Why Queer Country?

The Rainbow Rodeo team joins Good Country to celebrate Pride.

Howdy, cowpokes -

I’m so glad you’re joining us for this issue of Good Country! You’re here because you know that there’s more to country and roots music than the suits at the record labels send out to the airwaves and arenas. You’re here because you know that country music (and adjacent traditions) have so much to offer when it comes to storytelling: helping you feel held and seen, and helping you walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. You’re here because you love music that emphasizes honesty in all its forms.

Queer country artists are intimately familiar with these truths. Country music is American music, and as one of our national art forms, it draws in all types of Americans – whether or not they’re selling out stadium tours is another story. So why do we need to highlight queer artists in particular? 

Karen Pittelman, who helped weave the web of the current queer country scene with her Queer Country Monthly series in Brooklyn, put it best: What does it mean to love something that doesn’t love you back? Well, you create your own space for it. 

When Pittelman launched the series in 2011, there were plenty of queer artists operating in their own orbits – but those systems needed to be threaded together to create a galaxy. Queer country artists need each other to know that they’re not the only ones; they need support in an industry that still sees their gender presentations and love song as a marketing gamble; they need to lift each other up for the times when clubs abruptly cancel shows on them with only a few hours’ notice.

And fans need to see people like the on stage; we need to see each other and know that we’re not alone; we need support through words and music that can express our feelings better than we can; we need to dance with joy in living in our full selves and hold each other in grief when both the radio and the government deny us that right over and over again.

I’m a former history teacher, and I worked hard to feature windows and mirrors in my curriculum. The idea is to help people learn about themselves (mirrors) and others (windows) to be a well-rounded person. Even if you are not LGBTQ+ yourself, queer country can give you insight into the struggles and triumphs of your loved ones. This is imperative for country music in particular, which peddles a specific vision of America. It’s no longer an accurate vision. It doesn’t represent us as a country. It never did. It’s time to expand the horizons of what country music can be and who it’s for – and queer country artists can help point the way. 

Rainbow Rodeo is a bi-annual zine, weekly newsletter, and daily blog that holds that queer country space together in the interwebs – helping to keep that galaxy spinning, so to speak. With support from our Patreon contributors, writers like Joshua Friedberg can discuss their personal experiences with love, yearning, and country music while new journalists like Asha Swann compile playlists of the best queer country music out there (also with plenty of yearning) and veterans like Bee Dolores interview artists with unique perspectives like Shawna Virago. 

We know you’re here at Good Country because you love music journalism. We hope you’ll mosey over to Rainbow Rodeo on Patreon, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky, or even Mastodon to help the queer country universe expand!

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Lead Image - Clockwise: Melissa Carper by Lyza Renee; Fancy Hagood courtesy of the artist; Karen Pittelman courtesy of the artist; Orville Peck by Ben Prince; Evil by Erin Yasmeen; Denitia by Chase Denton.