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July_2015_QCM_TwitterJust 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

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Queer Country West Poster
Hey y’all, big news! This summer we’re proud to welcome to the family Queer Country West, hosted by Eli Conley in the Bay Area! Eli is an Americana singer-songwriter originally from Virginia, now living in Berkeley, California. He performed at Queer Country Monthly and had such a good time he decided to bring the fun back to the west coast.

We’ve got some great queer country music for you at this kickoff show that you won’t want to miss. Julian Brolaski’s band The Western Skyline will bring their queer country western goodness. Julian’s previous band Juan & the Pines played at the very first Gay Ole Opry, so we are so pleased to have them with us for the first Queer Country West! Country singer-songwriter Shane Fairchild of The Goat and the Feather will grace us with her beautiful songs, and Americana trio Sugar in the Salt are playing their last show with banjo/accordion/fiddler extrordinaire Koralie Hill. Please come help us send her off with love!

WHEN: Thursday, June 25th. 7:30 pm Doors, 8 pm Show
WHERE: La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA
DOOR: $8 in advance, $10 at the door, No one ever turned away for lack of funds
RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/373229736202491/
TICKETS: http://lapena.org/event/queer-country-quarterly-kickoff-with-sugar-in-the-salt/
ACCESS: All ages, kids welcome! Wheelchair accessible.

Please come *scent-free* so everyone can come and stay! More info on how and why to be scent-free at http://eastbaymeditation.org/accessibility/scentfree.html.

For other access needs, questions, or requests, please contact Eli at eli<at>eliconley.com.

Read more about the bands below. We can’t wait to see you!

-Eli

Country singer-songwriter Shane Fairchild of The Goat and the Feather. A bit of the dustbowl, the surreal, and the countryside with a smattering of power, sex and wilderness for good measure.

The Western Skyline is a San Francisco-based country western honky tonk band, featuring Julian Talamantez Brolaski (lead vocals, guitar), Mei Jardstrom (harmony vocals), DJ Gray (upright bass), Marco Baroz (electric guitar), Rob Davis (drums), and Andy Waegel (pedal steel).

Sugar in the Salt is an indie folk trio featuring songwriters Eli Conley (guitar, vocals), Koralie “K Sugar” Hill (accordion, banjo, fiddle, vocals) and Maia Papaya Wiitala (upright bass, guitar, vocals). With their luscious three-part harmonies and swelling strings, these three friends serve up songs that will touch your salty heart and sugar up your funny bone. Members of Sugar in the Salt have graced stages across the Bay Area including the Freight and Salvage, Cafe du Nord, and the San Francisco Trans March, not to mention countless livings rooms and protest rallies. Now they are joining forces as a queer folk band that just wants to have fun! When Sugar in the Salt gets together to play, you can always count on a sweet time.

 

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April Queer CountryMonthly_twitterHello 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.

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March2015FierceBenefitHello 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

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Big_Gay_Country_Holiday_Poster

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

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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.

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dec2013qcmevent

Dearest cowpeople, it’s time for the Queer Country Monthly! This Saturday we’ll be at our beloved Branded Saloon starting a little later than usual with doors at 9pm. Your faithful host Karen & the Sorrows will be taking the stage with some stellar acts this month: The Momos, Jean Marie and Rachel Easterly, and AJ Lewis.

The door is $5, but no one is ever turned away for lack of funds. Also, there is always a bucket of free candy for people who like candy.

WHEN: Saturday, December 7th, 9:00 pm
WHERE: Branded Saloon, 603 Vanderbilt Avenue 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/740934755920017

Read on for more info about the bands and your hard-working queer country team below. Hope to see you all soon!

xoxo,
karen

Jean Marie was born and raised in the foggy climes of San Francisco but now calls Brooklyn her home. She makes quiet folk music in the tradition of Nick Drake and Elliott Smith.

Rachel Easterly was raised on somber/cutesy church songs in Ohio and now writes somber/cutesy songs in New York that she hopes pass the Bechdel test.

The MoMos hail from the swamps of your heart. Sometimes known as Franky and The MoMos, the MoMos like to drink whiskey and tell tall tales concerning crickets and birds. Their twangy garage music will have your feet a tappin’.

Brooklyn alt-country band Karen & the Sorrows play “soaring tributes to lost love and… gentle and charming ballads” (Neville Elder, No Depression). Their debut EP Ocean-Born Mary is a four-part ghost story of “allusive, attractive but distantly menacing songs… 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)

The Queer Country Monthly is brought to you by Riot Grrrl Ink, the largest queer record label in the world.