LGBTQ+ Artists Reclaim Country Music At Dorothy To Celebrate Pride Month

LGBTQIA+
By
Kayleigh Padar
June 6, 2024
Block Club Chicago
Article

Although there have always been LGBTQ+ country artists, the genre and its most popular radio stations have long been dominated by straight white men crooning about lost love, beer and trucks. Gay country has gotten more attention in recent years with openly LGBTQ+ performers like Orville Peck and Cheley Tackett and the enormous hit that was Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road.”But it’s Chicagoans’ work that will be on display during Country Pride. Dorothy’s Country Pride performers represent a variety of flavors of country music, including THEM Queers, a folk-punk band that dabbles in tapdancing; #QueerCountry Bandwagon, which covers country songs with queer themes or written by queer artists; and Iris Marlowe, who creates cinematic, Southern gothic songs driven by yearning for the danger of the Old West.

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A portrait of a Irish Marlowe with pink hair wearing a red hat and a black shirt with flame designs, posing with a red electric guitar, surrounded by stylized flame cutouts.
Photo Credit:
Chris Nightengale

resources

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Website

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Fist City

Queer country radio based out of Belfast Ireland

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Website

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RAMPD Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities

a group amplifying disability culture, promote inclusion, and advocate for accessibility with the music industry.

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Playlist

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Gay Ole Opry Playlist

Karen & the Sorrows have been building queer country community in Brooklyn by running the Queer Country Quarterly and the Gay Ole Opry (gayoleopry.com) since 2011. Most of these bands have come to play for us, but some we're still wishing on!

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