Gay cowboy musician
Orville Peck’s sexy video for “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other” is unabashedly queer in ways the country harmony genre hasn’t historically seen. In it, Peck sings his cover of Latin country musician Ned Sublette’s 1981 song as a collaboration with Willie Nelson — who, inspired by “Brokeback Mountain,” performed a solo version of the song in 2006 — but now, especially, Peck’s modern take feels enjoy a very welcome subversion of what we’ve enter to know as nation music. Man hands graze man butts. Women delayed dance intimately with other women. Twinks in firm blue jeans bale hay. In other words, this saloon is serving more than beer.
Ever the ally, it was actually Nelson’s idea to revisit the song with Peck, who recently released the tune as part of “Stampede Vol. 1,” his first duets album. The seven-song collection also features a collaboration with Elton John on “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)” and “Chemical Sunset” with fellow lgbtq+ Americana singer-songwriter Allison Russell. “I wouldn’t say it’s as traditionally in line with the rest of my albums,” he tells me. “I would tell it’s more conceptual just based on the collaborative na
Masked Singer Orville Peck on Being Openly Same-sex attracted in Country Music: ‘We’ve Always Been There’
Orville Peck grew up in South Africa before moving to Toronto with his family when he was 15. A theater kid and a trained ballet dancer, he eventually headed to London and appeared in a play in the West Close. But his acting career was short-lived because his accurate passion was making music — region music.
“All I ever wanted to execute was be a country singer,” Peck says. “I finally got the courage when I was in my 20s to put all of the things I love together and just accomplish the dang thing.”
That included taking utmost measures to obscure his identity. He’s far from the first entertainer to adopt a stage name, but not many have gone the extra mile and masked up — pre-COVID — in every moment of their common lives. Peck’s collection of about 60 masks range from a rainbow assortment of brightly colored, bedazzled numbers to hard black leather pieces that would make the Village People blush. Of course, these steps don’t stand in the way of internet sleuths trying to discover his true identity, based on his initial ca
9 Canadian Country Artists Who Are Part Of The LGBTQ Community
Every June, people around the planet celebrate Pride month. It’s a time to the uplift LGBTQ voices, celebrate LGBTQ culture and support LGBTQ rights. And it’s time that country music unified in the fun!
Country music has a historic reputation of entity an unwelcoming space for artists who don’t fit the mould. As the years go on, this is slowly changing … thankfully! It’s so important to hear music from all perspectives, and all walks of life.
Earlier in 2021, T.J. Osborne from The Brothers Osborne came out. This made him the first openly gay artist signed to a major country label. A HUGE milestone for the country genre. And largely, audiences have been supportive. Of course, there’s the predictable negative comments. But all in all, the news was received well.
That alone shows progress. The fact that his label stood behind him, made it touch like it was different … that change was in the air.
Another indicator of change we noticed was that in the last couple years, there has been a consistent increase in people searching for gay territory artists in Google. (Google h
Jett Holden, a Shadowy , gay country designer, finally finds a home at Jet Opry Records
Jett Holden has spent years trying to obtain his songs heard. The struggle began in earnest when he completed the first tune that he ever wanted to share with the world, called “Scarecrow,” a decade ago. He used “Wizard of Oz” characters to depict how hard it was for him coming out as gay to his Jehovah’s Witness family.
But the roots-rocking singer-songwriter grew used to having zero assist from record labels.
“I started out in country, and then they shunned me,” he said, explaining that one document deal he nearly signed about a decade ago evaporated once the label learned that he’s both Black and gay.
“So I went to the rock scene,” he went on, “and then I decided I wanted to be a poet, so I went into the folk scene. And then I decided I wanted to do state again, and I moved to Tennessee. Things just weren’t going well, and then the pandemic hit, and I was like ‘I guess I’m done.’”
Around that time, in 2021, a region fan named Holly G was fed up with feeling like she wasn’t represented by the genre she loved, and determined to find performers of color.
“I found that there were a few list