Queer Country

by Shana Goldin-Perschbacher

Overview

• A Variety Best Music Book of 2022
• A No Depression Most Memorable Music Book of 2022
• A Library Journal Best Arts and Humanities Book of 2022
• A Pitchfork Best Music Book of 2022
• A Boot Best Music Book of 2022
• A Ticketmaster Best Music Book of 2022
• A Happy Magazine Best Music Book of 2022
• Awarded a Certificate of Merit in the 2023 ARSC Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research in the category Best Historical Research in Country, Folk, Roots, or World Music.

Though frequently ignored by the music mainstream, queer and transgender country and Americana artists have made essential contributions as musicians, performers, songwriters, and producers. Queer Country blends ethnographic research with analysis and history to provide the first in-depth study of these artists and their work. Shana Goldin-Perschbacher delves into the careers of well-known lesbian artists like k.d. lang and Amy Ray and examines the unlikely success of singer-songwriter Patrick Haggerty, who found fame forty years after releasing the first out gay country album. She also focuses on later figures like nonbinary transgender musician Rae Spoon and renowned drag queen country artist Trixie Mattel; and on recent breakthrough artists like Orville Peck, Amythyst Kiah, and chart-topping Grammy-winning phenomenon Lil Nas X. Many of these musicians place gender and sexuality front and center even as it complicates their careers. But their ongoing efforts have widened the circle of country/Americana by cultivating new audiences eager to connect with the artists’ expansive music and personal identities.

Detailed and one-of-a-kind, Queer Country reinterprets country and Americana music through the lives and work of artists forced to the margins of the genre's history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780252086335
Publisher:	University of Illinois Press
Publication date:	03/22/2022
Series:	Music in American Life
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Shana Goldin-Perschbacher is an assistant professor of music studies in the Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 Queer Country and Sincerity 25

Chapter 2 Genre Trouble 70

Chapter 3 Rurality and Journey as Queer and Trans Musical Narratives 125

Chapter 4 (Mis)representation, Ownership, and Appropriation 153

Chapter 5 Masks, Sincerity, and (Re)claiming Country Music 172

Notes 201

Discography 229

Bibliography 235

Index 251

Editorial Reviews

"A dynamic, much-needed read." —Variety

"Essential Reading." —No Depression

"Dazzling." —Country Queer

"An important work." —Washington Blade

"Shana Goldin-Perschbacher's examination of the history of the artists that proudly declared their sexuality displays how the fearlessness of earlier generations made things possible for today's artists that previously weren't." —The Boot

​"An empathetic and illuminating study, sure to expand country playlists. For scholars interested in queer studies and fans of country music." —Library Journal

​"Thought-provoking. The author offers a number of valuable insights into the music and you find yourself considering the white patriarchy that has dominated most genres of the music industry, but in particular, aspects of roots music, especially country, and how that has worked not only against LGBT musicians but also women, Black artists and other marginalized sections of society. On the surface, this would appear to be a book aimed at a niche market. In fact, it addresses issues that should be important to all of us." —Americana UK

"Goldin-Perschbacher's research is meticulous, making the book particularly welcome. . . . Recommended." —Choice

"Goldin-Perschbacher uncovers a treasure trove of non-binary and queer artists working in what has long been a conservative, male-dominated field." —Ticketmaster

"At this unprecedented moment when queer artists dominate the Americana Awards nominations, Shana Goldin-Perschbacher's Queer Country arrives offering a timely, necessary, and radically fresh perspective on roots music—as a space for expression of sincerity by queer and trans artists." —Nadine Hubbs, author of Rednecks, Queers, and Country Music

"Shana Goldin-Perschbacher's Queer Country shines a light on the long-overlooked but persistent and subversive community of queer musicians in country music history. Of course, we have been there all along! Her in-depth explorations into the voice of each musician explored are lively, personal, and emotional depictions. In French, the word for gender is genre. This is no coincidence! Goldin-Perschbacher connects the dots for us in her exploration of many transgender and queer folks playing country music. The connections are sheer magic, obvious at second glance, and very insightful. Discover why transgender artists defy genre—get it? Just because we are queer doesn't mean we are carbon copies. Goldin-Perschbacher allows each of us to share our light in personal, social, and political motifs. We are all unique, but bound to one another in our struggles to liberate country music from its stereotypical and corporate confinements. Queer Country rips the cover off these and exposes the truths that have existed from the beginning."—Patrick Haggerty, recording artist, Lavender Country (1973)

From the Publisher

03/01/2022

In this study of gay, trans, and nonbinary musicians working within and across the lines of country music, Goldin-Perschbacher (music studies, Boyer Coll. of Music and Dance, Temple Univ.) argues that whether a song is seen as part of the country genre is often just as much about who is playing it as the music itself, at least as far as industry sanction is concerned. Lil Nas X, a Black gay artist whose "Old Town Road" was removed from the Billboard chart listing despite its explosive popularity, is only one of many examples; others include well-known stars and tireless road warriors whose fanbases are obscured. Goldin-Perschbacher's scholarly analysis is bolstered by ethnographic research, including numerous interviews. Her book begins with the early 1970s and Patrick Haggerty, whose collaborative Lavender Country is recognized as the first country album to treat gay sexuality openly. Unsurprisingly, notions of authenticity and sincerity come in for considerable discussion, as these concepts have been used to both include and exclude artists from communities of genre. This book makes an excellent companion to Rednecks, Queers, and Country Music, by Nadine Hubbs, with whom Golden-Perschbacher studied. VERDICT An empathetic and illuminating study, sure to expand country playlists. For scholars interested in queer studies and fans of country music.—Genevieve Williams

Library Journal