Flamy Grant & Taylor Abrahamse – 6/26

Award-winning and Billboard-charting artist Flamy Grant is a shame-slaying, hip-swaying, singing-songwriting drag queen from western North Carolina. Her 2022 debut record, Bible Belt Baby, was nominated for Best Pop Album at the San Diego Music Awards and was named one of the Top Ten Queer Country Albums of 2023 by Rainbow Rodeo Magazine. Flamy is a winner of the 2023 Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Competition and a nominee for the 2023 QueerX Award for Best Drag Artist. She has been featured in Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, People, Billboard, and more. Both a powerhouse vocalist and an intrepid songwriter, Flamy blends the art of drag with her iconic folk/rock sound to create a memorable musical experience.

Flamy is the first drag performer to appear on Christian music charts, with both her song “Good Day” and her Album Bible Belt Baby reaching #1 on iTunes — the latter staying at the top for nine consecutive days. Additionally, “Good Day” debuted at #20 on Billboard’s Christian digital sales chart. Her music has over 750,000 streams on Spotify, Apple, and Amazon. Flamy has collaborated with Adeem the Artist, Jennifer Knapp, Semler, and Derek Webb. In addition to playing the New Folk winner’s showcase at the 2023 Kerrville Folk Festival, she has played Wild Goose Festival in North Carolina, San Diego Pride’s SheFest, and headlined Blount County Pride in East Tennessee, where she won a court victory after a local district attorney threatened to enforce Tennessee’s drag ban.

It’s no accident that Flamy’s drag name is an homage to Amy Grant, the undisputed queen of Christian music and 90s chart-topping pop artist. Much of Flamy’s music centers on the queer spiritual journey, telling stories of resilience and recovery from religious trauma in a world where LGBTQ+ people are frequently ignored by, harmed in, or ejected from religious spaces. With a bold lip, a big lash, and a blistering voice, Flamy drags audiences to a soulful, uplifting church of her own making. This down-to-earth diva has entertained music lovers from Los Angeles to Nashville with her funny, frank, and fabulous songs.

If you’re singing along to a song you don’t know, and suddenly feeling 10 years younger – you’re probably at a Taylor Abrahamse concert. Like a maple leaf in a gust above the Ontario prairies, Taylor floats blissfully between the borders of song, gender & genre with his/her deftly crafted, hook-laden hammer-claw pop. A Paul Simon/Jim Carrey crossbreed, he’ll leave you laughing, touched, and even singing along – if you can reach that high.

Starting as a five-year-old Elvis impersonator at county fairs, at age 6, Taylor vowed to never ‘grow up’ in the typical sense and to always hold onto a sense of play. At 11, he began songwriting, inspired by listening to CDs in the dark by artists such as Elton John and Queen, while his imagination painted transcendental music videos in his head. At sixteen, he was a finalist on Canadian Idol and was regularly playing across Ontario.

Fresh from a 2024 Home Routes house concert tour, Taylor is also a 2021 Kerrville Newfolk winner, Canadian Idol & Mariposa finalist, and co-founder of Silverthorn Studios, a much-loved Toronto recording studio which is hopeful to re-open in partnership with venue Hugh’s Room Live. He produced & mixed his 2020 Factor/TAC supported debut album in partnership with the great Eddie Kramer (Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, KISS, etc). Along with four singles, acclaimed self-directed & produced music videos, airplay across Canada, and a Deluxe Edition released in 2021, it’s release sparked a chance to open for multi-Juno-winner Hawksley Workman (one of Taylor’s childhood music heroes!), and a US & Canada tour. Her newest release, ‘Live In Lockdown Vol 1’, was one of many projects Taylor wrote & recorded during a tumultuous farewell to the original Silverthorn Studios space. During its final five weeks, he managed to track versions of over 120 original songs, with frequent musical guests – and often live-streamed. His upcoming project, made possible in part by the Ontario Arts Council, will make use of some of these recordings.

Taylor has also written musicals, and in recent years, has been writing with emerging & established songwriters including The Accidentals, Nice Horse & Hawksley Workman, as well as multi-platinum writers Jeff Franzel (N’Sync, Josh Groban), Pam Sheyne (Christina Aguilera), and Liz Rodrigues (Celine Dion, Eminem). He has also written & performed music for many projects including the feature film ‘About Fate’ starring Emma Roberts, ‘Superwish’ (Teletoon), and ‘Fangbone!’ (Disney XD), one of many animated TV/film series in which Taylor also stars and/or plays supporting characters. His original songs & productions for online media such as Super Planet Dolan, Gardenkeeper Gus & Corus Entertainment have been heard over 21 million times.

This show is sponsored by LGBTQ Syracuse:

News, humor, daily empowerment; a safe space for the LGBTQ community. Allies welcome.

DOORS: 5:30PM SHOWTIME: 7PM