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April
2005
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Playlist
(airdate
April 25, 2005)
The very appropriate artwork at right is by Marc Houde Note: many pics rotate when you pass your cursor over them |
I hope you checked out my last two country shows, as this one wraps up my three part series on Gay Country Music. This is the History, Part 2, and fleshes out the contributions of the more recent artists, from roughly the last ten to twelve years, including a feature interview with gay country circuit artist Jeff Miller, and additional interview comments by Mark Weigle, and some surprises. And, okay, I got carried away...big time. There were just so many artists I wanted to include in this show that I decided to go hog wild and include much, much more in the Internet version. It turned into an extra 45 minutes, so there are two sound files to click on in the banner above to hear it. While most of the songs are abbreviated, I think there's plenty here to whet your appetites for the great c&w music our artists have contributed to our culture.
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And,
with 31 artists on this supersized show, I'm going to spread them over
two main pages, click for page 2
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"Hello, Darlin'"...the perfect way to start off this show, and country music is just one of the styles at which Gretchen Phillips excels. She's a veteran of several very influential groups, like Two Nice Girls, Girls In The Nose, Lord Douglas Phillips, the Gretchen Phillips Experience, her duet album with David Driver, and definitely her solo work. I set up a mini-tribute page to her music last year, check it out |
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You can learn to love a "Bad Hair Day" (1993) when it serves up a delight like "Wynona, Why Not? That album was one of Jamie Anderson's superb releases. |
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Lisa
Koch's middle album,
"You Make My Pants Pound," gave us a couple of country delights "Down at the Timberline" and the title track. And check out her other work, as half of Dos Falopia and a member of Venus Envy. |
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Ranch
Romance, led by founder and main songwriter
JO Miller was very popular at women's music festivals and on tour. I've
got their three albums, "Western Romance" (1989), "Flip
City" (1993) and the cassette "Blue Blazes" (1991). As
far as I know none of their songs were lyrically gay, but that can't
be said about JO Miller's collaboration with Laura
Love on the 1995 album "Sing Bluegrass and Old-Time Music,"
which includes several odes de femme. Miller's latest act is "JO
Miller & Her Burly Roughnecks"
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On Part 1 of my History I played a track from 1979 by Robin Flower, who had four albums on her own. This time she's teamed up, in music and life, with Libby McLaren. Discography: More
Than Friends (1979) |
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The song "That Restless Feeling" came from Mark Islam's third recording, "The Fine Print," (2001). His middle CD, "The Recent Past" (1998) gave us his classic "Get Used To It." And, I don't know who the photographer was, but I just love the pic below of (left to right) Dave Hall, Mark Islam and Marcus Hutcheson, all artists I much respect.
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I know almost nothing about Steve Lynn, from Albuquerque, and his 1994 CD-EP is very rare. Unfortunately
Steve Lynn died of AIDS just a few years |
And, even less is known, at least by me, about Dale, who in 2002 sent me his two-song EP containing "Cowboy In Drag" and "Stallion Of Love." That's not the CD cover above, but a postcard he included with his disc.
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Steven Gellman has been putting out wonderfully produced albums for years, and from his CD from 2000, "Return to Summer Lake" I just love the song "Just Like You." Imagine if the Eagles had done a gay song. It wouldn't be this good. Yes, his music is not generally this country, but I just had to include this one in this show. I had the pleasure of seeing Steven live in Alexandria, Virginia, on April 16, 2005; quite a delightful show. Below, Lynn Deeves' 1998 release "Soul Food" had the very countrified"Some of My Best Friends (Are Straight)"
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David Alan Mors produced one of my favorite albums that never got released. That's right, it got as far as copies being sent to the media and then the project stalled. What a shame, as it's a wonderful release, with the infectious "Someone To Kiss" and "Keep Your Blue Jeans On," and, would you believe, a really neat cover version of the Johnny Mathis chestnut "Chances Are." David, if you see this, let me know how you're doing.
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Jeff Miller
My feature interview for this show is with Jeff Miller. He was one of the artists who were not necessarily known for their recordings, but for working their craft on the gay country circuit. Known as the John Deere Diva, he performed at rodeos and clubs all over the country and Canada, impressing crowds with his smooth voice, his biting humor and hilarious song parodies. He released the two cassettes above in 1988 and they have similar track listings, but one noteworthy difference, gay and straight versions of the song "Baby Blue," with the gay one, naturally, appearing on the cassette titled "Not Really Strait." I thank Jeff for providing the two lower pics, of him singing at a rodeo, and dueting with Dena Kaye.
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Above, a 1991 cassette by Dena Kaye, and below, a press shot, and, from Windy City Times (Chicago) a pic promoting a December 1989 performance
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Above, in 1995 Ty Herndon sort of got arrested in a Fort Worth park, in what you might call a "George Michael" situation, which led to a neat parody by Jeff Miller |
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Well,
with 31 artists on this supersized show, I'm going to spread them over
two main pages, click for page 2
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