Posted on 02/28/2006 8:29:02 AM PST by presidio9
Never mind that country music is considered bedrock conservative, the unofficial red-state soundtrack. This year, some of country's most famous names are singing in movies with gay and transsexual themes.
Dolly Parton received an Oscar nomination for "Travelin' Thru," a song she wrote and sang for "Transamerica," while Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris are heard on the Oscar frontrunner "Brokeback Mountain."
Nelson, always an iconoclast in his music and politics, even released a gay cowboy song on Valentine's Day, "Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly (Fond of Each Other)."
But don't expect a wave of gay love songs to sweep across the heartland anytime soon.
Veteran country stars like Parton, Nelson and Harris are free to reach out to a gay audience because they already have loyal fans. Their careers aren't driven by hit records, because country radio already ignores them.
Parton, who has always embraced her large gay following, says she's too stubborn to worry about a negative response.
"I'm old enough and cranky enough now that if someone tried to tell me what to do, I'd tell them where to put it," Parton, 60, recently said.
"Transamerica" stars "Desperate Housewives" actress Felicity Huffman as a transsexual who learns a week before sex-change surgery that he has a son from a fleeting heterosexual encounter, then embarks on a cross-country road trip with the teenager.
Parton wrote the closing-credits song, which has a gospel flavor with references to God and redemption. She sings, "Like a poor wayfaring stranger that they speak about in song/I'm just a weary pilgrim trying to find what feels like home."
"I have a person who works in my organization who once was a woman and now is a man," Parton said. "I didn't know for years that this person had had a sex change. I know what a wonderful person he is, and I based some of my feelings [in the song] on my feelings for him and on knowing what he went through."
While Nashville has had few openly gay stars (Canadian-born k.d. lang is a notable exception, though she shifted from country to pop by 1992), the city's gay leaders say Music Row is more hospitable than many think.
"I expected men in hoods and burning crosses, but I found a lot of people on Music Row are very open-minded," said Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer Larry Dvoskin, who's worked with David Bowie, Van Halen, Ricky Martin and others. "But there's still this sort of cultural barrier, like, 'We all love it and accept it, but we don't want to talk about it.' "
But country singers have little reason to go public if they're gay, said Chris Sanders, president of the Nashville Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.
"The question a gay or lesbian country star has to ask himself or herself is, will the public accept me as a musician and not focus on the other issue?" Sanders said.
Parton appears in gay publications, and her fans organize an annual gay and lesbian day at her amusement park, Dollywood, in her native East Tennessee. She said gay men in particular are drawn to her flamboyant appearance, highlighted by thick makeup, gaudy clothing and blond wig.
She's at ease bucking the Nashville norm. "I've always been a freak and different, oddball even in my childhood and my own family, so I can relate to people who are struggling and trying to find their true identity," Parton said. "I do not sit in the seat of judgment. ... I love people for whom they are. We're all God's children."
Nelson, 72, has never cared much for the opinion on Music Row either. His fan base is much broader than the usual country audience and includes hippies, rednecks and outlaws young and old. He can record a vigilante song with tough guy Toby Keith ("Beer for My Horses") or a reggae album with a marijuana leaf on the cover.
On the "Brokeback Mountain" soundtrack, Nelson sings the gentle "He Was a Friend of Mine." Harris performs "A Love That Will Never Grow Old," by Gustavo Santaolalla and Bernie Taupin. Her fragile voice fits the sparse, ethereal arrangement, evoking the wide-open Wyoming landscape. The song recently won a Golden Globe award.
Nelson's gay cowboy song features his deadpan delivery of lines like, "What did you think all them saddles and boots was about?" Written by Texas-born singer-songwriter Ned Sublette in 1981, the song has "been in the closet for 20 years," Nelson said in a statement. "The timing's right for it to come out," he said. "I'm just opening the door."
Willie has always been an over-the-top liberal, no surprise here
Hell, we got an abysmal staue of naked men with their wankers hangin' out on music row.....what the hell.
"I expected men in hoods and burning crosses, but I found a lot of people on Music Row are very open-minded," said Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer Larry Dvoskin,
Two words for the writer of this article. Dixie Chicks.
I left Nashville in 2003 vowing never to return. Unfortunately I did have to return for a short visit and saw this monstrosity right where I used to work (Palmer Plaza).
I then remembered why I left.
Dolly's got more gay fans that straight. Willie and EmmyLou are old-time lefties.
To say gays have a "home" in Nashville is quite a stretch.
"I expected men in hoods and burning crosses,"
What a surprise. Those idiots are allowed to be as prejudiced as they want... as long as it is against white southerners.
The people mentioned in the article have always been liberal. Years ago, I remember reading an article about Dolly in a woman's magazine. She said that her husband got everything he wanted and basically that she would sleep with anyone she wanted to. From that time on, I thought of her as not my kind of person who definitely doesn't have my kind of values.
Chicksie Dix
That would be a good line for a C&W song.
Willie Nelson has always been the Keith Richards of country music. The author works feverishly to try and make it seem that there is some cultural shift in country music - there is not. The author cites two or three examples of artist's marginal affiliation with the homosexual community as the basis of this thesis. Nonsense. It seems to me that this is just another agenda driven piece.
In fact, on an even deeper level, the author implies that all conservatives - especially those hardcore types in Nashville - hate homosexuals, and isn't it ironic that a couple of country stars aren't? Again, conservatives don't hate homosexuals, however, yes, they are opposed to homosexual activity just as many are opposed to marital infidelity and other sinful behavior.
Just a clue Dolly. If you condone something, you have judged it and found it accptable.
Man, now we're going to start getting C&W covers of show tunes. I can see it all now, and it's frightening.
Dolly Parton Sings Favorites from Sound of Music
I think if you ask KZLA the largest C&W radio in Calif you will find the most non-requested song is willie's Valentine song.
I forgot some of the titles, though:
"My Hills are Alive (with the sound of music)
"How Do You Solve A Problem with Vaginas?
"You're a Dear, A Female Deer"
"You are Sixteen, I'm a Lesbian"
Like that.
I'm starting to think that if I am NOT gay, something is wrong with ME.
:)
lol - yeah, I guess it could be...
Nah, "Dolly sings the hits of Judy Garland" would be more apropos. Or, an album of Dolly and Cher duets.
But, all kidding aside, I give this piece a resounding 'Who Cares'? If an entertainer wants to pander to a specific fanbase - be it beerswilling rednecks, or mocha latte sipping gays - so be it.
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