| "Set You Free" | 72 | ||
| "Alabama Song"A | — | ||
| 1999 | "Pardon Me" | — | |
| 2000 | "Send Down an Angel" | 66 | The Hardest Part |
| 2001 | "Think It Over" | 57 | |
| 2002 | "Cold In California" | — | Miss Fortune |
| "Up This High" | — | ||
| "Tumbling Down" | — | ||
| 2003 | "Going Down" (with Shelby Lynne) | — | Show |
| 2004 | "All Aboard" | — | The Duel |
| 2006 | "Fairweather" | — | Getting Somewhere |
| 2007 | "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl" | — | Mockingbird |
| 2008 | "Dancing Barefoot" | — | |
| 2009 | "The Broken Girl" | — | Crows |
| 2010 | "Just Another Fool" | — | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||
| Year | Single | Artist | Peak chart positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | US | US AC | CAN | ||||
| 2002 | "Picture"A | Kid Rock | 21 | 4 | 17 | 2 | single only |
| 2008 | "Days Aren't Long Enough" | Steve Earle | — | — | — | — | Washington Square Serenade |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||
| Year | Video | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | "A Soft Place to Fall" | Robert Redford |
| "Set You Free" | Thom Oliphant | |
| "Alabama Song" | Morgan Lawley | |
| 2000 | "Send Down an Angel" | Trey Fanjoy |
| 2002 | "Tumbling Down" | Adolfo Doring |
| 2004 | "Going Down" | Stephen Shepherd |
| 2006 | "Fairweather" | Nicholas Poe |