All Things Go Releases First Track To Benefit Compilation Raising Money For LGBTQ+ Youth

Indie music festival All Things Go unveiled the first installment of its benefit compilation that will raise money for The Ally Coalition (TAC), a nonprofit dedicated to supporting LGBTQ+ youth. The debut track titled “Jesus and John Wayne,” a collaboration between googly eyes, Joy Oladokun and Allison Ponthier, is available now on all music platforms via Futures Music Group.

The compilation featuring marquee artists and rising stars from the festival’s history will be available in the fall, and 100% of the proceeds will support TAC, an organization founded in by Jack Antonoff and fashion designer Rachel Antonoff in 2013. The full tracklist will be revealed soon.

“Jesus and John Wayne” is a soul-searching anthem inspired by Kristin Kobes Du Mez’s novel sharing the same title. The song “reimagines spirituality as a source of healing, belonging and radical love,” according to a release.

“There’s so much love, grief, gratitude, and deep ache wrapped into my religious journey — especially as an American who’s watched people and politics essentially hijack the faith I grew up in,” googly eyes said in a statement. “Anyone who’s gone through deconstruction knows how devastating and lonely it can feel. I hope this song resonates with those people. I’m so honored to have Allison and Joy sing this with me as we support the LGBTQIA+ community, a group so often hurt by the church. I might’ve left the brick and mortar behind, but I’m grateful to carry the awe, reverence, and compassion for ALL people with me, now more than ever.”

Oladokun said the collaboration was a “rich experience” and that the song reflects a struggle many in the LGBTQ+ community face.

“I’ve never felt like god ever asked me to choose between faith and queerness. People did that. I feel like this song will be a comfort to the people who hear it,” Oladokun added.

Ponthier happened to be reading the book when googly eyes wrote the song and was honored to be a part of the collaboration.

“As someone who grew up singing in church, there was something incredibly church-life and healing about singing this song with these two women,” Ponthier said. “It’s a song about growing up with lessons like ‘love thy neighbour’ and ‘judge not,’ but being left feeling like the words of religion have been twisted and taken in bad faith for personal gain. My hope for ‘Jesus and John Wayne’ is that it encourages us to rethink spirituality as a reason to fight for the rights of all people and religion as a form of community that can be inclusive and safe. The song asks the question: Would anyone who loves us enough to create us want us to sow hatred among ourselves?”

All Things Go festival originated in Washington, D.C. and expanded to New York last year. The event features a diverse lineup that highlights female and non-binary artists. This year’s festivals at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, and New York’s Forest Hills Stadium include artists like Doechii, Lucy Dacus, Clairo, Kesha, MARINA, The Marías and Lola Young.

The festival partnered with The Ally Coalition in 2023 to further help LGBTQ+ youth.