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Brandi Carlile’s Grammy Nomination: Are Lesbians Allowed in Americana?

From the cover of Brandi Carlile’s In These Silent Days

While Brandi Carlile is grateful to be nominated for the 2022 Grammy Awards, she’s disappointed in the categorizing of her music. On November 23, Brandi joined fellow gay artist Lil Nas X in the list of nominees for the 64th annual Grammys. However, a month beforehand, Brandi had a few things to say on Instagram about her song “Right on Time” being moved from the Americana-roots field – her usual category – to Pop. 

“Americana/American Roots music is more than a genre to me,” she wrote. “It represents my community, my family, my friends and my beautiful island of misfits. I am also proud that it represents a great number of people actively WORKING to platform marginalized people – LGBTQIA, women, and people of color (who, of course, actually built the genre).”

Brandi describes the importance of lesbian and gay Americana/Roots music being seen as such, rather than a genre represented by straight white guys. “The importance of staying and working within Americana is greater than just me. There is not a moment where I don’t view my role as something larger. I feel great responsibility in representing marginalized queer people in rural America who are raised on country and roots music but are repeatedly and systematically rejected by the correlating culture. Every rung I can sling my gay sequined boot up on top of gets queer people a little higher on the ladder to being seen as just a bit more human in the great American roots landscape.”

She’s right. Why do straight white men get to push the boundaries of Americana, country, and roots – while still being seen as part of each genre – in ways gay people or people of color can’t? Consistently representing country and roots music with straight, white nominees contributes to the harmful lie that country music is for people who are straight and white. 

By extension, it contributes to the lie that rural or regional areas are, or should only be, just inhabited by white, straight people. People of color built country music as a genre. Gay people shouldn’t be excluded because they don’t fit the stereotype of what it means to be “country,” despite living rurally, growing up there, or just liking to make country music.

Brandi’s long-time service to the Americana genre is undermined by moving her music to Pop, especially when she collaborated with the same Americana-based people she had before, when making the new track. “I am very proud to be the Americana Association’s Artist of the Year two years in a row and to have debuted at number one on the Billboard Americana chart! It was an honor to have made my album at the same place I made my last one….and with all the same folks! Same producers and band. I cut every song live with acoustic guitars, vintage electrics plugged into old fender amps, beautifully aged pianos and with my fog horn vocals bleeding into every mic.”

Does she feel a bit misunderstood by an industry that supposedly respects and celebrates her? “While I’m incredibly flattered to be considered “pop” as a 40 year old crooning lesbian mother, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit surprised and disappointed to learn the Recording Academy decided to move “Right On Time” out of the American Roots genre and into the pop category.”

Despite all of this, she’s humbly accepting the change. She just wants her supporters to know she’s not abandoning Americana. “Being recognized by the Grammys — in any form — is a great honor. I just want folks to know this wasn’t my decision. Regardless, it doesn’t change who I am or what my Americana community continues to mean to me.”

Lesbian artists like Brandi Carlile having their Americana music be honoured and respected as such changes what “being American” means. Lesbians, gay men, and people of color, don’t have to create new genres of music “for themselves.” Filing gay people into pop is (consciously or subconsciously) biased, when straight, white men can push the boundaries of Americana while still being included in the genre. Brandi Carlile is Americana, she hasn’t simply dabbled. Americana, like America, isn’t straight, white male territory.

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