Olympia's TransTrad Fest Opens Possibilities For All

"We have always been here" is a phrase we're going to hear a lot for the next four years, and TransTrad Fest organizers Alex Sturbaum and Hayden Stern want to make it apply to traditional music. The pair are organizing a trad festival of trans musicians in Olympia, Washingtong with the hopes of drawing more trans folks to the art they love – and for the more tradition-minded cis folks in the scene to see the possibilities of opening the tent even bigger. The festival will be held on June 6 - 8, so while it's a ways off, we wanted to feature the work they're doing.

Tell us more about yourself/yourselves! What was your path into traditional music?

Alex Sturbaum: I grew up in Cincinnati, OH. My dad was a musician, but I didn't really think about music much until, at age 13, I discovered traditional Newfoundland music and became instantly obsessed. I entered the Irish music community (the closest thing I could find in southern Ohio), and played Irish trad until I went to college and found out about the contra dance community, and fell in love with both the style of music and the community as a whole. That was over ten years ago.

Since then, I've been singing, writing songs, playing tunes, and playing contra dances pretty much nonstop. Right before the pandemic hit, I quit my job to do music full-time. Right after the pandemic hit, I came out publicly as nonbinary. From then till now I have been doing both as hard as possible.

Hayden Stern: I grew up in Northern California and started playing classical violin at age 7. When I was 8, my mom decided to send me to a nearby kids’ Celtic music camp to help me deal with my shyness. I fell in love, particularly with Scottish and Cape Breton traditional music, and have remained obsessed ever since. After a period of adulthood in which I tried to deny the call of fiddle tunes and have Real Adult Jobs, I met Alex, started playing contra dances, and quickly switched over to being a full-time professional musician.

Why did you feel it was necessary to create a space for trans trad artists?

First off, we know so many! We're both in multiple traditional music spaces - contra dance, Irish, Scottish, old-time, bluegrass, maritime, and social singing (to name a few) and we have encountered tons of brilliant trans musicians throughout these scenes. We thought that their contributions to the community and tradition should be celebrated!

However, that's not the full reason. We formed TransTrad in the wake of the 2024 election, when both of us were still reeling from the results. We're both acutely aware of how transphobia has been weaponized as a tool to divide our country and communities - and of how many people across the political spectrum have accepted talking points that invalidate our right to exist. We were wondering what we, as two folk musicians, could do to fight transphobia in the world, and were inspired to found this festival. 

Traditional folk music is the most effective community-building tool we have ever encountered, and the trad music community contains people of all ages, backgrounds, and histories. We hope that by making a space that is  explicitly trans-normative and inclusive, but open to all, we will be able to build solidarity, community, and strength. Our intention is that people in the trad music community who maybe aren't that aware of trans issues will attend this festival, enjoy some great performances, workshops, and jams, and come away inspired to love and protect their fellow musicians.

In my experience in the Northeast, trad music scenes tend to be a little gender-bendy, especially at contra dances. What do you think it is about these spaces that encourages that experimentation?

Alex: I think that both the elements of living tradition and collective ownership of a tradition are both really meaningful; the folk tradition belongs to everyone, and that means that everyone belongs there and should be welcome there. There's also a throughline in traditional folk music of resistance against oppression, which I think resonates. Also, it's really, really fun, which helps. I do want to point out, though, that these spaces aren't inherently welcoming; we have to make them so.

For example, the contra dance community had a major reckoning about ten years ago with the emergence of gender-neutral calling as a concept, and it was not a smooth transition. The prevalence of gender-neutral dance calling today is a result of the continuous work of dedicated community members and organizers who cared deeply about the issue. Similarly, there are a lot of conservative viewpoints floating around the Celtic and American folk music scenes, and making those spaces safe and welcoming for the trans community is an ongoing project.

Hayden: I want to echo a lot of what Alex said - traditional music and dance spaces often have a strongly progressive contingent, but any space that is focused on tradition also attracts a very conservative audience. When these spaces invite genderbending and queerness it’s because we’ve worked really hard to make that possible. As a trans kid in the Scottish music scene, I felt fairly accepted in my progressive local community, but had a hard time seeing myself doing this work professionally, as no one like me was at that time on the scene. I want today’s trans kids to know that there can be a career path forward, or at the very least a welcoming community of shared interest.

We're a ways away from the festival, but can you give us a hint about who's playing?

We're still finalizing artists, but we can tell you that we've booked the east coast duo Starling (Mo Brachfeld and Jared Kirkpatrick) and the awesome Colorado guitarist Morgan Harris. We can tell you that there will be concerts, workshops, and evening dances; a full evening each of contra dancing and square dancing. Our own contra dance band, Natterjack, will almost certainly be making an appearance as well.

What are you most excited about for this event?

Alex: One of the joys of being a festival organizer is that you can create a space that you want to be in. That's definitely the case here. I am really looking forward to hearing the concerts, hearing the snatches of conversation, and jamming until the wee hours. I'm also really, really looking forward to seeing members of the wider traditional music community come to a trans-normative festival and have a blast.

Hayden: What Alex said! This is the festival I’ve always wanted to attend and now we get to make it happen.

Learn more about TransTrad fest here. It will take place on June 6 - 8, 2025, in Olympia, WA.