“This town deserves more diverse voices and there are people craving that.” After sensing a huge and unaddressed local audience for more queer live music programming, Charity Painter and Chloe Morrison bootstrapped Soft Animal into existence during the pandemic. That animal has now grown into one of the city’s most reliable – and reliably eclectic – event promoters.
Charity has been an ASL interpreter for 21 years who’s been active in the local music scene for a decade. When she’s not booking shows for Soft Animal, she’s inspiring future female musicians through her volunteer work with Chattanooga Girls Rock. Chloe is a former journalist who moved to Chattanooga in 2001 for college and never looked back.
This interview was conducted over email in mid-January of 2025, and has been edited for length and clarity.
Soft Animal is a project that both of you share, but you’re also partners in life. How did the two of you meet?
Chloe: We had our first date almost 6 years ago. :) W met for the first time at Syrup & Eggs for brunch and the rest is history!
Who's idea was Soft Animal?
Charity: Chloe and I came up with the idea while being cooped up with COVID. We wanted to hang out with other queer people in a safe space and, unfortunately, they just didn't exist or were closing up shop, so we decided to create that space using what we knew how to do. For me, it was booking shows, and for Chloe it was telling our story and anything related to communications and public relations.
Chloe: Soon after we started, Charity pitched at The Company Lab's "Will This Float" competition, at my urging. ;) She didn't win but got so much positive feedback. It was a nice affirmation of what we were trying to do.
The name of the organization is a reference to "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver. Why did you choose that name? What about that poem resonates in the context of live music?
Charity: Yes! I consider Mary Oliver the patron saint of Soft Animal. I wanted the name to imply acceptance and safety, and that's how Mary Oliver's "Wild Geese" makes me feel. No pressure, stop beating yourself up because "You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves."
That's also the way that live music makes me feel - connected and accepted. I wanted other people to come to a Soft Animal show and experience that, too: acceptance, connection, and safety.
Chloe: Yeah, what Charity said. It inherently speaks to expectations we put on ourselves or that someone else might put on us: “Be better, but be less. Be stronger but also be less. Be queer, but not like that.” Soft Animal is a place where all those expectations are dropped and you can simply let "the soft animal of your body love what it loves." And if someone doesn't get the Mary Oliver reference, it's still just a fun, cozy, safe-feeling name, and we have a cute bunny logo to represent it.
What audience is Soft Animal trying to serve with its events and how do you market to them?
Charity: Our audience is mainly queer people but because queerness is inherently intersectional, so is our market. We want anyone who is marginalized because of gender, sexuality, race, disability, body size, et cetera, to feel safe, centered, and celebrated at our events. We market via social media, send out occasional email blasts, put up flyers, Discord chat and word of mouth. Social media, namely Instagram, is the main avenue.
Chloe: So, while it's several different demographics, they all have one thing in common — they are all feeling the effects of sexism or racism or homophobia, fat-phobia, and so on. And, especially in times like these, we need more spaces and events where marginalized people can feel safe. They can know that we come at this with the intention to be accessible, safe, inclusive and fun. Those are the main four words guiding our vision.
Also, fun fact, we like to call the people we are speaking to "Softies."
How would you describe Soft Animal's "business model"? This is clearly a labor of love for both of you - but is it making money? Or at least breaking even?
Charity: Because one of our core values is accessibility, we try to keep ticket prices low or on a sliding scale. We also believe in paying artists, staff and venues fairly, so for those reasons we almost always just break even.
It's definitely possible to make money throwing events, but we judge the success of the event on community response and make adjustments based on that feedback. If an event creates a safe space in which marginalized people feel centered and celebrated and experienced joy then it's a success.
We do plan to do some fundraising soon, though, now that we're an official 501c3, so we can do more accessible, inclusive, safe, fun programming.
Chloe: Yay, the great news is we just officially became a 501c3! To take the vision to the next level, it would be nice to start making money, but we're currently hoping that grants are the way to go, since we're a nonprofit, and we want to continue making events accessible cost-wise.
Talk about how you think about talent. Do you have a wish list of artists that you want to bring to town, or are artists pitching you - or both? In either case, how do you know when you've found an artist you want to put your energy behind?
Charity: I'm only interested in booking artists that are part of a marginalized group – women, BIPOC, queer, and so forth. There are far too many cis white men booking cis white male artists in Chattanooga, and it's honestly so boring and sad.
I definitely have a running wishlist of artists I want to book! It's mainly me reaching out to booking agents and asking them to consider adding Chattanooga on an upcoming tour, but I've also established a connection with several agents who do reach out from time to time and offer a show.
A lot of artists come play Barking Legs Theater, which is where I book most of the shows, and want to return, so that's cool. Right now I'm sort of obsessed with booking corook who was in Nashville but just moved to LA – I hope I didn't miss the window! – and Michelle from NYC.
I booked my favorite artist in the world, Lady Lamb, last year and got COVID the day before (!), so I hope to book her again someday. Some dream bookings would be Palehound, Adrienne Lenker, Gustaf, Cuddle Magic, Dijon, and MUNA. We will need a bigger room, I know!
Chloe: Charity has spent a decade building up her music promoting and booking skills. And she has an amazing eye for talent and knows how to catch bands who are going to be in both Nashville and Atlanta, but are skipping Chattanooga. Charty is also attuned to artists that are on the rise and/or are popular in the indie world and have a fan base. I'll venture to say that she gets a vibe about what shows will do well, but it's also years of experience, keeping her ear to the ground and an innate talent for knowing who to pursue as a treat for Chattanooga.
What shows over the last few years are you most pleased with?
Charity: I'm really proud of some of our first few shows. Our very first show featured a local queer rapper, Floami Fly, and a local R&B artist, Riel, along with several poets with a drag queen emcee (Hormona Lisa who is now on Rupaul's Drag Race!), and that show was incredible for its depth and range of talent we were able to gather on one stage.
Taylor ALXNDR, the founder of Southern Fried Queer Pride, and renowned drag artist had just released an album and came up from Atlanta to play a show around Easter of 2022. We had a drag show to open the concert and called it "They Have Risen." It was a straight-up blast and queer as hell.
Another standout to me would be Slothrust, who are one of my favorite bands. I was able to somehow get them to play a black box theater (Barking Legs), and it was a wild, sold-out, very fun experience. I was standing on a chair at one point pumping my fist!
Some other standouts were Toth with Mmeadows and Mon Rovia. We didn't sell very many tickets to that one, but the talent and artistry at the show really blew us away. Last year, Mon Rovia blessed us by booking his first headline hometown show with Soft Animal again at Barking Legs. He sold out two beautiful nights and has just blown up since the show with Mmeadows and Toth. We’re so proud of him and how he uplifts people with his work.
Chloe: I cosign all those shows. I fell in love with mmeadows after seeing them, and getting to watch Mon Rovia succeed more and more is such a delight.
What are you most excited about coming up in 2025?
Charity: I'm really excited about the show we have coming up with Jennifer Knapp and Flamy Grant. Jennifer was the first CCM artist to come out as queer while at the peak of her career, and Flamy Grant is a powerhouse songwriter/drag queen. Both are really inspiring queer artists who write Grammy-nominated songs about liberation and self-acceptance. It's going to be a really powerful night.
We're also working on several ongoing community events and don't have a lot of music events coming up, so a blank slate is really exciting to me. I'm sending off emails to booking agents who I have no business sending emails to as we speak so we'll see!
Chloe: I'm excited for the opportunity to land some grants and add to our long list of cool events we've done. I know we're talking about music now but we've also done queer outdoor events, like picnics, paddleboarding and hikes. We've offered American Sign Language and Spanish 101 courses. We host Queer Family Dinner every month. We've worked with another org called OUT Chatt to do professional meetups. We did a pretty successful trans day of self care, also.
And I know I'm forgetting some!
Learn more about Soft Animal at softanimal.org.