Naomi Westwater Floats in Cycle & Change
Naomi Westwater tells Rainbow Rodeo about the inspiration for their upcoming album Cycle & Change and their fight to make music welcoming for all
Naomi Westwater is one of those artists who fully embraces their moment. Their music feels a bit like leaping off into the deep end with joyous abandon. In addition to their musical work, Naomi is a vocal advocate for social justice, producing Reclaiming Folk: A Celebration of People of Color in Folk Music, and is a part of The Club Passim Folk Collective where they produce Re-Imagining Lilith Fair, a tribute to the feminist music scene of the ‘90s with a modern, intersectional lens. Naomi is also the director of We Make Noise Boston, where they produce We Make Noise Fest. Their new album, Cycle & Change, will be out on May 9th. Below, Westwater tells Rainbow Rodeo about their inspirations and their fight to make music welcoming for all.
Does your album have an overarching theme?
Cycle & Change is a concept album, following the life cycle of a year and journeying through the seasons. There are four songs for each season, and the record starts in Spring. “Everything is cycle and change” is the understanding that in life we are always cycling back to themes, places, people, seasons while at the same time accepting that life is also constantly changing. I think we can master these two realities, we can live in full joy. I’m really working on it.
Summer of 2020 was yet another period of intense racial reckoning in the States, with many promises in the music industry to make things more equitable. Have you seen any changes so far?
I’ve witnessed so many unkept promises from the industry over the last 5 years, and it’s even worse now with diversity itself being under attack from the federal government. I just played a show to celebrate Black History month and at the show found out the institution had announced they were pulling their DEI funding in fear of retaliation from the Trump administration that day. Meta won’t let me run an add to promote a show about Women’s History Month – we’re really living in a dystopia.
But I have found real growth and connection with The Folk Collective at Club Passim in Cambridge, MA. I was 1 of the 12 inaugural members of the collective, and the mission is to bring more diversity and belonging to the club and shift the club’s culture. It’s not easy work, but doing it in community is healing and invigorating. The Folk Collective is redefining folk music and taking up a lot of space on stage. I hope it’s a start of a wider movement.
How do you feel your queer identity ties into your performance style or music?
I think everything about me is queer – as in counterculture, against the mainstream. When I’m on stage, I’m authentically myself, I sing about being queer, but also the shows themselves are different, I have audiences do spells with me or share their fears, or share their pronouns with their neighbor. I’m ready to live in the future were queerness is fully accepted, and I bring the audience along with me for the ride.
Have you ever been given something remarkable by a fan?
I’ve had multiple fans sketch me while I’m playing and then let me keep the photograph – it’s really powerful!
What's the first concert you ever attended? What do you remember about it?
It’s one of my earliest memories – summer of 1994 Bonnie Raitt at Great Woods (now the Xfinity Center). My mom took me, and we sat on a blanket on the lawn.
Cycle & Change will be out on May 9th. You can pre-save it here.