Porch Pride 2021

It goes without saying that it’s been a hard year for us all: endlessly adapting, evolving, and trying to keep our heads above water while all of our plans go up in smoke. If there has been one constant for me and for Bluegrass Pride, it has been our mission to uplift and support LGBTQ+ musicians, workers, fans, and pickers in the roots music industry and community.

Last year, our commitment to our mission led us to host our first ever music festival, Porch Pride: A Bluegrass Pride Queer-antine Festival. Despite our lack of experience as festival managers and digital event producers, it was a huge success! Together, our community of sponsors, foundations, and donors raised over $22,000 to support our artists, enabling us to pay each of our musicians $825 for their performances! After three months of no touring, there’s no doubt that these funds made a huge difference in the lives of these musicians.

This year, we want to do even more.

That’s why we’re expanding Porch Pride 2021 into a month-long multimedia digital festival, spanning all four weekends of Pride month! It will feature 13+ hours of music, programming, and community engagement throughout June. The goal of the event, as with all of our events, will be to highlight, showcase, and uplift LGBTQ+ roots musicians and fans – especially Black, Brown, Indigenous, and/or Asian folks – while also financially supporting performing artists as they face undue economic burdens from the lack of summer festivals and music camps resulting from the ongoing COVID pandemic.

Learn more about all four weekends of programs below!

We need your help to reach our goal!

We don't want anyone to miss out on the Porch Pride experience because of financial circumstances, so we're making the whole month-long festival completely free to attend! That means we're counting on donations from fans, friends, and family like you to help us support musicians in need.

We’re suggesting a $10 donation, but feel free to donate more if you’re enjoying the shows! All net proceeds — including donations made during the festival and through the end of Pride month — will be shared evenly between the artists playing the festival and Bluegrass Pride, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. These funds will go towards supporting our ongoing, year-round operations, allowing us to continue hosting paid performance opportunities for artists during these uncertain times, while also investing in long-term resources that will benefit both musicians and fans beyond the pandemic (such as the forthcoming Safe Venue Directory), helping to create a safer, more inclusive bluegrass community for all.

Event Schedule

Lavender Country Live!

PRESENTED BY THE BLUEGRASS SITUATION

Sunday, June 6 at 1:00 PM PT

In this special edition of our monthly showcase, we're inviting Patrick Haggerty — the father of queer country music — to sit down with us, play us some of his favorite songs, and join us in conversation around his musical process. We are especially excited to be highlighting a musician who will be able to speak to us about the radical nature and history of Pride, and give us a deeper understanding of the history of the movement that led to the creation of Bluegrass Pride.

Bluegrass Pride Virtual Brunch & Information Session

Saturday, June 12 at 1:00 PM PT

Inspired by our IBMA information sessions, this brunch “meeting” will be a chance for our community to directly engage with the leadership of BGP, their fellow BGP members, and roots musicians and fans. We will be encouraging folks to ask questions, participate in conversations about the future of Bluegrass Pride, and celebrate Pride with us over food and drink!

This event will be hosted on Zoom rather than streamed publicly, in order to encourage community participation and capture contact information for future members and volunteers. 

Beginner-Friendly Jam-Along with Luisa Lopez

PRESENTED BY IVPR

Sunday, June 13 at 1:00 PM PT

Inspired by our prior in-person jams at Amnesia in San Francisco, we are proud to be presenting a special edition of our periodic beginner-friendly jam-along livestreams during Porch Pride! During Pride month, we'll be focusing our jam-along on protest and movement music. The jam will be led by Nashville-based queer singer-songwriter Luisa Lopez.

Download the chords and lyrics for the jam-along here.

Juneteenth: A Rainbow Revival

PRESENTED BY ELDERLY INSTRUMENTS & EAR TRUMPET LABS

Saturday, June 19 from 3:00-6:00 PM PT

Bluegrass Pride is thrilled to be celebrating Juneteenth for the first time as an organization with Juneteenth: A Rainbow Revival! Hosted in partnership with Brandi Pace and Decolonizing the Music Room, this show will feature a two-hour series of performances highlighting the seminal, trailblazing contributions of Black queer folks and trans folks to the Pride movement – and to bluegrass, old-time, and roots music. Juneteenth: A Rainbow Revival is proud to be a recipient of the IBMA Foundation’s inaugural Arnold Schultz Fund grants.

All set times listed in Pacific Daylight Time.

Saturday, June 19

3:00 PM: Jake Blount

3:30 PM: Jackie Merritt & Resa Gibbs

4:00 PM: Yasmin Williams

4:30 PM: Sunny War Trio

For this weekend, the profit share will be adjusted in order to compensate Decolonizing the Music Room for their partnership. 50% of profits will be shared evenly by all artists (as always), and the remaining 50% will be split evenly between Bluegrass Pride and Decolonizing the Music Room.

Porch Pride: 5th Anniversary Celebration!

PRESENTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL BLUEGRASS MUSIC ASSOCIATION & DOUBLE RAINBOW ICE CREAM

Saturday & Sunday, June 26-27 at 3:00-6:00 PM PT

The final weekend of June will feature the return of Porch Pride proper, concluding our month of festivities with a 2-day digital festival featuring more than 6 hours of live music. This event will take the place of what would have been our fifth annual Bluegrass Pride celebration in San Francisco, and will serve to both promote and financially support LGBTQ+ roots musicians and allies, while also celebrating the growth of the Bluegrass Pride movement in the past 5 years!

All set times listed in Pacific Daylight Time.

Saturday, June 26	Sunday, June 27
3:00 PM: Mya Byrne	3:00 PM: Willi Carlisle
3:30 PM: Ben Garnett	3:30 PM: Maddie Witler
4:00 PM: Crys Matthews	4:00 PM: Amanda Fields
4:30 PM: BOOJUM	4:30 PM: Hasee Ciaccio & Friends
5:00 PM: Po' Ramblin' Boys	5:00 PM: Stephanie Anne Johnson
5:30 PM: Gangstagrass	5:30 PM: Rainbow Girls

Porch Pride Watch Party & Jam!

PRESENTED BY DOUBLE RAINBOW ICE CREAM

Sunday, June 27 at 2:00-7:00 PM PT

For Bluegrass Pride fans and members local to the Bay Area, an in-person Porch Pride Watch Party & Jam will be held at Spark Social SF (601 Mission Bay Boulevard North, San Francisco, CA 94158) on June 27 at 2pm PDT!

During and after the livestream watch party enjoy food, drinks, free Double Rainbow ice cream, fellowship with fellow BGPers, jam circles for pickers of all levels, plus a performance by local roots music scene stalwart Karen Heil’s old-time string band, the Knuckle Knockers.

Our Sponsors

Special thanks to ALL of our Porch Pride sponsors for 2021! We are so grateful to have the support of key partners in our push to bring joy, hope, and key resources into the LGBTQ+ roots music community. Learn more about them below!