By DANA PICCOLI
The title of Nashville singer/songwriter Fimone’s debut EP, “The Fight in the Farmer’s Daughter,” isn’t hyperbole. Fimone was born and raised on an 80-acre farm in rural Minnesota and thrived on a steady diet of ’90s country radio.
“Johnny Cash, your Willie Nelson, you know, Eddie Rabbit, if you’re familiar with him,” said Fimone in a Zoom interview with News is Out. “My mother’s favorite, Conway Twitty, all of that. Those are my earliest influences, and if you listen to my song writing, I can’t escape it.”
Fimone, who identifies as a nonbinary lesbian and uses she/they pronouns, grew up surrounded by the music of not only her parents and country radio, but also by her gay brother who introduced her to musical theater and pop/rock like No Doubt.
“Once I found Gwen Stephani and No Doubt, I was like, that’s all I ever want to do with my life,” said Fimone. “All I ever want to do is do push ups on a stage in a sports bra. That’s it!”
Fimone has been writing and performing their own music since they were 16 and moved to Nashville at 22 to hone their skills in the heart of songwriter country.
Fimone shares that when she moved to Nashville, she was still figuring out her sexuality, but it didn’t take long to find herself through music.
“The number one thing I do is process my life through song,” said Fimone.
And process, Fimone did. However, Fimone often felt like an outsider in Nashville’s songwriting circle.
“There just were very few that were outside of that good old boy, country songwriter thing that’s going on, you know,” said Fimone. “I just heard derogatory statements. I felt I didn’t fit in. I was like, fuck you, country music. I just want to front a band, and I want to play guitar.
And I want to have a rock band. And I want to be like Joan Jett because nobody gives a shit about sexuality over there.”
Country music has been far from welcoming to LGBTQ+ artists. Even allies like Kacey Musgraves have received pushback from the country music scene for her welcoming and inclusive anthems like “Follow Your Arrow.” Recently, country music star Maren Morris came out as bisexual and received anti-LGBTQ+ messages on social media. I asked Fimonre how they dealt with loving something that doesn’t always love you back.
“Yeah, well, I’m a masochist,” said Fimone.
Fimone, whose real name is Janelle Faiman, has had several music projects over the years, including her work as Janelle and the Gentlemen and a band called Luchadora, which was of the grittier, Jack White-type alternative style.
“I had fun as an independent artist,” said Fimone. “It was great. but I never could escape my country roots.”
Now, Fimone is dedicated to taking country back for artists like herself.
“We don’t have to run away, we don’t have to call ourselves indie,” said Fimone. “I grew up on a farm castrating calves. I grew up with my father. I’ve never seen my father in a pair of sneakers. Never. Always cowboy boots. I ran away from it for so long, because it just didn’t seem like a place where I could be out and gay and really live like my authentic self.”
But a few years ago, in their mid-late 30s, Fimone bought a cowboy hat and decided to own her country roots.
“I was always really angry at country music because I was like, I’m more country than half of you all in this business, and you’re pushing me out,” said Fimone.
Fimone’s new album brings together a love of country and embracing queerness.
“‘The Fight in the Farmer’s Daughter’ is really a reclamation of like, no, I exist,” said Fimone.
“I’m a lesbian married to a woman, I exist, and I am country. So that’s it.”
Fimone’s song, “Gemini June,” is a passionate ode to loving another woman. Fimone shares that they wrote the song about their wife after dating for six months. The couple have now been together for over a decade but the song was only released in the last year.
“Good Lord, I wanted a powerful ballad that was a woman singing about her love sexually for another woman, and I wanted that represented because I didn’t want to be afraid about talking about my feelings for this woman,” said Fimone.
I asked Fimone if seeing this recent rise of queer and lesbian performers like Chappell Roan and Reneé Rapp was inspiring as a fellow queer artist.
“You know what, inspiring is an interesting question,” said Fimone. “I think that’s just because they’re younger than me. So, while it is inspiring, it’s also a different word. There’s almost like a relief when I hear it because I’m like, it’s about time.”
I ask Fimone if she thinks this surge of out queer performers can help break down walls in country music as well.
“There’s two types of country music,” Fimone said. “Anything over in this bucket that identifies itself as country, no matter who that is, whatever that may be. I’m even going to put Americana in there because I think Americana invented itself because of this. And then you have white, bro, Christian country. That’s it.”
Fimone shares that there is already room in the first bucket to grow.
“We’re already there,” Fimone said. “We’re already at a place where country is now much more than it was. CMT is doing a really good job at lifting up artists. So I think that it’s just gonna it’s going to keep growing along with all of the other LGBTQ+ awareness and openness that’s happening. The other bucket? No, and especially not this year, not in this election cycle. It’s just going to be more divisive.”
Fimone is releasing a new song today called “Will” that gives a nod to Mary Oliver’s famous poem, “The Summer Day.”
“It’s about remembering that nobody gets out of here alive,” said Fimone.
Fimone is also poised to have a busy fall. She’ll be releasing a new five song EP on Halloween, a video and a documentary in the works.
Fimone shared a little sneak peek into the video for “Will.”
“It’s gonna be good Fimone versus bad Fimone and they’re going to be in an entanglement,” said Fimone. “I won’t tell you how it ends, but one of them rides off into the sunset on a motorcycle. Because we need more lesbians riding off.”
Fimone tells me the best way for people to support their music is to follow them on Spotify and help grow numbers on Instagram. Fimone thinks of social media as digital touring.
“I think we used to get in our vans, and we used to drive around the country, and we used to amass fans,” said Fimone. “That is almost impossible if you’re an independent artist because of financial reasons and the price of everything. So, I look at Instagram, TikTok and social media as digital touring. You’re doing it on the digital landscape. You’re amassing your fans and building your fan base. And you’re connecting with people who believe in what you’re doing and who are getting something from you. And I’m getting something from them.”
To catch Fimone live, check out her tour schedule and watch for upcoming dates for the East Coast, Nashville and beyond.
Comments