Lavender Country
Lavender Country | |
---|---|
Origin | Seattle, Washington, USA |
Genres | Country |
Years active | 1972–1976, 2000, 2014-Present |
Labels | Gay Community Social Services of Seattle, Paradise of Bachelors |
Past members |
Patrick Haggerty Michael Carr Eve Morris Robert Hammerstrom |
Lavender Country was an American country music band formed in 1972, whose self-titled 1973 album is the first known gay-themed album in country music history.[1]
Based in Seattle, Washington, the band consisted of lead singer and guitarist Patrick Haggerty, keyboardist Michael Carr, singer and fiddler Eve Morris and guitarist Robert Hammerstrom (the only heterosexual member).[2]
Haggerty was born on September 27, 1944[1] and raised on a dairy farm near Port Angeles, Washington.[3] After college he joined the Peace Corps, but was discharged in 1966 for being gay.[1] He later became an artist and an activist with the local chapter of the Gay Liberation Front after moving to Seattle to pursue graduate studies at the University of Washington.[1]
The 1973 album was funded and released by Gay Community Social Services of Seattle,[4] with funding and production assistance from activist Faygele Ben-Miriam.[5] Just 1,000 copies of the album were pressed at the time of its original release.[6] The band performed at the first Seattle Pride event in 1974,[7] and performed at numerous pride and other LGBT events throughout Washington, Oregon and California[2] until their dissolution in 1976.[1] Shan Ottey, a DJ for Seattle radio station KRAB, played the band's song "Cryin' These Cocksucking Tears" on the air in 1973, resulting in Ottey's dismissal from the station.[8]
After disbanding Lavender Country in 1976, Haggerty ran two unsuccessful campaigns for political office, once for Seattle City Council and once as an independent candidate for a seat in the Washington House of Representatives,[8] and continued to work as a gay rights and anti-racism activist.[8]
In 2000, the Journal of Country Music published an article on gay country musicians, focusing in large part on Haggerty and Lavender Country.[1] As a result of the renewed attention, the album was rereleased on CD in December 1999, and in 2000 the band released a five-song EP, Lavender Country Revisited, which featured three rerecordings of songs from the original album and two new songs.[9] The band reunited briefly in 2000, performing the album in its entirety at Seattle's Broadway Performance Hall in January 2000,[10] and at that year's Seattle Pride.[9] In addition, the album was archived at the Country Music Hall of Fame by former Journal of Country Music editor Chris Dickinson.[11]
Their song "Cryin' These Cocksucking Tears" was included in the 2012 compilation album Strong Love: Songs of Gay Liberation 1972–1981.[12] The 1973 album was rereleased on independent label Paradise of Bachelors in 2014,[13] and the band have played several reunion shows in 2014 to support the reissue.[14]
Haggerty recorded a story for StoryCorps about coming out to his father in 1959, which was adapted into the animated short film The Saint of Dry Creek in 2015.[15] In 2016, director Dan Taberski directed a short film titled These C*cksucking Tears which starred Haggerty and told the story of his life and career.[16]
Discography
- 1973 – Lavender Country (Tracks: "Come Out Singin'", "Gypsy John", "Waltzing Will Trilogy", "Georgie Pie", "Cryin' These Cocksucking Tears", "Back in the Closet Again", "I Can't Shake the Stranger Out of You", "To a Woman", "Straight White Patterns", "Lavender Country".)
- 1999 – Lavender Country (reissue)
- 2000 – Lavender Country Revisited (Tracks: "Come Out Singing", "Gay Bar Blues", "Clara Fraser vs. Seattle City Light", "Lavender Country", "I Can't Shake the Stranger Out of You".)
- 2014 – Lavender Country (reissue)
Notes
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Dickinson, Chris (2000). "Country Undetectable: Gay Artists in Country Music". Journal of Country Music. XXI (1): 28–39. Archived from the original on April 10, 2009. Retrieved 4 August 2009.
- 1 2 "The First Openly Gay Country Singer....Was Patrick Haggerty, in 1973". Queer Music Heritage, July 10, 2013.
- ↑ "Country Music" Archived 2013-07-14 at the Wayback Machine.. glbtq.com, 2002.
- ↑ "Never Heard of 'Em: Lavender Country". The Stranger, June 22, 2012.
- ↑ Carole Beers (June 7, 2000). "Faygele benMiriam crusaded for rights". The Seattle Times.
- ↑ "“These C*cksucking Tears”: The Story Behind The First Gay Country Album". NewNowNext, October 14, 2016.
- ↑ "More doors open to gays today". Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 24, 2004.
- 1 2 3 "40 Years Later, Patrick Haggerty’s Gay Country Album Gets a Proper Release". Seattle Weekly, March 18, 2014.
- 1 2 "Gay community resources, organizations and events". Kitsap Sun, June 25, 2000.
- ↑ Patrick Haggerty at Stonewall Society.
- ↑ Paulson, Don (16 January 2009). "Gay History: Lavender Country". Seattle Gay News. Retrieved 4 August 2009.
- ↑ "Strong Love: Songs of Gay Liberation 1972–1981". Gay News Network, May 8, 2012.
- ↑ "Country music's gay stars: 'We're still kicking down the closet door'". The Guardian, April 10, 2014.
- ↑ "Interviews: Lavender Country". Pitchfork, April 8, 2014.
- ↑ A Farmer’s Powerful Advice to His Gay Son in 1959: “Don’t Sneak.”. Slate, October 12, 2015.
- ↑ "Gay Country Superstar Patrick Haggerty Is Still 'Cryin' Those Cocksucking Tears'". Vice, July 29, 2016.