Country Queer

Lifting up LGBTQ+ voices in country and Americana.

Buried Treasure, November 20

By Adeem Bingham, Editor

I’m thankful that these cool-ass artists keep coming over the transom so I can share them with you. And I’m thankful for you.

What are you thankful for?

— Ol’ Deemie

Heiskell

Heiskell is a singer-songwriter based in Eastern Tennessee who got our attention earlier in the fall with his take on a Bobbie Gentry classic: “Ode to Billy Joe.” Now he’s back with a new single- an original song- called “Back Before I Got Over You” and it’s an upbeat Americana song about pining for a time that’s gone. “Forward on another journey that hopefully will get me back to who I was back before I got over you.” Stream now on all your favorite platforms.

Stac3y Bell

Stac3y Bell is an Austin-based artist whose new single “Fringes of Austin” laments the hard impact of inner-city gentrification on the music makers and illustrators. Over the last few decades especially, we’ve seen the middle-class wholly eradicated from the Music Industry leaving us with this sometimes incapacitating dueling reality: everyone has a chance at making it but very few will find financial comfort without an exhausting and relentless schedule. Stac3y’s new song & the broken way she sings it is a perfect soundtrack to the experience.

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Kerryn Fields

Kerryn Fields is an accomplished Melbourne singer-songwriter with a new single called “Atlantis,” released ahead of her upcoming album. Her voice is unique and warm in timbre with a quiver akin to Joan Baez; naturally communicating the duality of strength and frailty with ease. “I wanna kiss my woman / first thing in the morning,” she sings with assured confidence before promising to dive to the bottom of the ocean if her love desires Atlantis. It’s an arresting love song and charming tribute to one of her heroes, Neil Young. “Pocahontas: I’d die for the way you love that song”

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The Dust Bowl Faeries

Ryder Cooley is a gender-fluid Queer artist based in Western New York. She describes her band’s genre as a faerie-tale fusion of circus, post-punk, gypsy and psyche-folk music. One member of the band is a taxidermied ram if you aren’t immediately assured of the dark whimsy of this unique outfit. The first single from their upcoming release, “Candy Store” is based on a Traditional Yiddish folk song. It is imbued with protest and power under the guise of a hapless romp through the Depression-era. Check it out below.

“Buried Treasure” is your bi-weekly guide to under-the-radar queer artists in country, Americana, and folk. Know an artist who should be included? Contact us!