A quantum conversation with Lavender Country / interviewer Jason Triefenbach.

"In 1973, Lavender Country released a self-titled record that is widely recognized as the first gay-themed country music album. They're still active nearly 50 years later, and recently put out the long-overdue follow-up to that debut. The band's founder, Patrick Haggerty, is interviewed here by multidisciplinary artist Jason Triefenbach, though this meeting comes across more like an extended ramble from Haggerty than a proper interview; it's rare that Triefenbach chimes in with more than 'MmHmm,' 'Wow!' or 'Fantastic!' Fortunately, Haggerty has no qualms about spilling his guts without being prompted. Haggerty 'didn't have any problem being a sissy kid in 1955 in Port Angeles Washington... Why? What for? My father loved me,' he says. 'My father was proud of me.' Haggerty dives deeply into his relationship with his father (dubbed 'Saint Charles of the Sissies'), praising his support, protection and encouragement at a time when it was unthinkable for a Catholic farmer to do anything of the sort. Without that care, says Haggerty, Lavender Country would have never existed. Haggerty and Triefenbach move on to discuss capitalism, a Lavender Country ballet (it actually happened), gender identity and the impact of COVID-19 on the band (Haggerty nearly called it quits but the day was saved by a tech-savvy 19-year-old band member). It's the image Haggerty paints of his father, though, that lingers in memory. Given the room he had to flourish in his youth, 'it's not surprising,' he says, 'that I wrote the world's first gay country album. It's actually kind of predictable, right?'"--Broken Pencil description.

"Lavender Country made history in 1973 by releasing what has been widely acknowledged as the world's first openly gay country music album. The record's raw and communal energy are driven by songwriter, queer icon, and self- confessed Trotskyist revolutionary Patrick Haggerty. The eponymous album delves unflinchingly into the American psyche as seen through the eyes of a 20th Century rural queer (or Sissy as Haggerty frequently refers to himself.) Standard Practice CoCreative talked with Haggerty via video conference for over two hours at the end of December 2020. At 76, he is experiencing renewed notoriety as an Elder of today's Queer Country Renaissance. Lavender Country continues to touch hearts and minds with live shows ensconced in a vernacular tradition connecting Depression- era activist folk singers like Aunt Molly Jackson to postwar radical art collectives such as The Cockettes and Gran Fury. After decades of blacklisting by the country music establishment, the Lavender Country album was vindicated in 1999 with inclusion in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Haggerty is funny, wise, humble, and angry, and wants us all to participate in the work and play of collective liberation!"