just out ▼ S e p te m b e r 0. 1996 ▼ 23
[F d e s it ®(F
••x : ;. '•
■
'(imoas
_
a
C o u n t r y T a I ies
a
v»
S ta nò
Garth Brooks9 gay-positive stance spells inclusion to a growing audience
T
by Andy Mangels
three-concert performance in Portland.
The words rang as true on stage as they had
hours earlier at a press conference, when Brooks
had answered this reporter’s questions honestly
and candidly, not caring that his views were also
being recorded by several news crews, radio
stations, newspapers, magazines and the Mr.
Showbiz World Wide Web site.
Asked about the battles between gay men and
lesbians and the anti-gay forces who want to see
us eradicated. Brooks replied, “To see both sides
of any conflict is a tough one. All I know is this:
onservative thinking and country
I think people want to be recognized for being
music have often been lumped to­
people. If you recognize people for the color of
gether, as if a musical art form could
their skin, or the choice of their sexual prefer­
be, in and of itself, homophobic. Men­
ence—good or bad...if you reward them or hurt
tion country music to most city folk
and they’ll think of rednecks, cowboy boots,
divorce, hats and the intolerable Hee Haw show.
Country music is all of those things and more.
The musical influences for early country can be
traced to the fiddle tunes and reels of English,
Irish and Scottish settlers, as well as to religious
hymns. The immigrant nation of the United States
was introduced to the banjo by African slaves in
the mid-1800s, and the guitar gained acceptance
soon after. Folk music soon incorporated these
instruments, as well as fiddles, mandolins and
steel guitars. The resulting mixture of instru­
ments, along with the songs of settlers, cowboys
and their respective blues, eventually became
known as country music.
Through the 1900s, country music has gone
through hillbilly phases, western swing eras and
honky-tonk. Separate styles of country music
included bluegrass, rockabilly, yodeling, country
gospel, Cajun, Tejano/Tex-Mex and even com­
edy. Today’s predominant form of country music
is no longer the corn-pone misogynistic Hee Haw
music of old, but a style of country dance music
that can utilize ballads, rock sounds and honky-
tonk. In the last decade, after a dip in the mid-’80s,
country music has experienced a resurgence in
popularity. Go to a country concert today and
you’ll see preteens and teenagers in T-shirts and
tight Wranglers mixed in with scarf-wearing blue­
haired ladies and starched-shirted men.
And yet, as far-reaching as the world of coun­
try music has become, is it large enough to en­
compass the gay men and lesbians in its midst? Is
there a place for queer boots in the country dance
clubs? Are there singers and musicians we can
call our own? Does Nashville, the undisputed
capitol of country music, breed redneck intoler­
ance or stretch its arms open to welcome anyone
into its stable?
The answers start at the top.
Garth Brooks
Cowboys are frequently secretly fond o f each
other
What did you think those saddles and boots
were about
There’s many a cowboy who don't understand
The way that he feels towards his brother
Inside every cowboy there’s a lady who d love
to slip out.
—Pansy Division, “Cowboys Are Frequently
Secretly Fond o f Each Other ”
C
G arth B rooks :
C ountry F reedom
them because of it—you’re putting a brick in a
wall. We’re all just people, and we’re all going to
stand up at the very last day and account for our
actions.”
When w e’re free to love anyone we choose
Brooks stares at me intently while he speaks,
When this world’s big enough fo r all different
his ice-blue eyes mesmerizing and his voice low
views
When we all can worship from our own kind o f enough that it feels like we’re in a conversation all
our own rather than in a room with 20 or so
pew
journalists.
Then we shall be free.
“The attitude I’d take against you, sir, if I
—Garth Brooks, “We Shall Be Free"
would meet you on the street, is how you treated
me as an individual. If you are an atheist and I
he word controversial is tied forever to that
believe
in God, then when it comes to God and
song in country music history books; the
atheism, me and you is not going to get along. But
first expression of tolerance for gay and
lesbian love in country music came not from if
an it were just out there on the street and I drop
something and you pick it up for me...then my
“out” musician, nor even a closeted one. Country
thought
about you is, ‘Nice man and thanks for
music mega-star Garth Brooks recorded the song
doing that.’ That’s where I go from there. Now if
“We Shall Be Free” for his fifth album, The Chase
you go into deeper things and things I believe
(1992), and has been explaining it ever since.
about or things I don’t believe in, then yeah, we’re
"This song got a rough start right out of the
going
to part. But I think this world’s big enough
box, but all it was meant to do was to remind us all
for me and you both, no matter how far our
to love one another,” Brooks recently told the
differences
are.”
audience at the opening night of his sold-out
T
And I believe him. Brooks not only seems
sincere in what he says, he feels sincere. He came
under fire from Christians for “We Shall Be
Free,” and discussed it in a 1993 Rolling Stone
interview:
“I feel bad any time somebody brings up the
Christian aspect against ‘We Shall Be Free,’
because it was meant to be a gospel song. It was
meant to be the truth as I saw it. And being called
Brutus and Judas, all kinds of things, really hurts.
I do believe that God exists. I do believe in the
Bible. But I can’t see that loving somebody is a
sin.
Bom in Oklahoma, and something of a jock
and a hell-raiser in high school and college (where
he got an advertising degree). Brooks seems an
unlikely star and an even more unlikely advocate
for gay and lesbian rights. But from his self-titled
debut album in 1989, Brooks showed a sensitivity
to all people. Although a few of his songs were the
honky-tonkin’ love-’em-and-leave-’em songs too
popular from his colleagues, he also crafted and
sang ballads about topics generally untouched.
"The Thunder Rolls” was his first controversy,
with a video containing strong enough scenes of
spousal abuse that it was banned from airplay on
The Nashville Network.
Brooks’ half-sister is Betsy Smittle, a tall,
blond, busty, “out” lesbian. She was “tougher
than any of the boys,” Brooks said of his sister in
the Rolling Stone interview. Playing bass guitar
and singing vocals in Brooks’ touring band. The
Stillwater Band, Smittle was a forefront presence
on stage at concerts (she had earlier performed
with Ronnie Dunn of Brooks and Dunn fame). At
the time that “We Shall Be Free” was released,
Garth cited his sister’s lesbianism as one of the
reasons he wrote the song the way he did. Al­
though the song can be interpreted broadly enough
to be talking about tolerance for race or religious
differences. Brooks agreed that the lines of the
song could indeed be about tolerance for gay men
and lesbians. The rest of the song came from
Brooks’ experiences in 1992 during the Los An­
geles riots. Although the song only reached No. 7
on the charts, it received the Outstanding Record­
ing Award in 1993 from Gay and Lesbian Alli­
ance Against Defamation-Los Angeles, a fact that
is not hidden in Brooks’ press kit.
Homophobia isn’t tolerated in Brooks’ orga­
nization or his “crew” as he calls it. Unlike many
other publicity agencies, when contacted by a
reporter from a gay and lesbian newspaper. Brooks’
organization was very helpful. Regarding the
homophobia rampant in country music, Brooks’
views were related in a 1994 Playboy interview: “I
don’t have a problem with people having morals
and rules that they won’t break. But if something’s
not being looked at simply because it’s too ugly to
look at, but it still exists, that only means that the
problem is going to get bigger.”
At the Portland news conference, he added that
when it came to homophobia, “I don’t see it, or it
doesn’t exist, or they don’t show me in this crew.
This is what I know. Everybody is judged here on
how they treat us as individuals. Whether they’re a
different color than us, whether they’re anything
different from us. If they don’t speak the same
language—throughout Europe, the people I got
along with were the people who came in and said,
‘Hey, man, I don’t dig your music and I don’t
understand it, but you’re selling out all these places
so you have my respect for that.’ As opposed to the
people who come in and say, ‘Okay are there going
to be horses on stage tonight or you got any more of
that barnyard stuff?’ This person doesn’t give a
crap about me, doesn’t know anything about me, so
you move that way. I’ll move this way.”
Betsy Smittle recently left The Stillwater Band
to pursue a solo career, which may well make her
country music’s first “out” lesbian recording star.
In Portland, Brooks promised his support for her
career.
“Sure, I’ll support her. I’d die for my sister.
Not because she’s gay. I’d die for my sister
because she’s my sister. People can say that we’re
half-brothers and sisters. I think love is thicker
than blood. She is my sister, and that’s why I will
support her.”
Four years after “We Shall Be Free” was
released to controversy. Brooks sings the song at
every concert date. He even sang it recently on
ABC-TV’s Muppets Tonight, where the backup
chorus of inter-species muppets added a humor­
ous counterpoint to some of the lyrics. Brooks has
also cleared the International Gay Rodeo Asso­
ciation to use his song "The Dance” at each of
their opening ceremonies, where a riderless horse
circles the arena to represent all those in the rodeo
association who have died of AIDS. And in 1995,
Garth was one of the first stars to sign up for a
benefit for WSIX Nashville DJ Hoss Bums, when
he announced he was HIV positive and bisexual.
Brooks recently became the top-selling solo
artist in U.S. music history, and is quickly moving
to surpass The Beatles as the top-selling music act
of all time. Perhaps other country stars should take
a page or two from his book and realize that
inclusion of everyone in the audience will bring
them more fans ..and more freedom.
Next issue, part 2—
Doug Stevens: Wild and Free.
Andy Mangels is a Portland-based writer who
has published in The Advocate, Drummer,
Frontiers, Leather Journal and other magazines.
He has written a Star Wars book and dozens o f
comic books, and edited the award-winning
Gay Comics.