By labeling a performer “Queer Country,” you’re not breaking down barriers, you’re erecting them with country music’s more conventional and conservative fans.
In a recent behind-the-scenes clip as part of this season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Maren Morris felt then needed to apologize to the drag queens competing on this season’s show on behalf of country music. But Maren Morris has some specific things she should apologize for personally.
Lavender Country frontman, singer, songwriter, and the man who is widely recognized as the first openly gay country artist, Patrick Haggerty, has died according to his record label Don Giovanni Records. “Patrick Haggery was one of the funniest, kindest, bravest, and smartest people I ever met,” the label said.
If you were writing a detailed history on country music, compiling a timeline of significant moments in the genre, or a list of firsts experienced over the years, you would be remiss if you did not at least give mention to Patrick Haggerty and his band Lavender Country.
The allure of the man behind the mask making music under the name Orville Peck has become the talk of much of independent country music and Americana lately, with critics and fans alike swooning over his mod-styled moody music mixed with Western imagery. Most certainly what this man is doing is unique.
These six songs are admittedly sad bastard fare if there ever was any, but that’s the way it goes when you’re looking for songs that don’t just entertain, but fulfill, or illuminate something important in life most catchy tunes fall short of.
This is not music that is meant for fans of cross-dressing drag queens. There’s no political messaging here. This music is strikingly universal, and not just respectful to the traditional country audience, it is meant for them, and meant to grow the appreciation for true country music in whomever listens.