There is a big article about our Brooklyn queer country scene in i-D! Read it here!
Save the date for the next Queer Country Quarterly!
httpv://youtu.be/BAMPre3KjgQ
Dear cowpeople, don’t forget to mark your calendars for Saturday, December 5th. We’ll be back at the Branded Saloon for the winter edition of the Queer Country Quarterly with the wonderful Joshua Marcus on tour from Providence, RI. Plus Wiley Gaby’s band Goldenchild will be celebrating their brand new gorgeous cosmic country album Bridges.
And of course your host Karen & the Sorrows will have some new songs for you. And maybe a seasonal surprise or two!
In the meantime, c’mon out and see The Sorrows on November 6th at Rock Shop with our friends Tatters & Rags! It wont’ be a queer country show, but it will be rockin’!
The Fall Queer Country Quarterly is Coming Soon!
Hello dear cowpeople! Hope you can join us at C’mon Everybody for some queer country magic! Justin Vahala, honey-voiced queer country unicorn, will open, starting at 7:30 sharp. Transgender love pioneer So Brown will steal your heart and then break it. And your hosts The Sorrows have some brand new songs we can’t wait to play for you!
WHEN: Thursday, October 8th, 7:30 sharp
WHERE: C’mon Everybody, 325 Franklin Ave, Brooklyn, New York 11238
RSVP: facebook.com/events/773925929402525/
DOOR: $10, but if you’d like to come and can’t swing that, email me at karenandthesorrows@gmail.com
xoxo,
karen
p.s. You might have noticed that I switched us over from monthly to quarterly. If only it didn’t look weird to spell country with a q, we could be the Triple Q! All that to say, there will be a little more time in between shows so I can keep up better. Next up: Winter Edition, December 5th, back at Branded!
More about the bands:
So Brown is a critically acclaimed transgender musician, actor and model from Texas and Alabama. So’s debut album Point Legere, released in April 2014, was heralded as “Debut Album of the Year” by Innocent Words magazine, and So’s songs have been covered by such luminaries as Norah Jones. A rebellious pioneer of new gender possibilities, So embodies the belief that honesty in art can reveal the humanity that unites us all.
The Names of Things, the debut album from Brooklyn queer country band Karen & the Sorrows, is full of “haunting pedal steel work and unvarnished heartbreak.” (Bust Magazine) Voted one of the Freeform American Roots Chart’s best debut albums of 2014, the record is “some of the best alt-country being made.” (Billings Gazette) F**k Yeah, Queer Music says, “They write loss and heartbreak, and goddamn are they good at it.” The Sorrows also host queer country shows like the Queer Country Quarterly, helping to build new community for people who love country music even if country music doesn’t always love them back.
Justin Vahala Justin Vahala is a singing, song/writing, yoga teaching, tarot reading fool from Dallas, the shimmering turquoise inset of the Bible Belt. Justin uses his roots in southern folk and gay old musical theater to produce lyrical songs of heartbreak and hope for queers to hear. Past projects include his original musical, What Leaves the Wind Has Laid, which took place in a magical bathhouse ruled over by a witch. He is currently working on a new folk musical, The Ones I’ll Find, in which two boys with guitars break up only to realize that they can’t part with the tickets they’d bought to the same music festival. Can you imagine?!
Surprise Queer Country Summer Love on Tuesday the 28th!
Just when you thought we were taking the summer off, surprise! We are back for a special show! Come see Kings, Small Talk, and your host Karen & the Sorrows at the summer edition of the Queer Country Monthly.
WHEN: Tuesday, July 28th, 8:00 pm
WHERE: Branded Saloon, 603 Vanderbilt Ave, at the corner of Bergen St, Brooklyn
DOOR: $5 but no one ever turned away for lack of funds
Branded has a wheelchair accessible entrance and bathroom. Also, there is always a bucket of free candy. In case you like free candy.
Hope you can make it!
xoxo,
karen
April QCM this Saturday!
Hello dear cowpeople and happy spring! The Queer Country Monthly is coming up this Saturday, April 18th, and this will be the last one in our limited run (at least for now), so you don’t want to miss it!
Also, you don’t want to miss it because we have a super-special line-up: Eli Conley is here on tour, plus DK & the Joy Machine with dulcimer amazingness, AJ Lewis & Friends with banjo amazingness, and your faithful host Karen & The Sorrows have some new songs to share with you. So come join us down at Branded Saloon!
WHEN: Saturday, April 18th, 8:00 pm (This month the Sorrows are on last, so remember to take your disco nap so you can stay up late with us!)
WHERE: Branded Saloon, 603 Vanderbilt Ave, at the corner of Bergen St, Brooklyn
DOOR: $5 but no one ever turned away for lack of funds
RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/433835840109652/
Branded has a wheelchair accessible entrance and bathroom. Also, there is always a bucket of free candy. In case you like free candy.
Read more about the bands below and hope you can join at Branded Saloon!
xoxo,
karen
Eli Conley (www.eliconley.com)
Eli Conley is a San Francisco Bay Area-based indie folk artist Eli Conley has a voice that shifts deftly from country choirboy to soulful croon at the turn of a phrase. Steeped in Americana music and the singer-songwriter tradition, Eli crafts modern day folk songs for misfits from the raw material of his life as a gay transgender man with Virginia roots. Eli will be accompanied by co-conspirator Joel Price on mandolin, fiddle and harmonies.
DK & the Joy Machine (www.dkandthejoymachine.com)
DK & the Joy Machine’s new album, Shy One, out on March 22nd, has been described as “intense, colorful and diverse. A novel of sorts. Dark, light, humorous and humble.” Her “quirky and smart” songs celebrate all the crucial things in life: unrequited love, falling in love with feral cats, and treating yourself with kindness. Known for her sultry, expressive voice, well crafted songs, and genre-blending, innovative work on mountain dulcimer—plucking, strumming, bowing and “rocking out” on this trad instrument—DK’s music is at turns evocative, moving, playful, fun, and always genuine.
AJ Lewis & Friends
AJ’s old timey banjo set will highlight the usual themes of drugs, death, nonhuman animals, unusual kinship structures, and critiques of capitalism and happiness. Whimsical reflections on the queer genealogies of old time music are provided free of charge. For the first time, however, AJ intends to break from tradition and include a handful of countrified covers of notable women singer-songwriters of the 1990s. He invites you to sing along.
Karen & the Sorrows (www.karenandthesorrows.com)
The Names of Things, the debut album from Brooklyn queer country band Karen & the Sorrows, is full of “haunting pedal steel work and unvarnished heartbreak.” (Bust Magazine) Voted one of the FAR chart’s best debut albums of 2014, the record is “some of the best alt-country being made. Twang-drenched drown-your-sorrows music about bad relationships, abandoned lovers and endless heartbreak. In other words, pure country.” (Billings Gazette) New York Music Daily writes, “Country keeps evolving and Karen & the Sorrows are taking it to a place it’s never been before, a good and creepy one.” And F**k Yeah, Queer Music says, “They write loss and heartbreak, and goddamn are they good at it.” The Sorrows are also hard at work hosting shows like the Queer Country Monthly and helping to build new queer country community for people who love country music even if country music doesn’t always love them back.
Queer Country Monthly This Saturday!
Hello again, everybody! Just a reminder that we have a fabulous Queer Country Monthly coming up this Saturday that you don’t wanna miss. We’ve teamed up with music blog Adobe & Teardrops for a special fundraiser. So come join The Paisley Fields, Small Talk, and your host Karen & the Sorrows for a night of queer country in support of FIERCE. Adobe & Teardrops has also put together a great compilation CD to benefit FIERCE–check it out at adobeandteardrops.bandcamp.com. As usual, it’s $5 at the door, but if you donate $10 or more, we’ll give you a download code for the album too!
FIERCE builds the leadership and power of LGBTQ youth of color in New York City through youth-led campaigns, leadership development programs, and cultural expression through arts and media. They are dedicated to cultivating the next generation of social justice movement leaders who are dedicated to ending all forms of oppression. If you can’t come to the show, you can still support FIERCE with a donation at https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/551356.
WHEN: Saturday, March 21st, 8:00 pm–The Sorrows are opening, so if you want to catch us, make sure to come at 8:00!
WHERE: Branded Saloon, 603 Vanderbilt Ave, at the corner of Bergen St, Brooklyn
DOOR: $5 but no one ever turned away for lack of funds
RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/1417227195239061
Branded Saloon has a wheelchair accessible entrance and bathroom. Also, there is always a bucket of free candy for people who like candy.
And save the date for the last QCM in our limited-run series: April 18th with Eli Conley and DK & the Joy Machine. Hope you can make it this Saturday!
xoxo,
karen
The Queer Country Monthly Returns!
Hello country music fans! The Queer Country Monthly is back for a limited run, starting on February 28th with Humble Tripe, Julia Read and your faithful host, Karen & the Sorrows. And save the dates for March 21st and April 18th! For more details and RSVP here.
Big Gay Holiday Party on December 19th
Hello everybody! We’ve been missing you!
Our friends Small Talk are putting on a Big Gay Country Holiday party at Littlefield on Friday, December 19th, and we can’t wait. Here’s the lineup:
8:00 Karen & the Sorrows
9:00 Kings
10:00 Julia Weldon
11:00 Small Talk
Doors are at 7:30 and the show starts at 8pm sharp. Plus there’s gonna be a photo booth. And all kinds of drink specials. And a DJ for more dancing after the bands!
WHEN: Friday, December 19th, doors at 7:30, show at 8:00 sharp
WHERE: Littlefield, 622 Degraw St bet. 3rd and 4th Ave, Brooklyn
TRAINS: R to Union
COVER: $8 in advance, $10 at the door
RSVP: facebook.com/events/1501203886830462
And the Queer Country Monthly will be back for a limited run later this winter, so stay tuned for more info!
xoxo,
karen
New video from Karen & the Sorrows
Hello there, dear queer country friends! I promise haven’t forgotten about you. We’ve just been hard at work getting our brand new album, The Names of Things, out there. And making our first video! With lots of help from our queer country community, of course, as you can see…
My Gay Banjo Record Release Party
Come celebrate My Gay Banjo’s amazing new album—and the final stop on their big tour! Doors at 6:30 pm, show starts at 7:00 pm. $8 (but no one turned away for lack of cash)
The line-up:
Small Talk
Brooklyn-based bluegrass, folk, indie-rock five piece. Stomping, clapping, yodeling all the way home.
Karen & the Sorrows
“Country keeps evolving, and Karen & the Sorrows are taking it to a place it’s never been before, a good and creepy one.” (New York Music Daily)
Pocatello
www.pocatellomusic.com
Saucy, sultry, harmonious twang.
My Gay Banjo
Singing homespun gay-themed duets and occasional queered-up mash-ups, My Gay Banjo plays songs for you and your kind.