Kiki Ball-Change’s Hoe Down! celebrates the queer spirit of country

Featured photo by John Lagucki.

Drag queen Kiki Ball-Change may rule the stages of New York City, but her roots are in the Deep South of Pensacola, Florida. In her newest show Hoe Down! at Joe’s Pub in Manhattan, she seamlessly blends her two hometowns for a cabaret that’s equal parts comedy, concert, and call to action.

Kiki is well-known as NYC’s queen of parody songs, thanks to both her clever comedy lyricism and her smooth tenor vocals. Her takes on country standards (the running theme of Hoe Down!) are no exception: In Kiki’s hands, Taylor Swift’s Love Story tells the saga of an outdoor hookup and swaps an engagement ring for a cock ring, while her Dolly Parton medley — which mashes up hits including Two Doors Down, Why’d You Come in Here Lookin’ Like That, and Baby I’m Burnin’ — is a cautionary tale about unprotected sex. (“Why’d you come in me? I’m not on PrEP!” is an all-time great lyric. Dolly could take notes.)

But as Hoe Down! continues, Kiki’s comedic sensibilities take a backseat to earnest storytelling and a look at what it means to grow up queer in the Bible Belt. Though ​​Kiki is an unabashedly camp queen, where she especially shines is in her sincerity. Take one of the show’s standout numbers, a cover of “Fancy” as popularized by Reba McEntire. Kiki doesn’t alter any lyrics this time, instead introducing the song with a heartfelt story of growing up in a low-income home, lending added depth to the track’s infamous mouthful of words.

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That sincerity extends to Hoe Down!’s political messaging, too. In between numbers, Kiki shone a light on the importance of remembering that queer folks live in the South too, and reducing an entire region to its most hateful members leaves a huge swath of the LGBTQ+ community in the lurch.

“I think it’s so easy to say everyone in the South is racist and backwards and awful,” she told a rapt audience. “But it’s so much more complicated than that.”

“What about the trans person in Tallahassee, Florida? What about the trans person, the gay person, the lesbian person in Mississippi that has no choice? They don’t have any money, they don’t have any ways to get out,” she continued. “They deserve a better life, too.”

With that, she launched into a politically fueled rendition of Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin,’” dedicated to some of Florida’s most infamous politicians: representative Matt Gaetz, governor Ron DeSantis, and former president Donald Trump, all of whom she literally stomped on during the number in the form of printed-out portraits. It’s a rallying cry to fight back, both at the polls and in everyday life, and an excellently sung earworm to boot.

It’s that talent for marrying important messages with playful performances that makes Hoe Down! such a success. It combines all the things we love about drag: laugh-out-loud comedy, political activism, and unadulterated queer expression — and Kiki delivers it in one hilarious honky-tonk package. ♦

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Kiki’s new single from the show, a parody of Johnny Cash’s “I’ve Been Everywhere,” is now streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube.

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