We’re Kicking Off Pride with Two Free Shows

Featuring Aaron Lee Tasjan, Jaime Wyatt, Jaimee Harris, Mary Gauthier and More

By Dale Henry Geist, Publisher

It’s an absolute thrill for me to kick off Pride with a bunch of my favorite artists in concert, in support of Country Queer’s upcoming crowdfunding campaign. On June 1, we’ve got Mary Gauthier and Jaimee Harris, playing for you from their Nashville domicile, along with Crys Matthews from our nation’s capital. That show will be opened by Adeem the Artist. On June 2, Aaron Lee Tasjan and Jaime Wyatt will be rocking you from their Nashville studios, and D’orjay the Singing Shaman, coming to you from Calgary, Canada. Mya Byrne will be opening.

Our crowdfunding campaign is called Taking Flight, because it will enable us to be truly sustainable and continue our mission of lifting up LGBTQ+ voices in country, Americana, and folk. When I asked these artists to help us out, they immediately said yes. I’m deeply grateful for the continued support of so many artists, journalists, and readers, and I just know that we can make this thing fly.

Here are the Facebook events so you can get ’em on your calendar:
Taking Flight #1: Tuesday, 7pm Central
Taking Flight #2: Wednesday, 7pm Central

I’m not sure whether I need to tell you how great these musicians are, but just in case, here goes:

NPR dubbed Jaimee Harris “The Next Queen of Americana-Folk”; on the heels of her debut album Red Rescue, hailed by many as one of the top Americana albums of 2018, she released The Congress House Sessions, an EP of stripped-down recordings of some of her most requested songs.

Mary Gauthier is a singer-songwriter whose songs have been covered by artists like Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, Kathy Mattea, and Jimmy Buffett. Her latest album, Rifles & Rosary Beads, earned Gauthier her first Grammy nomination, and her first book, Saved by a Song: The Art and Healing Power of Songwriting, will be out in July.

Already being hailed as “the next Woody Guthrie,” DC resident Crys Matthews is among the brightest stars of the new generation of social justice music-makers. A powerful lyricist whose songs of compassionate dissent reflect her lived experience as what she lightheartedly calls “the poster-child for intersectionality,”

Aaron Lee Tasjan is currently riding the charts with his new album, Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan!, whose openly queer lead single, “Up All Night,” is getting spins on rock and Americana stations all over the world.

Jaime Wyatt’s latest album, the Shooter Jennings-produced Neon Cross, showed up on a slew of 2020’s Best Of lists and also marked her public coming-out.

As a Black queer woman, D’orjay the Singing Shaman is committed to bringing diversity and inclusiveness to country music. She released her astonishing debut album, “New Kind of Outlaw,” in November 2020.

An award-winning performing songwriter, Mya Byrne has also collaborated with many of queer country’s brightest stars. Her recent directorial debut about trans activist Lou Sullivan is making the rounds at film festivals, and she’s in pre-production for her next album.

Adeem the Artist’s new album Cast-Iron Pansexual garnered over 2,000 streams on release day, and Rolling Stone says, “[it] lives up to its title with explorations of sexuality and gender expression that are equally clever and poignant.”

Both shows will begin at 8pm Central, on YouTube Live. Tuesday’s show will be at https://youtu.be/PEjgfepynkU and Wednesday’s show will be at https://youtu.be/P4Pzx3Qyr-c . Admission is free. See you there!