Queer Country

"Essential Reading." --No Depression

"Thought-provoking. The author offers a number of valuable insights into the music and you find yourself considering the white patriarchy that has dominated most genres of the music industry, but in particular, aspects of roots music, especially country, and how that has worked not only against LGBT musicians but also women, Black artists and other marginalized sections of society. On the surface, this would appear to be a book aimed at a niche market. In fact, it addresses issues that should be important to all of us." --Americana UK

"An empathetic and illuminating study, sure to expand country playlists. For scholars interested in queer studies and fans of country music." --Library Journal

"An important work." --Washington Blade

"Dazzling." --Country Queer

Though frequently ignored by the music mainstream, queer and transgender country and Americana artists have made essential contributions as musicians, performers, songwriters, and producers. Queer Country blends ethnographic research with analysis and history to provide the first in-depth study of these artists and their work. Shana Goldin-Perschbacher delves into the careers of well-known lesbian artists like k.d. lang and Amy Ray and examines the unlikely success of singer-songwriter Patrick Haggerty, who found fame forty years after releasing the first out gay country album. She also focuses on later figures like nonbinary transgender musician Rae Spoon and renowned drag queen country artist Trixie Mattel; and on recent breakthrough artists like Orville Peck, Amythyst Kiah, and chart-topping Grammy-winning phenomenon Lil Nas X. Many of these musicians place gender and sexuality front and center even as it complicates their careers. But their ongoing efforts have widened the circle of country/Americana by cultivating new audiences eager to connect with the artists’ expansive music and personal identities.

Shana Goldin-Perschbacher is an assistant professor of music studies in the Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University.