QUEER COUNTRY: Riding Towards Utopia

QUEER COUNTRY: In And Out: Reconsidering ‘Queer’ Country “The word ‘gay’ doesn’t belong in front of country,” she said. I gasped. And I’m still thinking about it two years later. This wasn’t a microaggression from some clueless Music Row exec – it was a statement by out and

Country star Kacey Musgraves, whose new record Middle of Nowhere kicked off our No Depression Criticism Fellowship program in May, announced a continuation of that album due out January 15, 2027 via Lost Highway Records. The 16-track collection, titled Middle of Nowhere Vol. 2: Tex Mex Tapes, will include

This week the column visits two music festivals that take somewhat different approaches to roots music. One, in only its second year, Raleigh Wide Open Music Festival, October 1-3, 2026, in Raleigh, North Carolina and the other, the King Biscuit Blues Festival, which celebrated its 40th year, October 8-