Alt-Mericana Showcase Brings Much-Needed LGBTQIA+ Rep to Americanafest

A lovely, poetic thing about the queer community is its ability to see a need and fill it. To notice a bit of dry ground and know how to water it, metaphorically speaking. 

Being queer gives clarity on what we need to thrive. It gives us the wisdom and insight that just doesn’t exist elsewhere. And how could it?

The Americana music community has much to offer, but it still suffers from being an incomplete picture of representation of the scene. If you don’t know, you don’t know, and that’s definitely the drawback for the Americanafest festival this week.  There’s still so much it needs to learn, and unlearn in equal fields.

This year, they have no trans performers on the lineup at all.

With that being said, a couple members of the aueer Americana scene pulled up to make their own table this year in Nashville, and this year is the first iteration of the Alt-Mericana Showcase on September 12th at the Lipstick Lounge.

The showcase was put together by Flamy Grant, Mya Byrne, and Jessye DeSilva, who won't be performing this year.

Grant, who is the first-ever drag performer to hit #1 on the iTunes Christian Chart with her album Bible Belt Baby, explained the need for building safe spaces for LGBTQIA+ artists.

“My agent and I still get plenty of rejections from venues across the country as we try to bring my brand of drag and folk/gospel music to traditional venues, often with a vague message about how it's "not for their audience," Flamy mused. “But we carry on, gratefully accept the invitations to spaces that do want to bring me in, and sometimes we just invite people to spaces we create ourselves."

That invitation is a revolutionary act.

"The space will continue to evolve because artists continue to evolve. It's a balance of carrying on a tradition that we were brought up in while also finding ways to express ourselves authentically. It's exciting and challenging and fun and a joy to be part of.”

Byrne, of "Where the Lavender Grows" fame, had similar sentiments to share on her experience of being a marginalized person in the genre.

“While AmericanaFest is evolving, at the same time the walls precluding marginalized folks in our business — especially trans women and anyone outside the gender binary — remain. Our trade organization should be more reflective of its community outside the borders it has often retreated to. I want those walls to fall."

Byrne, who is trans, expresses the dire need for supporting trans artists and being unafraid of sharing political art.

"I’ve got a new song” she adds, “called 'We’re America Too,' that I’ll be playing at my shows that says a lot of what I feel about the state of the world. Yard signs and promises are all good,” she insists, “but they need to come with actions. Marginalized voices need to be lifted now more than ever, and we must lift each other when institutions do not.”

DeSilva, who is recovering surgery, is unable to perform this year, but explained why it is important to continue creating queer spaces at events like Americanafest.

“There’s been a long tradition of 'unofficial' events at Americanafest taking place across town during the fest, and folks often try to hop onto as many of these as possible – sometimes even official showcasing artists."

DeSilva is referring to past iterations of the Queer Roots festival organized by Shawn Reilly since 2018. While the show was listed in Americanafest's official schedule, it was never considered an official event. Americanafest had no official events for LGBTQIA+ artists until 2023. This year, Cindy Emch and Julie Nolen host the two-day Queer Roots showcase, now official Americanafest event, on September 11 and September 13th (see our coverage for details.)

"I think these events have historically been really essential for the queer community, especially in the days before there was a great deal of queer and trans representation. I hope to be there next year, if even in an unofficial capacity, if for no other reason than to be a Trans woman in Americana!”

In addition to Byrne and Grant, the Alt-Mericana showcase features Grammy-winner Melody Walker, Julia Cannon, and Mark Robert Cash.

It’s always a pleasure to see Queer Joy in action, and the event promises to be a safe place for those who need it. It all happens in Nashville this weekend.

RSVP for the Alt-Mericana showcase on Eventbrite.

[CORRECTION: The article originally stated that the first official LGBTQIA+ event at Americanafest was in 2024. The article has been updated to reflect that the accurate year is 2023.]