Lavender Country was a queer country group started by Patrick Haggerty in 1972. Based in Seattle, Washington, the band originally consisted of Haggerty as lead singer and guitarist, keyboardist Michael Carr, singer and fiddler Eve Morris and guitarist Robert Hammerstrom. They were a groundbreaking act in country for their explicitly queer lyrics and activism.
Their self-titled debut album was released in 1973 by Gay Community Social Services of Seattle. Just 1,000 copies of the album were pressed at the time of its original release.
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Lavender Country was a queer country group started by Patrick Haggerty in 1972. Based in Seattle, Washington, the band originally consisted of Haggerty as lead singer and guitarist, keyboardist Michael Carr, singer and fiddler Eve Morris and guitarist Robert Hammerstrom. They were a groundbreaking act in country for their explicitly queer lyrics and activism.
Their self-titled debut album was released in 1973 by Gay Community Social Services of Seattle. Just 1,000 copies of the album were pressed at the time of its original release.
Shan Ottey, a DJ for Seattle radio station KRAB (now KNDD), played the band's song "Cryin' These Cocksucking Tears" on the air in 1973, resulting in Ottey's dismissal from the station. According to Seattle Weekly, Ottey's broadcasting license was revoked by the FCC. Ottey remained defiant that the song "should be played on the air" and eventually returned to broadcasting.
The band performed at the first-ever Seattle Pride event in 1974 and in other places around the Pacific Northwest, but they broke up in 1976. After disbanding, Haggerty ran two unsuccessful campaigns for political office, once for Seattle City Council and once as an independent candidate for a seat in the Washington House of Representatives, and continued to work as a gay rights and anti-racism activist.
Lavender Country reunited in 2000 after being featured in an academic article focused on queer country musicians, and they got back together again in 2014 when their debut was reissued by Paradise Of Bachelors. In 2019, the band recorded and released their first new album in almost 50 years, "Blackberry Rose (And Other Songs And Sorrows)", which was reissued by Don Giovanni Records in 2022.
In 2020, Haggerty was featured in a version of Trixie Mattel's reprise of "I Can't Shake the Stranger Out of You", titled "Stranger".
Patrick Haggerty passed away on October 31st, 2022 at the age of 78. Rest in Peace.
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…shrink me down again
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