I am so thankful that my ancestors are always conspiring for my highest good. I have no question about that whatsoever, because things work out even better than I can imagine in every way and with more ease than I can imagine. ~ A.J. Haynes
If the idea that it takes at least 10 years to become an overnight success, then singer/songwriter/musician, A.J. Haynes’ recent win at the 2026 Grammys perfectly encapsulates that sentiment, as hers is a journey more than a decade in the making. A.J., who was one of more than 40 contributors to the Best Roots Regional Album, A Tribute to the King of Zydeco, a tribute to the late Zydeco legend, Clifton Chenier, was a first-time attendee of the ceremony and took the stage to receive the award alongside three other of the project’s collaborators — including her good friend, Kam Franklin who initially presented her with the opportunity to be a part of the album.
But long before making a hurried dash to the Grammy podium to take in the glory of the moment, A.J. spent more than a decade carving out an impressive career as frontwoman for the genre-expansive rock & soul band, Seratones. She has also spent a considerable of time over the last decade+ working and volunteering in the space of reproductive justice, and most specifically as it relates to Black maternal health.
This is where our paths crossed.
Last summer I met A.J. as a fellow cohort member of the 2025-2026 Artists At Work collective servicing the Ashé Cultural Arts Center in New Orleans. Since that time, I have been inspired watching her dedication to the causes she fights for and the manner in which her artistry works in synergy with her advocacy.
In this conversation, we talk about a number of things including her rural North Louisiana upbringing, how her grandmother’s insistence on her singing in choirs shaped her path after her mother transitioned, the musical legacy she grew up on, how greens are her ideal comfort food, and much more.
On being a first-time attendee at the Grammys
I don’t like big crowds and play dress up for my career. So usually getting dressed up is just kind of a fun thing to do. But in this case was really special because we worked with Omar Alessandro for styling and his incredible team at Mag Pies and peacocks and his community. So building up to it just felt like very cozy, very, I’m going to this amazing gala, this gala with my best friends
On the ancestry and lineage that has guided her musical journey
I do believe that I’m living in the fullness of what they have sacrificed. Thinking specifically about my grandma, after my mom passed away, when I was very young, my grandma became my mama, and she works cleaning houses, still works, still very robust, still has a lot of very robust social life. And she used to ask me to sing. She would invite A.J., come over here, I want you to sing for these people.
On her entry into the world of reproductive justice advocacy
I began working in reproductive justice and specifically in abortion care through music. Ironically, my cover band and college called A.J. Haynes and the Monkey business was paid to play at Hope Medical Group’s Christmas party. So Hope Medical Group was the last abortion clinic in Louisiana; I hustled my ass off in college. I had six jobs at any point in time. And so I asked them if they were hiring and they said, yeah. So I began working as a patient advocate in 2009, I believe, 2009, 2010 ish, toward the end of my undergraduate collegiate experience, and then worked on and off as a patient advocate at Hope Medical Group for 10 years. So I would come off tour, work at the clinic, go back on the road, and the ways that my creative and reproductive justice worlds have always been interwoven.
On forming the Seratones and being “alternatively” Black and Filipino in Shreveport, Louisiana
I also came up in the DIY punk scene because there was nothing else to do in Shreveport, which is how you make the best fun if you have to do it yourself, then you have so much agency and so many tools for world building, and you don’t feel like you have to ask anyone for permission, which is such a gift because I found such kinship between singing in church and then DIY shows, punk is just blues sped up and blues comes from gospel. It’s all interconnected. And Shreveport is where my band began.
Check out the full conversation above or below. And check out more music from A.J. Haynes and/or Seratones!
