Bristol Musician Returns from Touring Abroad

Bristol-based singer/songwriter Allysen Callery is still aglow from a recent concert tour in Germany and Switzerland. The shows spanned seven cities and were organized by Callery’s German record label, Woodland Recordings. Callery and another Woodland musician, Stephen Burch, shared the bill at a smattering of cafes and bars, where they played to attentive crowds.

“We played mostly funky little venues, like something you’d see in Austin, Texas,” Callery recalls. “The audiences were stone silent, and incredibly appreciative. There were people in their early twenties and people in their seventies. It’s a café culture over there.” 

Callery, a self-proclaimed introvert who has battled with stage fright, says music making has been “cathartic” and allows her to communicate her inner most self. 

“I feel wonderful afterward I write a song, sort of like a storm blew through,” she says.

As a teenager Callery attended Providence’s School One, a place she says nurtured “creative misfits.” Though she had been playing the violin, at 14 years-old she picked up the guitar after her father passed away.

“I wanted to play my father’s guitar to stay close to him,” she says.

After high school Callery got distracted by wanderlust, then work and marriage. She put down the guitar for seven years. After her daughter was born, she began writing poetry and performing at Providence Poetry Slams. One night she used the guitar for a performance piece and her love of music came rushing back.

She began writing songs and playing open mics. A friend introduced her to a recording engineer and she released her first album, Hopey, in 2007. The Providence Phoenix declared it one of the top local CDs that year, and tracks from the album played on international radio stations.

Callery’s most recent release, Winter Island, showcases her unique and moody sound, which she describes as “alternative folk, a little on the dark fairy tale side.”  It was released last month and is already receiving buzz here and abroad. 'Call it Folk' dubbed her the "Tim Burton of folk music," while DJ’s on New Jersey’s famed WFMU radio station called the EP a “must have." 

Callery juggles her music career with home life and a day job. She manages to play locally and regionally a couple nights a week. Upcoming gigs include the Artists Exchange Music Festival and an opening act gig for The ‘Mericans at The Narrows in Fall River.

Unlike most musicians always hoping for that big break, Callery is perfectly content with things just the way they are. 

“My goal is to keep life the way it is,” she says. “I love my family, my home. I’m a mom. I just love my home life.”

For more  information about Allysen Callery, or to listen to her music, visit her website here.