Orlando Mendez Blends Country Music With His Latin Roots
By
Cata Balzano
April 19, 2024
Miami New Times
Article
This ain't Texas — It's Miami, and we've got country singers, too.
Growing up in South Florida, Orlando Mendez was raised in a Cuban-American home and recalls further appreciating genres such as rock and country while in college.
Our mission is to recruit, encourage, and support LGBTQ+ bluegrassers of all levels, promoting their advancement and acceptance within all areas of the bluegrass music industry and musical community. We aim to uplift the genre of bluegrass as a whole to receive LGBTQ+ folks openly, and to promote allyship with all marginalized peoples within the industry and musical community.
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Why queer country music? Because sometimes you love a culture that doesn’t love you back. And when everyone came to the first Gay Ole Opry in April of 2011 in all their country finery, we knew we weren’t alone. We do it because we love the music and want to build a community to support queer country musicians.