Activist-musician Talia Keys grew up Roman Catholic in the global centre of Mormon culture, Salt Lake City. “Born and raised here, yes. It’s rare to find someone like me who actually sticks with it and sticks it out. As a Catholic, I definitely had a different experience here, and I definitely have this love-hate relationship with my hometown,” they tell Pink Ticket Travel.
Home to about a half million Mormons, Salt Lake City has a reputation for being, um, uptight. But Keys says there’s a strong counterculture and LGBTQ2S+ community that lives in defiance of the mainstream. Plus, the metropolitan area, which has a population of about 1.26 million and attracts more newcomers all the time, is no longer majority Mormon.
Though they’ve toured nationally with artists like Lukas Nelson (a star in his own right, though those less familiar with American country-rock might know him better as Willie Nelson’s son), Keys loves performing in their hometown and has performed at the Utah Pride Festival, at fundraisers for Equality Utah and at many of the city’s best venues.
The busy musician took some time to sit down with Pink Ticket Travel and discuss what they love about Salt Lake City.
How being from Salt Lake City has shaped Keys as a person and as a musician
I’m a queer, outspoken non-binary woman. It’s a small city, so our circles are not super big. You can get to know people here. You can meet people from any different genre of music because there’s a lot of sub-scenes. You wouldn’t know it if you don’t live here, but there’s a great punk scene and a great blues scene. Making all the friends I have, I would go and play open mics and open jams. There’s a blues jam every single Monday night, and that’s where I got my start networking, playing with other musicians and learning how to play music on the fly, without rehearsal or whatnot. You just get on stage and play with a bunch of strangers. Sometimes you make magic and sometimes you don’t.
What the queer scene is like now
When you have one dominant culture here, which is the Mormon Church, you have all these countercultures that emerge out of it. What I’m seeing now is an incredible queer emergence of all forms of art—drag, activism, spoken word poetry, music. I’ve personally seen the music scene become a lot more inclusive. I see a lot more marginalized humans taking up instruments and starting bands. When you have all that oppression, and also religious oppression in one state, you’re going to get this beautiful counterculture. We have to push back. It’s a form of survival, you know?
We’re seeing a lot more diversity, we’re seeing a lot more bars and restaurants and distilleries and live music. Salt Lake City’s becoming this nice little blue island in a sea of red.
But of course, they are trying to pass laws and bills against trans folks and trans kids here, trying to overturn the ban on conversion therapy to make it legal again. They’re just constantly in our legislation, in our laws. They are trying to remind us who’s in charge. But luckily, I do work with one of our amazing local non-profits, Equality Utah. They are up on the hill fighting, making sure these harmful laws don’t get passed.
What people get wrong about Salt Lake City
That you can’t get a good drink anywhere. That is a lie. You can get drunk here. Actually, you’re at a higher elevation, which can have an added effect when drinking—a lot of people don’t think about that when partaking in that sort of thing. And it’s diverse. We have a very vibrant community here during the summer, and there are a lot of amazing festivals that I really love. One of my favourites is the Living Traditions Festival [held annually the third weekend in May at Washington Square Park and Library Square] (200 E. 400 S., Salt Lake City), where they bring together all the different cultures that make up Utah. There’s food, performances, art. We also have a very vibrant arts festival every year [The Utah Arts Festival, next taking place June 28 to 30, 2024, also at Library Square]. We have a pretty decent Utah Pride Festival [held each June]. A common misconception is that everybody is straight-laced when that’s actually quite the opposite. We have quite a vibrant community.
Where to go out at night
We have a new club called Club Verse (609 S. State St., Salt Lake City), which is very inclusive. They have drag and bingo nights. Club Try-Angles (251 Harvey Milk Blvd., Salt Lake City) has been around for a long time. They promise the coldest, cheapest and biggest drinks in town. And there’s The Sun Trapp (102 S. 600 W., Salt Lake City), which is the oldest queer bar in Utah.
There’s also a cool new scene emerging. One of my friends, Sofia Scott, leads an all-trans band Shecock with a Vengeance. They have been putting on a regular event called Queers Revolt [usually at Aces High Saloon (1588 S. State St,, Salt Lake City)], where everybody on the bill is either queer or an ally or very much involved in the queer community. I love seeing the underground scene. Instead of waiting for someone else to do it, they’re like, “Hey, we’re just going to do our own thing.” I also want to shout out to KRCL, where I used to be a radio DJ. They’ve had queer voices on the air for over 42 years.
What Salt Lake City does better than other destinations
You’ve got to get out into nature, whether you are checking out the Great Salt Lake, which is about a half-hour drive from Salt Lake City, or going up into the Cottonwood Canyons, which are world famous for skiing, or taking a four-hour drive down to Moab, Utah, which is unlike anywhere else on this planet. [The area has massive rock formations at both Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park.] From my place, I can be on a hiking trail in 20 minutes, maybe even 15, and spend a beautiful day in the woods. If you’re looking for more attraction-type things, we have a really cool old-school theme park called Lagoon (375 North Lagoon Dr., Farmington). Legends used to play shows there—Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead. One of my other favourite attractions is called Dreamscapes (10450 State St. #2200, Sandy). They take thrown-away materials and turn them into this really cool interactive art scene in a mall. It’s cool to see them revitalize this space that was once empty and turn it into this really cool underground art scene.
Where to go to hear live music
I wish we had a walkable area where you could go and hang out and see a bunch of music. But downtown is going to be your best bet for clubs, dancing, live music. My favourite live music venue is this locally owned place called the State Room (638 S. State St., Salt Lake City). I’ve played probably 20 shows there throughout my career. It is an awesome venue with the best sound in town and their seats are very comfortable.
The same owners have another venue, the Commonwealth Room (195 W. 2100 S. Expressway, South Salt Lake), which is a bigger venue with the same incredible sound and great vibes.
If it’s summertime, we have a really cool outdoor amphitheatre, Red Butte Garden (2188 Red Butte Canyon Rd., Salt Lake City), which is where a lot of the bigger names will come and play. It’s a beautiful botanical garden where you can bring your own picnic, your own alcohol, a blanket.
Where to go shopping
The Mormon Church owns a mall, City Creek Center (50 S. Main St., Salt Lake City), which is so funny to me. All right. You know, whatever. It’s probably your best bet for high-end shopping. I am a thrift shop-type person, so I want to mention an incredible queer-owned second-hand clothing and vintage store called Decades (627 State St., Salt Lake City); they definitely know their shit.
I personally like to escape up to Park City, Utah, where you’re going to find anything from a furry jockstrap to a shot glass that says “Utah” on it. Park City’s got great restaurants, a great nightlife, and it’s about a 30-minute drive from Salt Lake. Because it’s always about 15 degrees cooler up there, in the summertime, it’s a great escape.
Where to eat
Let’s start at breakfast because, as a touring musician, I love a good breakfast restaurant. We have a place called Eggs in the City (2795 S. 2300 E., Salt Lake City). It’s got a great outdoor patio, super friendly staff—they’ll remember your name. Also, high-quality ingredients. I also love a restaurant called Roots Cafe (3474 S. 2300 E., Millcreek), which has local organically sourced food. Really good. The best bang for my buck is a place called the Park Cafe (604 E. 1300 S., Salt Lake City). My favourite thing there is the jazz omelette, named after the Utah Jazz basketball team. I get it smothered with their chile verde, which is absurd.
For dinner, I think of some of my favourite pizzas. I am biased because my brother is part owner, but one of the best is Rusted Sun Pizzeria (2010 S. State St., Salt Lake City). They do a lot of New York-style pizzas and calzones, and really good salads as well, with delicious homemade ingredients. We are famously known for Red Iguana (736 W North Temple St., Salt Lake City), one of the top Mexican restaurants in Utah, which is saying a lot because we have a ton of incredible Mexican restaurants here. I go old school. I just love their cheese enchiladas and their tamales. They’re my favourite.
For sushi I like Tsunami Sushi Bar and Restaurant (1059 E. 900 S., Salt Lake City) because I really like their vegetarian sushi. They have a great selection and they can accommodate people who need gluten-free food.
Where to go on a day trip
Park City, Utah, is your classic mountain town. The main street has lots of historic buildings from the late 1800s and early 1900s—a lot of the architecture here is protected. I took a staycation there with my wife. We stayed at Treasure Mountain Inn (255 Main St., Park City), which is right at the top of Main Street. You’re right there in the bustle of it all, surrounded by ski resorts: Deer Valley, the Canyons, Park City Mountain. We did a ghost tour, where you learn about the lore surrounding everything. It was one of the funniest things ever. Park City has four different bars with live music, and many others where you can go dancing or just have food and drinks. It’s a bit counterculture compared to Salt Lake City—it was always a hippie getaway—and as a queer woman, I have always feel safe and welcome there. That said, there’s been an influx of conservative rich people from Texas moving there.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
