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
Article comments
1 - Al Barger
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?
2 - Eric Olsen
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.
3 - Natalie
Another queer country artist (though he's not campy): Mark Weigle.
4 - Eric Olsen
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
5 - Natalie
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.
6 - Eric Olsen
this was about '85
7 - Natalie
Told you Baltimore was backward. We didn't get country bars until the early '90s.
8 - Andrew Ian Dodge
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?
9 - Eric Olsen
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
10 - Bleudevil
What about k.d. lang?
11 - Eric Olsen
Excellent point, but she is a woman and hasn't been "country" for some time
12 - dude
How about Stephen Merritt of the Magnetic Fields? "Papa Was a Rodeo" is one of the greatest gay country songs ever.
13 - The Theory
this is the sort of thing that sets gay rights back a couple of decades...