Click here to watch a video from the Oct. 8 performance

Coyote Grace is a band unlike most. Not only does the band have a different indie-folk sound, but band member Joe Stevens has recently transitioned from female to male.

Coyote Grace will have a concert at 11 a.m. on Thursday in the University Union’s Hinde Auditorium for Queer History Month that will feature Stevens, who plays the guitar, and Ingrid Eyen, who plays the upright bass.

Following the concert will be a workshop by the band highlighting Stevens’ firsthand account of female-to-male transition.

Stevens said that although some of the band’s lyrics are based on his transgendered experience, most of the lyrics are about life experiences.

Nicole Scanlan, co-coordinator at the PRIDE Center, said Stevens’ willingness to share his personal life experience means a lot to the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender community.

“Transgendered issues are very foreign to a lot of people, whether they’re LGBT or heterosexual,” Scanlan said.

Scanlan said it is important to personalize the term “transgendered” because it is much easier for students to relate this way. She also said Stevens’ workshop will do so by putting a face on the transgender community.

Before his transition, Steven said he and Eyen played together as two girls for a little less than a year, however, during this time he felt very awkward and disconnected with his body.

“I just didn’t treat (my body) very well. I smoked a lot and drank a lot. I wasn’t really going anywhere. I was just killing time and killing the pain,” Stevens said.

Stevens said that after his transition, he felt more comfortable than he ever thought was possible and that this was when life really started for him.

“I can do whatever I want,” Stevens said. “I don’t have to walk around and feel awkward or defensive anymore. Everything is great now.”

Stevens said that his transition was not the easiest thing in the world, but it was necessary for him.

Stevens said that because of voice alterations due to hormone intake, Coyote Grace’s music was put on hold for two years until he fully transitioned.

Stevens said he was lucky not to encounter too much adversity from his friends and family throughout the transition.

“Honestly, I really underestimated my friends and family. A lot of my friends said they weren’t really surprised (by the transition), which is kind of validating,” Stevens said.

Stevens said it took a while longer for his family to come around, mostly because he was the only girl in the family, but eventually his family members accepted the change.

Eyen, who notices there have been a lot of physical changes with Stevens, said the obvious changes such as facial hair aren’t shocking to her.

“I really had a front row seat to the physical changes and they happened so progressively that I didn’t notice as much,” Eyen said.

Eyen said Stevens is still the same person at his core.

“He has the same personality with the same history, same friends and family, same influences and all of that,” Eyen said.

Overall, Stevens said he is stunned with the acceptance and understanding he received before, during, and after his transition.

“I was very surprised that there was a community out there at all (for transgendered individuals),” Stevens said. “It seemed impossible to transition and still be a relatively normal member of society, but it is.”

Katrina Tupper can be reached at [email protected]