The grandfather of gay country returns to the limelight after nearly 50 years
’s Patrick Haggerty says. “The truth is, there wasn’t any genre in 1973 that was ready to embrace a queer Marxist!”, his self-titled debut, was the first-ever country record by a gay artist. Selling only 1,000 records at the time, a copy now hangs in the Country Music Hall of Fame library.
Steadfast in his decision to become a country singer as an openly gay artist, Haggerty says, “We didn’t have a market no matter what genre we chose. People seem to think that some genres are more liberal than others,” he opines. “Now maybe that’s true but none of them were liberal enough for me.” After coming out, a decision had to be made. “The choice was stark and definitive. I could either be a screaming Marxist bitch f—–t radical,” he says in his matter-of-fact twang. “Or, I could sneak into Nashville and go in the closet and try and pursue a career in country music, but I could not do both at the same time.”
Despite its lack of market appeal, making the record was a saving grace. “It allowed the right and the road to tell it like it is and to sing our truth, flatly and plainly and without pulling any punches,” Haggerty says.was released to little fanfare. Unable to see a future performing as an openly gay musician, he took to other professions, running unsuccessfully for Seattle City Council and as an independent candidate in the Washington House of Representatives among them.
In the ensuing years, Lavender Country has toured across the country multiple times and finding new and broader audiences. Hell, there’s even a ballet, to which Haggerty laughs and says, “even Dolly Parton doesn’t have a ballet!”
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