New Allison Downey album available in WMU Bookstore
Sept. 15, 2002
KALAMAZOO -- Advanced copies of "Wind At Your Back," a soon-to-be released album of pop folk music by Allison Downey are for sale at the WMU Bookstore in the Bernhard Center.
The new CD contains Downey's tribute to the victims and heroes of Sept. 11, "On the Day (September 11, 2001)," which Downey performed at Sept. 11 anniversary services on campus last week. Downey says that 15 percent of the proceeds from the sale of the album this month will be donated to Sept. 11 relief for the families of victims.
Beginning her first year at WMU, Downey is an assistant professor of theatre and director of the theatre education program. She performed "On the Day" at both the afternoon dedication of the employee-sponsored memorial in Goldsworth Valley and the evening's student-sponsored Service of Remembrance in Miller Auditorium.
"I was very grateful for the way the student and employee groups welcomed me to be a part of the memorial services that they had been planning for months," says Downey, who arrived in Kalamazoo only three weeks before the services.
The 12 tracks on "Wind At Your Back" were all written or co-written by Downey, who also performs lead vocals and plays acoustic guitar. The CD was recorded and produced in Austin, Texas, Downey's previous home, under the Little Ditty Records label.
General release of "Wind At Your Back" is scheduled for later this fall. Downey plans to celebrate the release in late October or early November with a "CD party" at The Union, the new WMU-theme restaurant on the downtown Kalamazoo Mall.
More information about "Wind At Your Back," including Web audio of "On the Day," will be available by the end of September through Downey's Web site <www.allisondowney.com>.
Media contact: Thom Myers, 269 387-8400, thomas.myers@wmich.edu