Camp country?
Published July 16, 2003
Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer Larry Dvoskin is on a mission to unite gay America and country music.
The songwriter/producer who has worked with Ricky Martin, David Bowie, Brandy, Fischerspooner, the Beach Boys, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Cheap Trick, is conducting the search for America's first openly gay country music star. Open auditions begin in New York on 7 Aug, followed by a dozen other cities around the country. The whole process will be filmed for an as-yet-titled reality TV series.
The project is the result of a debate with a media friend who suggested that
the music business would never accept an openly gay country singer. Dvoskin,
who is gay, subsequently placed a wanted ad in the Nashville Scene: "Gay country singer wanted . . . 18-23-ish, exceptionally good-looking, extraordinary singer who plays guitar . . . [and] grew up in Nashville, the South or the Midwest."
Dvoskin said: "People would chicken out or they'd use aliases. It was as if they were doing something naughty or illegal. But I'm a New Yorker, so I'm very liberal. I thought, 'What's the big deal here? You're just singing. Haven't we all heard of Elton John?'
Via: CMU
Marty's band, Growing Old Disgracefully, can be found at: Disgraceful Music. His Cthulhu tales can be found at Temple of Dagon. - Camp country?
- Published: July 16, 2003
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- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: News
- Writer: Marty Dodge
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Hey, what about the bluegrass band, Queer in the Holler? Don't they count? I am deeply offended by this Balkanization of bluegrass from Nashville, where it is well-known they are all closet cases anyway.
Another queer country artist (though he's not campy): Mark Weigle.
I have been inside a gay cowboy bar in North Hollywood - for a time we were confused and wondered where the girls were, but we had fun anyway
Country-themed gay bars are nothing new. In fact, in the backward city of Baltimore, they're already passé. But for a while there, it was fun to go boot-scootin' with my lady.
this was about '85
Told you Baltimore was backward. We didn't get country bars until the early '90s.
I always thought country was pretty camp anyway. Finding a gay bar in Nashville isnt't exactly hard. Last time I was there, there were two obvious ones. Lets face it country music for the men is camper than hard rock any day. One the things I found interesting about this piece was...er why is it needed?
I'm sure the gay songwriter wants to publicly break the stereotype - a lot lke why many want to see a major professional athlete come out
What about k.d. lang?
Excellent point, but she is a woman and hasn't been "country" for some time
How about Stephen Merritt of the Magnetic Fields? "Papa Was a Rodeo" is one of the greatest gay country songs ever.
this is the sort of thing that sets gay rights back a couple of decades...
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Do you have to PROVE that you're gay to get this gig? The name Tatu comes to mind here.
And just how gay do you have to be? Would you still be able to qualify if you liked girls, too? Would just ONE homosexual act qualify an otherwise straight guy for the job?