Naomi Westwater Floats in Cycle & Change

LGBTQIA+
BIPOC
By
Rachel Cholst
March 10, 2025
Rainbow Rodeo
Interview

Naomi Westwater is one of those artists who fully embraces their moment. Their music feels a bit like leaping off into the deep end with joyous abandon. In addition to their musical work, Naomi is a vocal advocate for social justice, producing Reclaiming Folk: A Celebration of People of Color in Folk Music, and is a part of The Club Passim Folk Collective where they produce Re-Imagining Lilith Fair, a tribute to the feminist music scene of the ‘90s with a modern, intersectional lens. Naomi is also the director of We Make Noise Boston, where they produce We Make Noise Fest. Their new album, Cycle & Change, will be out on May 9th. Below, Westwater tells Rainbow Rodeo about their inspirations and their fight to make music welcoming for all.

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Interview
A Black woman stands in a lush garden, holding a sunflower, with sunlit greenery and other sunflowers in the background.
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Gay Ole Opry

Why queer country music? Because sometimes you love a culture that doesn’t love you back. And when everyone came to the first Gay Ole Opry in April of 2011 in all their country finery, we knew we weren’t alone. We do it because we love the music and want to build a community to support queer country musicians.

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Transcendent Roots

Record Bin Radio Host Kelly McCartney gathers up the best trans, nonbinary and two-spirit artists in roots music.

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BIPOC Country/Folk/Roots etc.

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