Preview: Gina Venier and Austin Lucas On Proud Radio with Hunter Kelly
The next episode of a CQ favorite, Proud Radio with Hunter Kelly, premieres this Sunday, but you can get a little taste right here. Gina Venier joins Hunter to discuss the importance of finding the right time, space, and people for her new single (and recent CQ Song of the Week), “Nora Jane.” Hunter also talks to Austin Lucas, who shares the joy he experiences in finally being able to be himself around other queer people.
Here are some key moments in the show…
Gina Venier on graduating to the big stage at Nashville Pride:
“Little girl, very big stage, but I’m ready for it. I’ve been playing the side stages through the homies, the Dryburgh sisters that have really supported the queer community here in Nashville… It feels like a graduation for me, Hunter, truly, to be able to be invited on the big girl stage… I’m essentially opening for Ms. Tucker [ed. that would be Ms. Tanya Tucker], so here we go.”
Austin Lucas on playing “Killing Time” and feeling seen:
“I played that song in front of people for years and I talked about it on the microphone. And every once in a while I would have a young queer person or a young trans person or a non-binary person come up to me and say like, ‘Hey, the fact that you write these songs that obviously have this very queer subtext,’ you know what I mean, ‘in them, means so much to me. I feel represented by you.’ But I was never seen that way by the other artists on tours. I was never able to be together playing these songs with people that have their life experience.”
“Long story short, I was in my basement with Patrick Haggerty and Paisley and Antonio and Chuck and Jack Moriarty and we’re playing, and I just started crying, because I felt like I came home. I’d never felt so seen and so whole. And that was why I wanted to do that tour, because I knew that I needed to be able to step out with my people.”
Tune in this Sunday, May 1st, at 2pm PT / 4pm CT / 5pm ET, or any time afterward at apple.co/_ProudRadio on Apple Music Country.
Media and quotes courtesy of Proud Radio with Hunter Kelly on Apple Music Country.