Flamy Grant, a Billboard-charting drag queen and singer-songwriter from Asheville, North Carolina, joined Meredith Carson on KGNU to share her story of blending music, identity, and faith. Known for her theatrical storytelling and original songs, Flamy discussed her upbringing in the evangelical South, coming out as queer, and finding her voice through drag during the pandemic. Her concept album Church explores those themes and made a surprising appearance on the Christian music charts. A winner of the 2023 Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Competition, Flamy uses her art to advocate for love, pride, and inclusion, bringing powerful messages of healing and self-acceptance to her audiences. (Interview: 6/20/25)
Meredith Carson: Hello. Good morning, my friend. How are you?
Flamy Grant: Good morning. I wish we were talking to Amy Grant.
Meredith Carson: Oh no, no, no. I’m so much more comfortable talking to you. I wouldn’t know what to say to Amy Grant—nor really even know one of her songs, I have to confess.
Flamy Grant: I could cover those bases, don’t worry.
Meredith Carson: There you go. Well, maybe we’ll just call her. What do you think?
Flamy Grant: Let’s do it.
Meredith Carson: Flamy Grant is playing tonight at the Gold Hill Inn, which is such a groovy place to play. And you—
Flamy Grant: It’s actually Sunday night.
Meredith Carson: See, now this is a great thing—that I’m actually talking to someone who knows the facts! Brian Finn gave us a call this morning and said, “You know, it’s gonna be such a gorgeous evening that we are gonna have Flamy do her show outside in the fabulous beer garden.”
Oh my, it’s so cool. You are gonna love it. I’m so excited. Starts at 6:30 Sunday night at—yes, that’s right—at Gold Hill.
Flamy Grant is—maybe you don’t know who she is—an award-winning and Billboard-charting artist. And your website—I love this description: shame-slaying, hip-swaying, singing, songwriting drag queen from Asheville, North Carolina.
Yes, that is you. You won the 2023 Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Competition, which is one of the most prestigious awards in our area of music. You have a brand-new CD out, is that right?
Flamy Grant: I do. It came out late last year, so it’s not brand new, but it is my newest work. That’s what I’m touring.
Meredith Carson: I was reading on your website that your first CD charted way up on the Christian charts—as a drag queen who pretty much goes your own way on all things. Help me understand about Church being the name of your CD and charting on the Christian charts. This is so interesting.
Flamy Grant: Yeah, it’s interesting to me too. I can’t say that it was all very well planned, but I’m happy to be here.
Meredith Carson: Definitely.
Flamy Grant: I started doing drag in the pandemic, but prior to that, I was born and raised in the Bible Belt in western North Carolina.
I grew up in the world of evangelicalism—that was my context for understanding the world. But I also grew up queer. It took me a long time to reconcile all of that and come out. Now I have a career as a drag queen and a musician, and I do a lot of work in trying to help move the needle for queer folks in the church.
So church was the context for me to understand the world. It was really the most important part of my family’s upbringing, and that’s where we spent most of our time as kids. It’s the thing that impacted me the most growing up, and so I felt like it deserved to be explored in a concept album.
I have a few things to say, and I guess you’ll just have to listen to the music to figure out what those things are.
Meredith Carson: Also, I love this line from your website: Flamy drags audiences into a therapeutic theatrical mix of storytelling and song.
So here’s a bunch of—you know, it’s probably bluegrass fans, many of whom go up to hear music at the Gold Hill Inn. They don’t always even know who the performer is because Brian chooses such fabulous artists to play up there. Have you performed in Colorado before?
Flamy Grant: I have, yeah—in Fort Collins and Denver.
Meredith Carson: Oh cool.
Flamy Grant: This is my first time in the Boulder area, so I’m really excited.
Meredith Carson: They are so ready for you up at Gold Hill. You’re gonna love it up there. Remember to drink lots of water because you’ll be way up in the altitude.
Flamy Grant: Definitely.
Meredith Carson: Tell us about what you have planned for Sunday night at the Gold Hill Inn.
Flamy Grant: Yeah, so I’m currently on a cross-country, coast-to-coast-and-back-again Pride Month tour.
I started in D.C., worked my way all the way to San Francisco, and now I’m slowly working my way back across the states. I’m in South Dakota right now, but I’ll be leaving today to head down your way.
It’s a big, fun Pride show. I’m an original singer-songwriter, so I do all of my own original music—maybe a cover here and there. It’s a whole lot of storytelling. Some people might argue I talk a little too much, but I like to tell my stories around the song.
And then I’ll sing it—in a wig and a corset and a full face of makeup. Hopefully it will be cool enough that it won’t melt off.
Meredith Carson: It should be absolutely gorgeous at that time of day up at the 8,000-foot level in our mountains. We are so delighted that you took a few minutes of your morning to talk to us. We are really looking forward to seeing you on Sunday night.
Flamy Grant will be at the Gold Hill Inn at 6:30 this Sunday—two days from now. Do not miss it! I don’t think they sell tickets ahead at the Gold Hill Inn. I think you just pay when you get there. But you might go to the Gold Hill Inn website if you’re worried about it.
Flamy Grant: They’ve got a ticket sign-up.
Meredith Carson: GoldHillInn.com—that’ll direct you to the ticket site. Flamy, last words for our crowd this morning?
Flamy Grant: I just want to say Happy Pride to everybody. I know it’s some crazy times we’re in, but you know what? Love is gonna win out—and so that is what we’re bringing to Gold Hill: Love on Sunday. I’ll see you there.
Meredith Carson: That will be so much fun, and it is so badly needed right now. Thank you so much for calling us from South Dakota—we appreciate it.
Flamy Grant: Thank you for having me. Oh, I appreciate it so much.
Meredith Carson: You’re so welcome.
Flamy Grant: I’ll see you Sunday night.
