Lavender Country

Today's act has a record that will never be broken; their debut album is the first known gay-themed album in country music history. Patrick Haggerty, the band's founder, released the remarkable self-titled album Lavender Country in 1973. It’s a breezy, old-school-outlaw country record. The 10-song collection, funded and released by Gay Community Social Services of Seattle, with funding and production assistance from activist Faygele Ben-Miriam, sold the 1,000 copies that were released at the time, but the 2014 reissue by the North Carolina label Paradise of Bachelors has contributed to an unexpected resurgence. It’s easy to see why: These songs are played with a great 70s country twang, and their politics resonate way past the final notes, especially in today's culture of expanding equalities.

Patrick Haggerty

Based in Seattle, Washington, Lavender Country consisted of lead singer and guitarist Patrick Haggerty, keyboardist Michael Carr, singer and fiddler Eve Morris and guitarist Robert Hammerstrom (the only straight member). Patrick Haggerty was the heart and soul of the group and it is through his interviews for Hornet (by Matt Baume) and for Pitchfork (by Brandon Stosuy) that we'll get the story.

At the core of Patrick (an activist as much as an artist) Haggerty's being is the relationship he had with his father, a deeply caring Washington State dairy farmer who realized his son was gay early on and tenderly let him know he was OK with it, without ever actually saying those words. In the 50s and 60s, Haggerty's father allowed him to dress up in girls clothes, and to try out for the high school cheerleading team with glitter on his face.

"I always loved my father and knew that my father loved me, but when I was a child, I thought was he was just another dad who loved his kid. There wasn’t anything exceptional about him. Because he never went to a place and said, 'Aren’t you lucky you have a father like me? Don’t I stand out? Aren’t I different from all the other fathers, because I’ll put up with behavior from you and no one else will.' He never went there. He never represented himself that way."

"I had no gay consciousness, I didn’t know I was going to be homosexual, I didn’t know what it meant. My dad couldn’t discuss that issue with me. He had to show the love that he had for me regarding my sexual orientation in all kinds of subtle ways. It wasn’t something you talked about. It was something you did. It was a sparkle in his eye."

"When I was 30, and I was out, I’d talked to so many different gay men about their relationships with their own fathers. Then, 10 years after he died, I began to realize what a truly unusual and remarkable man he was for his time and place. It’s incredible. I was so blessed to have a father who loved me. And he knew very well what I was going to be when I was six years old. I didn’t know it, but he did. Which sissy’s father in rural America in 1960 is telling them, 'Whatever you do, don’t sneak because you’ll ruin your immortal soul?' One in a million, one in three million, one in 10 billion? So I didn’t know it at the time, but I’m 70 now and I’m looking back and going, 'You had a really, really amazing father.' When he said 'don’t sneak,' I said, 'You’re right dad, I’m not going to sneak.' And then here comes Lavender Country, fuck all of you. If you would’ve had my dad, the patron saint of all sissies everywhere, for a dad, you would’ve written Lavender Country too. You’re supposed to write Lavender Country with a dad like that."

The Haggerty family in 1945

However, his father was an exception. As Patrick says:

"I was pissed off at straight men in 1970, not because they were straight. That had nothing to do with it. In 1970, almost all straight men were educated to believe that 'fags' were dirty and sick and that’s the way they treated us for the most part. It was, in fact, dangerous to come out to probably 50 percent of straight men at the time and another 30 percent were homophobic as hell."

"There were a few straight men at the time who 'got it', but not many. Many, many straight men at the time honestly believed that they had and deserved more rights than women, blacks, gays, elderly, disabled etc. You must remember that civil rights legislation didn’t happen until the mid-1960s. Before that, straight white men were for all intents and purposes the only group who did have civil rights."

Where did he record Lavender Country?

"I was in Seattle when I made the album. At the time, it was one of the best places in the country to come out. I doubt anybody in 1973 'felt comfortable' being out and gay anywhere; it was testy and sharp for most of us, and we all had to be prepared for 'a fight' wherever we were."

"It took a full 15 years after Stonewall for anybody to 'feel comfortable' being gay anywhere in the country. Certainly, Seattle led the way nationally for gay rights. I would say Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Boston were the leading cities for gay right in the 1970s."

"It was my idea to record the album. But as soon as I proposed it, I got a lot of support from the out lesbians and gays in Seattle. Without community support, it would have been impossible spiritually, psychologically, financially and every other kind of way. I cannot overemphasize the importance the community-backing played in producing the album. It truly was a community effort in every way."

"When we made Lavender Country, the line was between who's straight and who's gay. It was a faulty division in the first place because scientifically we all know there's a lot of blur. People are crossing over all the time, and in their actual sexual behavior, there's not really a discrete line between homosexuals and heterosexuals. In fact, sexual behavior runs on a continuum. That's the truth. The gay-straight line is a little artificial in the first place and it's a-historic. Politically, there hasn't really been a grouping of gay people in a lot of different cultures, though of course, gay behavior has been there all along. So there's an artificial line, but it's one that was necessary to move the movement forward. And now the line has shifted."

"My guitar player, a guy I've been running with for years, lives in San Francisco, and his sexuality is somewhat of a blur. Right now, he's involved in a heterosexual relationship, but I know his history very well and he's a crossover. He said the line has shifted from who you love to who you hate. It’s an anti-bigotry line. The bigots are on one side and the rest of us are on the other. That’s the new line. Gay or straight is out the window. It’s a non-issue. That’s not what’s real, that’s not what’s happening. The issue is: Do you hate somebody or not, and why."

"Of course, the people who hate homosexuals are also the ones who hate black people and women and any kind of equal rights movement. That’s where we are. Lavender Country is resonant to everybody now on one side of the line. Now, anybody who doesn’t want to be a bigot can listen to Lavender Country and hear what it’s saying. The pool of people who are ready to hear Lavender Country has skyrocketed exponentially in the last 10 years. It all just took me by complete storm. The really exciting part, of course, is how it’s a big fat ego trip, but that’s ridiculous. I’m too old for that shit. The real bottom line point is that it’s fabulous I’ve lived long enough to see this shift. It’s a huge victory that Lavender Country is making a splash. And before I go to my grave I'm getting the last laugh, because Lavender Country is going to outlive me."

Did he stay in touch with the other people who worked on Lavender Country?

"Yes, I did. (Keyboardist) Michael Carr and I remained great friends for years and years, as he was a gay activist with a politic very similar to mine (I mean radical Marxist). Michael married his longtime partner, Henry, and they live in Philadelphia. They both remain active in the gay and Jewish communities, and have consistently maintained their Marxist political views."

"I lost touch with (lead guitarist) Robert Hammerstrom for years, as he was not gay nor radical, but I have hooked up again with him recently. He went on to have a great career in country music. He remained in Seattle and has a recording studio in North Seattle. He joined us last year for a Lavender Country show. (Fiddle-player) Eve Morris was a lesbian activist in Seattle for years, though not a Marxist. We remained in contact for many years, but she moved to Miami, then Europe in later years, and I have been unable to locate her for about a decade now, though I have tried."

"Robert Perry, the main producer, and fundraiser of Lavender Country was a dear friend and housemate for years. He lives in California now but we have remained good friends throughout the years. He has helped out a lot in recent years with the rebirth of Lavender Country and remains a dedicated and loyal fan. Another person I would mention who was a great supporter of the project was Faygele Ben Miriam, noted radical gay activist in Seattle for decades. He has passed on. Faygele and I were fabulous friends, co-activists housemates and soul mates for a lifetime. I miss him terribly."

"Lesbian activists Rae Larson, Lois Thetford and Ann Manly were also great supporters of the Lavender Country project and we have remained lifetime friends. Lois and I share a daughter born in 1973, the year the album came out. I could mention many other people who played critical roles in the production and distribution of Lavender Country. Again, it was a community project from inception, fundraising, production, recording, sales and Lavender Country performances at the time."

What does it mean to be a "country" person?

"To me, being truly country means coming from a rural, farming/country background, gardening, farming, milking cows and chopping chicken’s heads off for family consumption; stuff like that. Many people in the industry who profess to be country, actually aren’t. Most people who are country music fans are actually lifetime city dwellers. Thinking country people are 'bumpkins' is a ridiculous stereotype. I grew up just like Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn: poor, lots of kids, great mom and pop. I milked cows hundred of times and chopped of chicken’s heads hundred more. I know how to grow a garden and set irrigation pipe, plow a field etc. etc. I doubt anybody would describe me as a 'bumpkin', certainly not a conservative one. But I am as country as they come; so are a lot of other progressives and radicals."

You said that your music has the following message in common with punk rock: "A lot of things wrong with the establishment. Fuck you guys." Do you feel like any contemporary LGBT-musicians are conveying this sentiment?

"There are a lot of musicians who are gay, and many of them are out on the job and to families etc. But almost none of them actually SING about it. It’s still the big no-no to get up and sing it. Those of us who do, do tend to have a radical view of society and ourselves, and we are consequently unrecognized if we do. Lavender Country is a huge breakthrough in this regard."

"Almost all the gay people I know who sing about it are still unrecognized by the larger society, and even unrecognized in the gay community. Here is a real element of homophobia in and out of the gay community when it comes to openly gay music, especially gay male performers. In fact, the gay community has been decidedly unfriendly to gay performers who actually get up and sing about it. We are almost always 'bumped off the stage' by straight so called up-and-coming 'hip' musicians, even at gay prides etc. This is a very sore point among gay musicians who actually do gay music. It would help a lot if we were actually supported by the community, but we are not, for the most part. This is a hurdle we need to overcome."

"The recent upsurge in Lavender Country is due, not to the gay community, but to the young, progressive punker, fuck-you types who recognize Lavender Country for what it is and think it needs to be broadcast to the population as a whole. Lately, this has broadened out to include up-and-coming straight country music artists, for example in St. Louis and Portland, who have been helping me out immeasurably. I would say the musician's community - not necessarily the gay community - is responsible for the Lavender Country upsurge. This is certainly true for my label, Paradise of Bachelors, who are a straight label and come, interestingly, from the south (North Carolina).

Let's listen to the music now: Haggerty is a musician and activist who wanted to use music as a means of passing along what he called "the information," basic social and cultural communication in a time when the LGBT community (which didn't even have that name yet) was still struggling to find out what was going on from city to city. He had grown up listening to country music, and he began writing songs that reflected his own experiences, as well as the larger concerns of the gay community in Seattle, his adopted hometown. 

Haggerty also built these songs around simple but sturdy melodies, and his voice (which suggests Will Geer's hipper younger brother) had a sly insouciance that expresses humor and anger equally well. And if the rest of the band isn't quite as memorable, pianist Michael Carr, fiddler and vocalist Eve Morris, and guitar picker Robert Hammerstrom give this music a loose but committed feel that speaks to political commitment as well as the desire to get the crowd hollerin'. 

The album opens with Come Out Singing, which speaks of randy pleasures:

"The corners of our bed
That's full of your flirtin' fingers
Your body odor lingers
In my toes and in my nose and in my head"

Then comes Gypsy John, a tale of a lover who's gone:

"Was I just a restless caress
A slippery kiss, O Gypsy John
In your scrambles for the squire of Avalon?"

Waltzing Will Trilogy tells three dark tales of institutional abuse.

"Walzing Will was soft and sweet

The way he waltzed was too effete

For psychiatrists to think was fittin'

So they said, "Hey son, we think we should

Sneak you a slug of raw manhood

The State Hospital's just the place to get one"

Now they call him a queer sickie

They herd him to group therapy

They lock him up at night so he don't escape

And if they hear any gay talk

A sizzle of electro-shock

Keeps his fantasies in fascist shape

They call it mental hygiene

But I call it psychic rape

And he won't get no restitution

Till we're dealing with the fact

That all the mental institutions

Are backed by a pack of straight white honky quacks"

Here's a live version with the recent line-up of Lavender Country:

The most popular song in the album is Cryin' These Cocksucking Tears, a screed against sexual gamesmanship.

"Sharing and caring isn't quite daring
Enough for a spiff such as you
Spread your pollen about, then you bug out
When there's railing and wailing to do
How long you been thinking that your shit ain't stinking?
Well Mama's done wiping your rear
You may need a wife sir, but I won't spend my life sir
Crying these Cocksucking Tears"

Back in the Closet Again carries bitter political messages:

"The Revolution started outright
Black Panthers were leading the fight
The Lords were in the left flank
The women drove a Sherman tank
And the workers were a hunk of dynamite
A battalion of Gay men brought up the rear
Packing two grenades in each brassiere
Every purse was filled with mace
Carbine rifles trimmed with lace
Them campy Gay guerrillas knew no fear"

"But the liberation forces got uptight
They screamed, "You fags ain't got no human rights
We think you guys are sick
'Cause all you want's a prick"
And while we scrapped, pigs stole the whole damn fight
That was the end of the revolution, my friend
'Cause all of us are going to the pen
They're rounding up the Blacks
Then they're after Gay folks next
So I'm Back in The Closet Again"

I Can't Shake the Stranger Out of You is probably my favorite song on the album. There's an emotional weariness in the melody and lyrics that fit my current state of mind.

You're a romping Bronco, I must admit

Stomping while your lips are chomping at the bit

Sure I'll kiss you, but who's gonna miss you

When you're chasing midnights through?

Be glad to be your one-shot pleasure

Even leave you grieving at your leisure, babe

But I Can't Shake the Stranger Out of You

Straight White Patterns is about the straitjacket of gender roles and sexual politics:

"We need these fears to vanish
But it seems like we've been banished
To the roles that mold these mannish
Modes of distance
We never seem to comprehend
That love is not some dividend
A plot to get more than we spend
Till out resistance
Gets ground down to the bone
Our hearts are out on loan
To strangers locked in stilted pantomime
But we buy them Straight White Patterns
Spend our lives in the five-and-dime
Where the price for Straight While Patterns
Is surrender to our gender one more time"

The youtube version that I've found is a live one; after 8 minutes of Patrick talking about his dad and honoring him, they go on to sing Straight White Patterns:

Lavender Country closes the album in a more upbeat fashion - it's an invitation to let your inhibitions go and have fun:

"You all come out, come out, my dears!

To Lavender Country

Sashay out and give our way a try

Whether you tuck in or dangle

When you hear that glad gay tango

You'll just spread you spangled wings and fly."

After disbanding Lavender Country in 1976, Haggerty ran two unsuccessful campaigns for political office, once for Seattle City Council and once as an independent candidate for a seat in the Washington House of Representatives, and continued to work as a gay rights and anti-racism activist.

In 2000, the Journal of Country Music published an article on gay country musicians, focusing in large part on Haggerty and Lavender Country. As a result of the renewed attention, the album was re-released on CD in December 1999, and in 2000 the band released a five-song EP, Lavender Country Revisited, which featured three re-recordings of songs from the original album and two new songs. The band reunited briefly in 2000, performing the album in its entirety at Seattle's Broadway Performance Hall in January 2000, and at that year's Seattle Pride. In addition, the album was archived at the Country Music Hall of Fame by former Journal of Country Music editor Chris Dickinson.

Their song Cryin' These Cocksucking Tears was included in the 2012 compilation album Strong Love: Songs of Gay Liberation 1972–1981. The 1973 album was re-released on independent label Paradise of Bachelors in 2014, and the band has played several reunion shows in 2014 to support the reissue.

Lavender Country - today

Haggerty still performs and is delighted that the significance of Lavender Country has finally been acknowledged. “Of course I’m disappointed in the homophobia in the country music scene, historically. On the other hand, Lavender Country is banging on the door! I never thought I would live to see it. It’s getting to the point where the country music scene is going to be dragged kicking and screaming into reality whether they want to go there or not. It’s exhilarating to be putting on my boots and kicking down the door. It’s time.”

Haggerty also recorded a story for StoryCorps about coming out to his father in 1959, which was adapted into the animated short film The Saint of Dry Creek in 2015. In 2016, director Dan Taberski directed a short film titled These Cocksucking Tears which starred Haggerty and told the story of his life and career.

Here's The Saint of Dry Creek. You should watch it. It's only 3 minutes long.

I'd like to close with Patrick Haggerty's answer to the following question:

You said that having a “bucket of sex” was never an issue for gay men; having a relationship was. In this age of mobile phone hookup apps, has that changed for the better or worse?

"Trust me, we didn’t need the Internet in 1970 to have a lot of anonymous sex - it was everywhere. The Internet has made it easier and less time consuming, perhaps. It’s not about sex, but about learning how to be intimate with men, something we were not trained to do, and we’re sorely lacking in skills because of it."

"While there is still rampant sex going on, I would say that the younger generation of gay men have done a little better at actually having intimate, loving relationships. We are learning along the way. I don’t regret all the anonymous sex I had. I do regret the lack of intimate connection that seemed to go along with it. As I said this is improving."

"I do not have negative judgments about having anonymous sex. I do have negative judgments about men’s ability to love one another truly, whether gay or straight. The world would be a lot better off if men knew how to love each other."

This is a sentiment I fully agree with...