Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Openly lesbian English musician, Lucy Spraggan will be in Pittsburgh during June, performing at Club Cafe on Monday, June 18 at 8 PM (doors at 7 PM) Tickets are $12. We had a chance to talk with her about her art, her LGBTQ experiences, and her work as a foster parent.

Her show is part of our 50 Ways to Honor the Legacy of Stonewall during Pittsburgh Pride month list …

Your Name: Lucy Spraggan
Your Age: 27
Your Pronouns: she/her/hers

How do you describe your identity?  I am a lesbian, a queer woman.

Please tell us about your very first impression of Pittsburgh: I am excited to be in Pittsburgh for the first time for my show!  I love Pennsylvania though and cannot wait. I hear you have a great football team!

What Pittsburgh creators – writers, musicians, poets, etc – have influenced your work? Is there anyone with whom you’d like to collaborate? I have yet to explore Pittsburgh as much as I intend to though I read recently the story Billie Nardozzi in the Pittsburgh post gazette, I love it! Whiz Khalifa is from Pittsburgh, that would be an incredibly interesting collaboration!

Please tell us about the first LGBTQ person that you knew and what impact they had on your life. My mum had so many gay friends (she thinks she’s part of some kind of club!) I am not even sure who the first LGBT person I knew would be. They were just normal people in my life – I guess that’s quite an impact as it is.

You and your wife are foster parents. I used to be a foster parent recruiter and Pittsburgh is home to one of the only LGBTQ centric foster care agencies in the nation (Persad Center.) That seems like a cosmic fit for a question – what do LGBTQ foster parents, single or couples, have to offer that might be unique to our community? I think LGBT people have an understanding of what it can be like to have challenges with your identity. I think that presents itself not just in young people in care, but young people in general. It helps to be able to speak with experience.

When I first listened to “Breathe” – I was struck by the literal interpretation of our society’s struggle with accessing clean air, clean water, etc and how the barriers aren’t about technology, but about fear and shame and greed. Is that my reading into the song or do ecological metaphors inspire you?  Absolutely. My anxieties aren’t just bought on by my personal fears, it’s the world we live in, the climate, the social climate! Earth is a very strange place to live at the moment and I think that’ll work it’s way into the next album on a much larger scale.

What is your love song for LGBTQ youth?  I Am What I Am – Gloria Gaynor. I used to literally bang my drum to that growing up. It’s a love song about loving yourself I suppose.

Who are some of the younger openly LGBTQ artists that our readers should be listening to, but might not know about? Emma McGrath from the UK. She has some incredible songs – she was an artist alongside me on the Melissa Etheridge cruise this year.

Where can readers find you on social media?

Twitter – @lspraggan

Thank you, Lucy.

Tickets are available for the June 17 show in Pittsburgh.  You can buy Lucy’s music here.