Angered by anti-LGBTQ laws being passed in Tennessee, Montreal artist Allison Russell helped organize a benefit concert that will bring together several stars at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Monday night.
• Also read: Ticket prices: The Cure singer ‘disgusted’ by Ticketmaster
Sheryl Crow, Hayley Williams (Paramore), Brittany Howard (Alabama Shakes), Maren Morris, Hozier, Brothers Osborne and more will take part in Love Rising, a show with proceeds going to support organizations serving LGBTQ communities in their adoptive state.
The Republican legislature in Tennessee recently passed legislation aimed at banning drag performers from appearing in public spaces. Doctors are also prohibited from performing gender confirmation surgeries.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Allison Russell said Tennessee has the “awful distinction of being the unfriendliest place for our queer community.”
No threat
The self-identified queer survivor of a sexually abused youth in Montreal argues loud and clear that “the trans community is not a threat to the cisgender community.”
“Drag queens, she says, are not a threat to children. There are no cases where drag queens have been found guilty of touching or sexually abusing children. Do you know how many cases there are of youth pastors or religious leaders who have touched or sexually abused children? Hundreds in Tennessee. Some of them are still driving their flocks. It deeply affects me as a survivor of sexual abuse in my youth, the main aggressor of which was a white supremacist.
“I survived my childhood thanks to my queer community. I was sure of that,” Allison Russel continues.
For Hayly
Allison Russel and concert co-host Jason Isbell enlisted Live Nation’s support to put together Love Rising. The Montreal native hopes the presence of a big name like Hayley Williams will make more people aware of the LGBTQ cause.
“There are people who will hear from a Bandsintown app notification that Hayley Williams will be there. They’ll get her without even knowing what we’re doing. When they come, the medium becomes the message.”
Allison Russel has been nominated for four Grammy Awards in the last two years and has established herself as a major artist since the release of her debut solo album Outside Child in May 2021 in the United States. In Canada, this work won the Juno Award for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year 2022.
She recently collaborated with Brandi Carlile on the song You’re Not Alone. She will be attending the Ottawa Bluesfest on July 14th.
Do you have any information about this story that you would like to share with us?
Do you have a scoop that might be of interest to our readers?
Write to us or call us directly at 1-800-63SCOOP.