Posts by Alan Richard:

The John Byrne Band Finds Hope Amid Adversity

By Alan Richard The John Byrne Band knows about heartache. You can tell in their moving Celtic folk-rock, with fiddles, steel guitars, and songs about fighting through oppression, addiction, and political troubles.  Most notably and poignantly on the Philadelphia band’s new record, Shiver in the Sky, Byrne shares the sorrow and anger of his brother’s […]

Secret Emchy Society campaign brings queer country together

By Alan Richard Cindy Emch and her band are making a new album, and everyone’s invited to the party. The Secret Emchy Society,as the editor in chief of Country Queer calls her ever-changing group performing her original songs has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indigogo for her new album, The Chaser, to be released later […]

The High Water Line: Bluegrass Music and Bluegrass Pride

It’s a long way from San Francisco to Mississippi, but singer-songwriter and banjo player Tyler Stegall of The High Water Line has traveled those miles many times physically and spiritually.

ELTON JOHN’S GAY COUNTRY SOUL

Elton John and songwriting partner Bernie Taupin were star-struck when the members of The Band filed into John’s dressing room after a gig in Philadelphia. Just 23 at the time, John had marveled at the imaginative music of the band behind swampy, rootsy songs such as “The Weight.”

The Sweet Second Album from Lavender Country

by Alan Richard The groundbreaking Lavender Country project returns four decades after the first In 1973, Seattle-based Patrick Haggerty released what’s often considered the first truly gay country album, the self-titled Lavender Country. Now he’s back with the project’s follow up record, some 46 years later. As with the groundbreaking first release, Haggerty’s performances on […]