Veteran queer country duo Mouths of Babes (Ingrid Elizabeth of Coyote Grace and Tylan Greenstein of Girlyman) have emerged from hibernation with their upcoming album World Brand New (out on October 6th.) The self-described “queer country” kids have been out and proud long before there was support for the scene, and World Brand New highlights their versatility and expertise. We caught up with Mouths of Babe with the premiere of “Pictures of You,” a contemplative portrait of a complex — and difficult — relationship.
In our e-mail interview, Tylan and Ingrid describe how they fit into the evolution of the queer country scene and dive deep on the importance of queer representation.
Tell us more about “Pictures of You.” It deals with some heavy material but there is still an uplifting feeling to it.
TY: “Pictures of You” is one of those raw, first-draft songs that I wrote in maybe an hour and didn’t end up editing a single word — it felt so honest that I just decided to leave it like that. This song is about the experience of being ghosted: Why don’t we see it coming? Why is it often the person we trusted the most? Being ghosted leaves you with complex grief, because the person is still alive but you are essentially dead to them. And even if you try to move on, there’s all this evidence of your closeness — the millions of pictures of you together, the songs you used to listen to, the inside jokes, the gifts and cards. So what do you do with that stuff? Keeping it feels hard, and getting rid of it feels like burning your past. I wrote this song from a deeply unresolved place about someone who was like a sister to me who I’m no longer in touch with at all. And even though the song felt incredibly personal when I wrote it, I know so many people have gone through something similar.
INGRID: I love the juxtaposition of seemingly mismatched lyrical and musical content. Like a sad song where the music evokes a happy sentiment. It’s a bit of a sneak attack. And it underscores the complexity of emotions that are all jumbled together and impossible to separate – the anger from the nostalgia, the grief from the joy. Because that’s often what most of life truly is – a tangled mess of all the feelings, all the time.
Your last single, “Summertime,” is a celebration of butch/masculine of center people, which is all too rare these days. How do you hope to increase visibility for LGBTQ+ folks with your music?
INGRID: Representation is everything. Invisibility is maddening at best, lethal at worst. Our queer love stories need to be told and lifted up and validated just like ALL the thousands of straight love stories that we queer folks have tried unsuccessfully to tweak, bend, and shape to fit our own.
Plain and simple, “Summertime” is a love song – universal in its ‘hot summer romance’ sentiment yet through a distinctly queer/LGBTQ+ lens. Growing up in a small, rural town in Southeastern Ohio, I was steeped in country music. But due to the lack of queer anything in my conservative country culture, I didn’t feel safe coming out until I left my hometown. I am a firm believer that we need to ‘write the country/Americana songs we want to hear in the world’ – and in my case, where queer love is the protagonist and despite the small town culture, it is allowed to thrive and be seen and celebrated. I feel strongly that we queer country kids should get to have our ‘summer love song’ radio hits, too. It’s one small way I feel I can make the world a better, safer, more loving place for those who really need it.
When it comes to inclusivity, Americana music has come a long way in the last few years, certainly since I first wrote this song 15 years ago. But in this current political climate, to proudly proclaim “boys like her like the girls like me” is inherently political and more necessary than ever to carve out our place in this society.
You’ve been working in the queer country/folk space for quite some time. How has it been to see how it’s evolved?
MoB: Things have changed tremendously since we entered the folk/Americana scene many moons ago. In the early/mid-2000s, there was practically zero representation of queer and trans people in the genre, which perpetuated the feeling of the being singled out as the “queerdos” that we’d felt like growing up. Even though we had pretty big, dedicated followings who followed us from show to show and bought all our albums, we never quite fit into a very straight, white, sometimes conservative atmosphere, and it was hard to break through. The industry didn’t really know what to do with us.
It’s incredible how much pop culture in general as increased queer representation since then, and it appears that has had a trickle down effect in the folk world as well. The strides being made to lift up and feature BIPOC and LGBTQ+ artists within the country/Americana scene has been inspiring. Still, we have a long way to go, and with the strong tide of anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment washing through the country right now, it brings back flashes of a less safe time for touring and being openly queer. But we know that visibility saves lives (including our own) and there is such a strong presence of LGBTQ+ artists out there now. The strength in numbers is comforting and validating. We’re not going anywhere!
What are you most excited for with the new album? What are some lessons you’re planning to take with you for your next project?
MoB: We are so incredibly proud of this project. We put everything into each and every song, and the ten songs function together as a journey. It was a long process, with lots of Covid-related interruptions, but we never lost sight of our vision or our excitement. And although self-producing is a lot of work, it meant we got to realize that vision – in terms of arrangements and sonic experience – exactly the way we had hoped.
We were also incredibly fortunate to be able to work with our dream team of musicians and engineers, whose creativity and soul helped shape the landscape of this album. We can’t wait to get these songs into the ears and hearts not just of folks who have followed us for a while but also hopefully brand new listeners who connect with the heart of the album.
World Brand New will be released on October 6th. You can pre-save the album here, and pre-save “Pictures of You” here. “Pictures of You” will be available tomorrow, September 8th.
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