One of the first American openly transwomen who perform and tour nationally since the early 1990’s – Shawna Virago issued a new album with Tranimal Records. This fierce acoustic punk and folk piece is named “Heaven sent delinquent” and contains exactly 10 tracks digging deep in personal real-life situations of transgender people. Although it’s not confessional, Shawna describes the songs as stories of her generation that was here long before the reality TV trans sensational celebrities.
The album has its own mythology of dandies, vixens and queers. Her lyrics are straight-forwarded and honest, poignant yet quite edgy and rebellious. She’s a powerful songwriter whose music slowly walks us in the daily events of transgender people, fulfilled with contradictions and dark humor. Even her surname Virago bears the meaning of a brave and decisive woman, a vixen, an amazon or a tomboy, you name it.
Watch the making of the album:
Shawna is based in San Francisco and is a well-known name who has been featured in national media including Bitch, Advocate, Rumpus, and Curve magazines, on NPR and PBS, and on left-of-the-dial radio. Shewired named Virago as one of the nation’s “Top 25 Hot Femmes.” The Advocate named Virago’s song ‘Objectified’ as one of the nation’s top transgender anthems. She is also the Artistic Director of the San Francisco Transgender Film Festival and a published writer. Her work appears in Gender Outlaws: Next Generation and in the anthologies Trans/Love: Radical Sex, Love & Relationships Beyond the Gender Binary and Take Me There.
The album starts with the capturing rhythm of “Bright Green Ideas” – that indeed is moving and raging. Lyrics in the first official single “Gender Armageddon” contain picking lines that are provoking us to imagine a brave new world without gender restrictions or boundaries. The video is out now, check it:
There are also softer, much more tender tracks such as “The ballad of Ms Suzy Texas” and “Last Night’s Sugar”. The eponymous “Heaven Sent Delinquent” is a dynamic anthem for all the outsiders and loners, while “Burnout” is an epic tale of a first queer sexual encounter. “Anniversary Song”, “The pleasure car”, “Holly Rollers” and “Land of Guns and Honey” are the last four songs in this eclectic punk-folk album that we absolutely recommend!
The album is available on vinyl, CD or download (CDBaby, iTunes, Amazon).
Listen it on soundcloud and youtube:
Find Shawna on her official wesite and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
Similar to: Billy Bragg, John Doe, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave
