Club Passim Will Celebrate a Night of Pride with Queer and Trans Voices

On June 22, Club Passim will host its first-ever Pride Month celebration, featuring six talented queer and trans musicians in an exciting night of in-the-round style performances. Curated by Maddy Simpson, a singer-songwriter from the queer alt-folk duo Sweet Petunia, the night will feature original music from members of the Folk Collective, a Passim initiative bringing diverse folk artists and events to the club, and Roman Barten-Sherman, Jarsch, and Lee Zangari. The celebration at Passim will honor Pride and the importance of acceptance, equity, and respect for all. Tickets are available at passim.org. 

“This event is the first of its kind at Passim, and important to have moving forward,” says Maddy Simpson. “Music has forever been an avenue through which communities gather, grow, and shape their identities. It’s a common denominator; a tool used to relate to each other and to the world around us. For queer and trans individuals, finding musical communities with others that accept them as they are can be life-changing and even life-saving.”

Sweet Petunia, established in 2018 by Mairead Guy (they/them) and Maddy Simpson (she/her) have been praised for their haunting, interchanging harmonies, and their ability to bring to life something as mundane as catching a stranger’s eye in a poetic ode, to the love that can be found in the smallest of places. They answer the often begged question, “is one banjo enough?” with a resounding “no!” as they switch through combinations of double banjo, double guitar, and guitar and banjo, singing all the while. 

Folk Collective artists included in the performances are Anju (they/she), a singer, songwriter, producer, and performer shaped by the people and places in Minnesota, and Naomi Westwater (they/she), a queer, Black-multiracial singer-songwriter from Massachusetts. Naomi’s work combines folk music, poetry, and spirituality. With her work in the Passim Folk Collective, she produces Re-Imagining Lilith Fair: a tribute to the feminist music scene of the 1990s with an intersection lens for today. 

Curated by Shea Rose, The Folk Collective is a group of twelve exceptional musicians, artist-activists, and educators who serve as cultural ambassadors at Club Passim. Through an active exchange of ideas and conversation, Passim collaborates and partners with The Folk Collective to present inclusive and equitable events that welcome and invite diverse audiences and artists to the Passim stage.

South Shore Artist Lee Zangari, a dulcimer player, guitarist, singer, and songwriter; Roman Barten-Sherman, a country blues and ragtime guitar player; and Jarsch, a multi-instrumentalist from Allston, MA. are also part of the line up.

The Folk Collective: Inaugural Pride Month Event takes place at Club Passim on June 22 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 and available at www.passim.org. Club Passim is located at 47 Palmer St., Cambridge MA 02138.

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