Realizing Who You’re Fighting For: An Interview with becks!

(Photo Credit - @misguidedlens)

becks! Is a queer, Appalachian musician, scholar, educator, and activist for the Ohio River Valley Region and beyond. Their music is rooted in folk traditions, queer activism, and Appalachian history. They sat with us for an interview. FMI on becks! check them out on socials at @becks.exclamationpoint

You are a fellow native of the Appalachian region. You are also a scholar and activist for many causes (more on those later), can you share how being from this unique area of the country has shaped your perspective and you music?

“So my family has been in the Ohio River Valley for a very long time. I didn’t appreciate how special place is until I left for college at Oklahoma City University. I come from generations of union organizers and progressives in that have been working to make an impact for a while. When I left I realized how green it was and had to come back to the mountains.”

“On the music front I’m blessed to come from a musical family. Everyone on my mom’s side either played/repaired instruments or sang. There was an attempt to crate a union band in the 50’s, which wasn’t necessarily the most popular thing at the time.”

You also identity as queer (as do I), can you share how your identity has shaped your sound and your advocacy? When discussing issues that impact the LGBTQ+ community in this area, people often think of hostility towards us. How have your experiences growing up “different” than the majority of the region shaped you as a person, educator, and musician?

“Well, I mean my family is very progressive, and I have a relative that came out as trans in the 90’s. So it wasn’t a question of being accepted by them. Rather when I came out, it was a question of “are you happy?” which was great. Musically, there has been a suppression of queer voices in this region. When I got the ability to speak about it, I couldn’t imagine not talking as musician and educator.”

You are an advocate for flood relief in this region. You serve as the Director of Operations for Stateline Resource Station, a flood relief organization in Western North Carolina that you co-founded with Valentine Reilly in the wake of Hurricane Helene. Can you share how you use music in your educational and advocacy roles?

“Well I think in flood relief specifically, I’m no stranger to floods. I was at Appalachian State when Helene happened, and the impacted area was roughly the size of Belgium. I realize that joy is an important piece of advocacy work. You can’t always do the “serious” stuff or you’re going to burn yourself out. We did a lot of John Prine tribute shows to raise money for those that were impacted by the hurricane/flooding and they were pretty successful not only at providing resources, but also bringing people together from different backgrounds and political perspectives.”

You also provide accessible and affordable music education for both children and adults in the region. Can you touch on how you came to do this and the importance of music and education for a region where funding and support for such things is often hard to come by?

“I mean access to education in our region is abysmal because we have been undercut by the government for forever. I took voice lessons as a a child and it had an immense impact on me. I teach at two places in Morgantown, I teach voice and piano. It also gives us an opportunity to connect queer youth with queer mentors. Offering education at an affordable rate, while also not compromising on the quality is important thing for our youth.”

You term yourself as a part of three generations of “card carrying communists” and union organizers. With Labor Day just happening earlier this week, can you touch on the importance of social justice when it specifically comes to economics, compensation, and labor? Especially in this region where there is a strong history of economic exploitation (from coal mines of the past, to data centers of today) of the underclass?

“Well for starters, Labor Day is a holiday that is supposed to honor the working class. Whereas today the white collar community get the day off for barbecues and the working class works. My great grandparents were in this region in the 1950’s. One of them was a Slovakian immigrant and they were union leaders, they ran a communist publication. Then HUAC (House Un-American Activities Commission) came and investigated my great grandfather and he didn’t stop, but he had to go underground a bit. In a post Hillbilly Elegy era we are kind perceived to be boot licking and all these negatives. This has made some forget about the fights that have occurred for equal rights and opportunities in our history such as the Battle of Blair Mountain.”

You released your debut record Boxer in the Ring in March. Can you discuss some of the process of your writing and recording process for the record?

“That project, I recorded pretty piecemeal when I could afford the sessions. There are songs that I wrote when I was 19, while others were more recently written. I was working in artist and project management for a firm in Boston remotely at the time, so I got a benefit of some free studio time. However you still have to pay the producers and musicians. This project was sort of a culmination of a lot of introspection and self realization and finding out who you are fighting for.”

You are currently touring throughout the region (including accompaniment from Abbie McCallister) including being a part of a show in Athens later this month as a part of the film series Dr. Tiffany Arnold (fellow family) of Ohio University’s Appalachian Studies Program hosts every year to educate on the region. How did this come together?

“Crazy story, I went to this conference in Romania as a part of my own masters in Appalachian studies and met Tiffany there. We have a lot of overlap in our advocacy and research and she asked me to do a talkback on a documentary of my choosing. I chose Bluegrass Country Soul, (1971) which is about one of the first bluegrass festivals that was multi-day bluegrass event in that began in Virginia and would eventually move to North Carolina. While the founder is a bit of a complicated person, I still feel the documentary does a good job of showing how people can be brought together through music, even who are opposed politically.”

Going back to your tour, what are you most looking forward to about your upcoming shows?

“So this next one I’m doing with Abbie (McCallister) will be right around the anniversary of Hurricane Helene. It’s right around the two year anniversary of where I was during the flood. It will be cool to be back in that place physically and helping with relief efforts. I’m excited to play with Abbie, not only is she incredibly talented, but we draw from different inspirations. We learn from each other quite a bit.”

“Also, I love playing Appalachian music in Appalachia. I have some murder ballads and songs about the history of union organizing that I tried out in Nashville and most of the crowd there didn’t know what I was talking about. I love playing music for the region in the region. At the same time, playing it outside the region is also important, because it breaks down people’s preconceived notions of this region with drugs and poverty and whatever JD Vance was talking about. So it’s good to change the narrative a bit on that.”