Episode 257 features the words and music of Ahli, a pop singer/songwriter from Nashville, TN. In this episode, Ahli talks about what it was like growing up in a conservative town while discovering their identity plus advice for those who are currently living in more conservative areas.

The songs featured in this episode: “Ghost” and “Past Life”

Follow Ahli online at ahlismusic.com

Full transcription of Ahli’s story:

Same ground, different sound. You’re on Homoground. This is Ali from Stockton, New Jersey. I identify as a pansexual gender-neutral. I grew up in Stockton, New Jersey. It’s a really small rural town on the Delaware River. It’s biggest claim to fame is that we’re pretty close to where Washington crossed. I grew up in a more divided area. People would go to Pride in Pennsylvania, but there would also be people who fly the Confederate flag where I went to high school.. In high school, it wasn’t the best place to come out for a lot of reasons. One of them was there weren’t a lot of people who were out. I probably knew like definitely finger counting the amount of people who were LGBT and all of them were in the closet and not really outspoken about it. I think everybody was kind of in that zone like it’s kind of a toss up. We’re not really sure what to do. And it just kind of spread to me. I was like, OK, like, I definitely like girls, but I’m gonna hold off on that.

I waited till my senior year when I had transferred out and gone to boarding school. I was 200 miles away from my parents before I told them. I was like, hey, I am pansexual.

You can read the full transcript of Ahli’s story on our patreon.

CREDITS

This episode was produced and hosted by Lynn Casper.

Intro Jingle by data.data.data

Transcription was made possible by Queer Public Podcast who let us use their transcription software.

Our affiliate sponsor for this episode is Pride Counseling. Homoground listeners receive a 1 week free trial when they sign up through this link. We also receive commission from each sign up that becomes a paid member. These funds helps us produce episodes like this 🙂

In episode #258, Nashville, TN -based musician Madeline Finn talks about the healing journey of writing songs through breakups, the transition from performing in front of a live audience to livestreams which has led to more introspection.

The songs featured in this episode: “Timing is Everything” and “Save Yourself”

Follow Madeline at madelinefinnmusic.com

Transcription of Madeline Finn’s Story:

“Same ground. Different sound. You’re listening to Homoground. This is Madeline Finn from Nashville, Tennessee and I identify as queer.

“Since COVID-19, I’ve had to cancel a full European tour, a full living room tour that I had booked for the summer and a couple other really awesome opportunities like opening up for Brent Cobb and Rainbow Girls and some other festivals as well. It’s been weird shifting into an online presence as opposed to a live performance, because I feel personally that the live performance is where I thrive; the live performance is the part I love most about my job other than connecting with people and to not have it in my current reality is tough. Shifting to an online presence has been challenging for me, mostly because I’m not great at technology, but we’re learning! The livestreams have been cool, but it’s been more of an introspective time. You know, when I perform, I feed off the energy of those listening. I feed off the crowd interaction and all that. And with that gone, because when you play, you know, people can comment, but you don’t hear applause. You don’t get to see people reacting or get to share that emotional energy that’s just in the room with them. So it’s been more introspective. I’ve been able to, like, play a song and feel it for myself and kind of go inward. This has been a time of a lot of self-reflection. And as I start to try and bring that out on my social media and on my livestreams and on things like this, it’s brand new for me. But I think it’s taking me to a place of more integrity and more vulnerability. And I’m really excited for how this time is going to shape my live show in the future.”

You can read the full transcript of Madeline’s story on our patreon.

CREDITS

This episode was produced and hosted by Lynn Casper.

Intro Jingle by data.data.data

Transcription was made possible by Queer Public Podcast who let us use their transcription software.

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