Author Topic: Country Music ?  (Read 4532 times)

Offline jstephens9

  • BetterMost 1000+ Posts Club
  • ******
  • Posts: 4,327
Country Music ?
« on: October 29, 2007, 03:32:55 pm »
Here is a new topic I think. At least I don't see any discussions out there about it. If there is just move me in the right direction  ;) At one point in time, at least as far as I know, putting the word gay and country music together would be quite rare. Putting gay people in a bar where people were doing the country line dance and the Texas two step would even be rarer. I mean I know that there have always been some stars of country music, such as Dolly Parton, who became icons to many people in the gay world. But basically the two ideas just didn't seem to be on the same path. In fact, the Country Music Association has not always been what you would call "gay friendly." In fact, to my knowledge, they are still not. I also know that there are many gay people out there who still not be caught dead listening to country music or dancing to country music. But, even before Brokeback, country music and dances were becoming very popular with a segment of the gay population.

I still find it hard to believe that one of my biggest exposures to country music, line dancing, etc. happened on my first trip to San Francisco, California. That still sometimes throws me for a loop. The fact that I was born and raised in the hillbilly section of North Carolina makes it even stranger. I now find myself listening to music that my grandparents listened too, that old timey country music. This is the same music I used to make fun of and even before anything really gay came into my life my friends and I would make fun of it. Listening to country music was just not cool, at all. In reality I did like some of it, but I sure never admitted it to anyone. I also remember that back in the 90s I started listening to a lot of country music, but that phase went away. Then back in very late 2000 I found my best friend in Texas who got me listening to some country music, particularly the Dixie Chicks and Faith Hill. I thought at the time that the Dixie Chicks were the country equivalent of the Spice Girls  :laugh: I'm not sure where I ever got that idea.

Anyway, I was out there in San Francisco in a nightclub one night and at a hotel dance the next watching gay people in cowboy gear dance to country music. At times it was truly almost like culture shock to me. I liked it though. I liked it very much. It was just very hard to mentally put this into my head and realize how this happened. So I get back to North Carolina and I start complaining that the country music they play on the radio here is not as up to date as what they were playing in California. California is almost a month ahead with their country songs  :) It's true ;)

So I am just curious of other people's ideas about how country music gained such a strong hold on a large segment of the gay population? And how it fits into the lifestyle? And thoughts about it general?

Jack

Offline Shakesthecoffecan

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *******
  • Posts: 9,566
  • Those were the days, Alberta 2007.
Re: Country Music ?
« Reply #1 on: October 29, 2007, 03:39:32 pm »
Well, Porter Waggoner died this morning. He put Dolly Parton on the map, like you could miss her.......
"It was only you in my life, and it will always be only you, Jack, I swear."

Scott6373

  • Guest
Re: Country Music ?
« Reply #2 on: October 29, 2007, 03:42:55 pm »
It's actually quite simple.  C&W music expresses everday human emotions and events through simple, uncomplicated music.  At it's very core, (real as opposed to the pop crap) C&W music makes use of the real "roots of American music", not that there is such a thing, but it is the closest we can get.  I enjoy it a great deal, because I can not only understand what they are saying, the music is approachable, and not off-putting, or elitist in any way.  It's very welcoming music.

Offline jstephens9

  • BetterMost 1000+ Posts Club
  • ******
  • Posts: 4,327
Re: Country Music ?
« Reply #3 on: October 29, 2007, 03:45:07 pm »
Yeah, I heard about ole Porter dying. That is sad. Yeah, he did give Dolly her first role, but you are right it would be very hard to miss her. You know she wrote that song I Will Always Love You about him. It was when she was going to leave the show. I remember my family watching that show they had. I was just a little kid and the thing I remembered most was the sequence (I think that is what is was) that he wore. I used to think for many years how backward he was and how backward all of them were. And so this morning they played a song by him and I liked it. Am I going crazy? I know at one time I would have said, yes definitely!!!

Offline jstephens9

  • BetterMost 1000+ Posts Club
  • ******
  • Posts: 4,327
Re: Country Music ?
« Reply #4 on: October 29, 2007, 03:47:13 pm »
It's actually quite simple.  C&W music expresses everday human emotions and events through simple, uncomplicated music.  At it's very core, (real as opposed to the pop crap) C&W music makes use of the real "roots of American music", not that there is such a thing, but it is the closest we can get.  I enjoy it a great deal, because I can not only understand what they are saying, the music is approachable, and not off-putting, or elitist in any way.  It's very welcoming music.

I completely agree with you Scott. These are the exact reasons why I like it so much now. "The everyday human emotions and events through simple, uncomplicated music."

Offline David In Indy

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • BetterMost Moderator
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,447
  • You've Got Male
Re: Country Music ?
« Reply #5 on: October 29, 2007, 04:17:44 pm »
I LOVE country music! It's very popular where I live. Everyone listens to it, including many gay people. I grew up listening to country, so it has always been a part of my life.

Now, as far as the dancing is concerned. I love to dance, and I enjoy slow dancing to country music. But you wouldn't catch me dead line dancing. It's the most ridiculous looking dance I've ever seen in my entire life!  :laugh:
Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.

Offline Shakesthecoffecan

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *******
  • Posts: 9,566
  • Those were the days, Alberta 2007.
Re: Country Music ?
« Reply #6 on: October 29, 2007, 04:28:47 pm »
What I have come to appreciate about the "new" country music is they tell this story, and then they sing the chorus, and they sing it again, and again.  I thought that was strange at first, then I came to see it as giving you time to think about what you were just told.
"It was only you in my life, and it will always be only you, Jack, I swear."

Offline southendmd

  • Town Administration
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,962
  • well, I won't
Re: Country Music ?
« Reply #7 on: October 29, 2007, 04:35:57 pm »
Being from the Northeast, I was never into country music.  Frankly, it took me a while to warm up to the BBM soundtrack.  

I still can't tell Garth apart from Tobey, or Kenny, or Bubba. :)

Regarding "country" and "gay", there's an organization here in Boston called "Gays for Patsy" that started in 1988.  They promote C&W dancing and presumably music.  They hold weekly smoke- and alcohol-free dances at what they call the "Lambda Ranch" which is a local UU church.  I know them from their presence in the annual Pride march.  There was a two-stepping craze in the early 90s.

moremojo

  • Guest
Re: Country Music ?
« Reply #8 on: October 29, 2007, 05:23:54 pm »
The cowboy has been an object of gay male desire for a long time. Look through any of the old A.M.G. photos to see evidence of this (some of them are on display on this very forum). So the look and ethos of the cowboy would have been appealing to many gay men, even if the musical part of that world was unknown or unappreciated.

As soon as I came out and began to be exposed to the bar scene in 1989, I was aware of country and Western bars in my home city that catered to gay men and lesbians. Though myself a native Texan, I had never been into country & Western music (though there were a few exceptions), and didn't go in for the look either--the look didn't turn me off, but it didn't really do anything for me either.

Brokeback Mountain did a lot to open my mind up to this part of my local heritage. I truly started to hear country & Western music in a new way, and without the strain of condescension I often brought to bear on it (unless you were a "kicker", being into C & W was not cool among my peer group while growing up). I was struck by the down-to-earth, sincere quality of the music, and found it very comforting. Many of the people into the country & Western scene seem to have these very same qualities about them--non-elitist, rooted. I find much to like in this perception.
« Last Edit: February 26, 2008, 05:05:56 pm by moremojo »

Offline Shasta542

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 7,999
Re: Country Music ?
« Reply #9 on: October 29, 2007, 08:12:37 pm »
My grandmother was from West Plains, MO, and her cousin was in Porter Wagoner's band. I think his name was Don Warden. Don something. Anyway -- we always watched Porter Wagoner's show on Saturdays. The show ran for 21 years.

Quote
I still can't tell Garth apart from Tobey, or Kenny, or Bubba.

 :laugh: :D :laugh:
"Gettin' tired of your dumbass missin'!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~