June 2022

I’m the voice in the darkness,
I’m the touch that is healing,
I’m the heart that is fearless,
I’m the strong arm to lean on..
— from "Night Charge Nurse", Women's Work by Linda Allen
 
 

Dear Friends,

I am writing to you with a deeper appreciation of our front line health care workers.  I recently spent two nights in St.Joseph’s Hospital where I live, recovering from a small stroke. 

The hospital was full, and I’m told that there is a nurse shortage, as there is at the hospice where I work.  I’ve learned that many health care workers are burned out from the load they have curried since the emergence of COVID in its many forms.  I can report that I was treated with great kindness by all the health care workers that helped me through a challenging time.

I am recovering.  I’m finding it hard to slow down, but with the good care that I am receiving from my beloved Scott, I am trying to learn. 

Take care of yourself, and each other.

Love,

Linda


“A Small Vase of Flowers - Video”

Photograph by Jez Timmons on Unsplash


 
 

Work on the newest CD, “Emergence”, continues! To receive updates on the project and to contribute as you can, please go to the GoFundMe site.  We are close!!

GoFundMe contribution to Emergence.

Thank you


Here's to the Women

donate here to support this work

You can view the short, 3-minute trailer to the “Here’s to the Women” performance above. For more information on booking a showing of this film, please contact me: www.lindasongs.com

Thank you!!! And please share!

Linda Allen 

 

Women’s Suffrage

One-hundred years ago, Suffragists were state by state launching their final campaigns to secure the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment.  And then the Pandemic struck, active from 1918 through 1920.  As today, people were told to wear masks and to stay home.  In 1920, Carrie Chapman Catt was still trying to recover from the flu when she made her way to Nashville for the final push in a dramatic battle for passage. 

I’m happy to announce that my 53-minute film of “Here’s to the Women” and the trailer (see above) are now complete! It premiered at Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Historical Park on August 23rd, and is now available for individual or group showings.

You are invited to visit our Suffrage Page to find information about the virtual program, explore both traditional and my more recently composed music of Suffrage, books, movies, links and a host of other Suffrage resources.  You can also visit our store to see other Suffrage products: jewelry, note cards and more. 

Be safe and celebrate our victories.  And, as always, may we honor our ancestors by continuing their work for justice.

Linda

To the wrongs that need resistance, to the right that needs assistance, to the future in the distance, give yourselves
— Carrie Chapman Catt

Listen to tracks or purchase downloads from Here’s to the Women, and Failure is Impossible

 

Whether tender or strident, lyrical or percussive, her vocal eloquence adds to the power of her lyrics and music
— Review, Portland Folklore Society

To listen to tracks and read about each song, click on the image above.

 
“Allen’s life work uncovers the injustice, focuses on that and brings song to help mend and move through our life cycles. Congrats to Allen on fifty years.”

— Chris Lunn, Ancient Victorys

“Linda Allen: Hear Her Roar”, Entertainment News Northwest, April 2019. Read the article here.


I'm so happy to let you know that "The Rainy Day Songbook" is now online here on our website!

Back in the late 1970s, when I was newly arrived in Bellingham, I put together a CETA grant to create the Rainy Day Songbook and an accompanying cassette.  I worked with the Whatcom Museum, the library, and a  host of wonderful musicians, some of whom have now passed on.  The Rainy Day Songbook is long out of print, but I recently found the master for the cassette, and Phil Heaven re-mastered it.  With copyright considerations, it is not available to download, but you can listen to it all.  The Songbook is only available used, but some of the highlights are also online.

I have just loved hearing these voices from out of the past. For a taste of the fun stuff that’s in this collection, click on on the audio track to “Silver Tip” just to the right.

To access all the songs on the album, go to our Washington, My Home link and click the ‘Listen” button.

Have fun!


To listen to an archival of the Rainy Day Band in concert:


 

 

The Rainy Day Band