Contents:
- QUEER COUNTRY: LBIAN AND GAY MASTREAM COUNTRY ARTISTS? (BOOK EXCERPT)
- CHELY WRIGHT OPENS UP ABOUT BEG A GAY, CHRISTIAN COUNTRY SGER
QUEER COUNTRY: LBIAN AND GAY MASTREAM COUNTRY ARTISTS? (BOOK EXCERPT)
The chos even exprs acceptance of weed and homosexualy, topics that are unfortunately still taboo mastream untry, pecially when sung by a woman. In a 2014 Guardian terview celebratg Paradise of Bachelors’ reissue of Patrick Haggerty’s 1973 out gay untry album, Wright said that she doubted that eher the world or Nashville was ready for the lyrics Haggerty’s album or for an artist to e out at age neteen, which she said would be “idtic. I wouldn’t ll the dtry homophobic, but they’re aaid of the fear lots of fans have about gay people.
Her fellow out gay mastream untry mician peer Ty Herndon’s style is firmly pop untry, and although he was outed by arrt 1995, he had three number 1 untry songs between 1995 and 2000. Out gay untry artist and award wng songwrer Shane McAnally was most ank, sharg the sort of stage banter that’s entirely typil of other queer and trans untry micians at other shows but that was surprisgly rare this ncert. This album led to major attentn, cludg an vatn to play at the Newport Folk Ftival and a Gay and Lbian Mic Award for Bt Country Artist of the Year.
Gthier’s songs have been featured the untry mic dtry–themed HBO drama Nashville, although her mic, cludg her most recent album, Rifl and Rosary Beads, wrten wh US war veterans, is more often nomated for awards folk (where won the 2018 Album of the Year at the Internatnal Folk Mic Awards) and Amerina mic (where was nomated for 2018 Album of the Year by the Amerina Mic Associatn) than untry (the Gay and Lbian Amerin Mic Awards, awardg her a prize 1998, regnized her as “untry”). Carlile’s mic has not centered on activist them the way that a band like Lavenr Country or My Gay Banjo has.
CHELY WRIGHT OPENS UP ABOUT BEG A GAY, CHRISTIAN COUNTRY SGER
The artists’ succs and yet ambiguy genre suggt that while out lbians and gay men n reach relative stardom the early twenty-first century, their abily to register their untry-like mic as untry is still limed. Gay micians aren’t marketed to the mastream as, “Hurray! Beg gay is not nsired an asset at most rerd labels, die or major.
When the rerd label fally tak advantage of the gay prs, s [sic] bee the mastream prs won’t touch the band. Gay prs verage is the last rort for most publicist [sic]. Epic simply preferred not to rpect or ter to the gay prs, but when the mastream media stopped payg attentn to , Epic startg returng gay media’s phone lls.