Who gets to be country? k.d. lang on joining the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame
Back in the '80s, the Alberta-born star broke the mold by 'just being a lesbian, vegetarian country singer'
In the world of music, k.d. lang has won just about every award you can think of. She has Grammys and Junos, a BRIT Award and a VMA. In May, she received a Governor General's Award for lifetime achievement. And later this week, as part of the 2024 CCMA Awards festivities in Edmonton, lang will receive a new honour, joining the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame as this year's inductee.
"I'm all lit up about it," lang tells Q, speaking with guest host Talia Schlanger. But at the same time, she's feeling thoroughly surprised.
"My participation in Canadian country music — well, in country music — was short lived," says lang. And yet, she's had a major impact on the genre, breaking ground for future generations of 2SLGBTQ+ artists. It's a story that began in Alberta, the province she'll return to this week for the CCMAs.
'I was just trying to break the mold a little bit'
On Q, lang shares her earliest memories of country music. As a kid growing up in Consort, Alta., she would have heard Patsy Cline's voice on "kitschy" ads for K-tel compilations, but as she got serious about music — enrolling in studies at Red Deer College — she never dreamed of becoming a country crooner. Her influences were classical music and folk, she explains. "I didn't know where I was going," she tells Q. And then, around the time of her 21st birthday, everything changed. "Coal Miner's Daughter was out," she says, referring to the 1980 Loretta Lynn biopic, and as she and her friends got swept up by the buzz around the movie, they started picking up old country albums.
"All of a sudden I had like a literal vision of me doing country punk because at the time I was doing performance art," says lang. "It was like a portal into my future."
Indeed, it wasn't long before lang was living her "cowpunk" fantasy on stage with The Reclines, the Edmonton-based band she performed with through the '80s. The group will reunite at the CCMA Awards Sept. 14. And on Q, guest host Talia Schlanger reflects on how joyful lang looks in their music videos, bopping around in "Elvis-esque suits" or billowing skirts with cropped hair.
"Country punk had a moment," says lang. "It hadn't happened yet and it was happening and it was fun and kind of frivolous and yet had some sort of political commentary. And it was just wonderful."
"What was the political statement that you were making?" asks Schlanger.
"Well, just being a lesbian, vegetarian country singer. I mean, that was kind of enough," says lang. "I was just trying to break the mold a little bit."
What was it like being a 'lesbian, vegetarian country singer' in the '80s and '90s?
"There have been so many pre-scripts or pre-determinants to how and if you can be in country music," lang says. "You know, basically you have to be a good heterosexual Christian; you have to be conservative … and of course, I didn't fit any of those descriptions."
Even in her early recordings, lang was open about her sexuality. During the Q interview, you'll hear a clip of "Bopalena," a rockabilly cover that lang recorded with The Reclines in 1984. On the song, lang sings about her gal, "a real cool chick" whom she loves so.
"I made sure .. that I was singing she," lang tells Q. If the heteronormative mainstream wasn't comfortable with it, so what? Authenticity was the important thing — though at the time, Nashville didn't know what to make of lang, even as her star was on the rise.
Lang came out publicly in 1992, famously appearing on the cover of The Advocate. It was the time of the AIDS crisis, lang notes. "Homophobia was at an all-time high. And I just really felt like the antidote — the best thing for me to do was offer an antidote, [and] just be honest. And I knew that it could be the end of my career. I really didn't know what was going to happen, but I also knew in my heart of hearts that it was the only way forward, that being responsible and taking absolute ownership of my sexuality, my orientation, was the biggest gift I could give. Bigger than my music. So I did."
"It sort of overshadowed my music for many, many years," says lang. "But ultimately it's inseparable from who I am. It's inseparable from my music at this point, and I am ultimately beyond proud."
How does k.d. lang define country music?
For queer artists of a younger generation — musicians including Canadian Orville Peck, who appeared on Q in August — lang is a trailblazer, a musician who proved that gay culture is country culture.
But how does lang define country? The answer, like the genre, is complex.
On one level, it's all about storytelling. "I think the more direct and the more in tune with your own vulnerability and experience, the better the song," says lang. But whose voices get to be heard?
In the early days of her career, lang didn't fit the "predetermined categories" of a country star. "I found that to be my fuel," she says. But even now, there are many barriers left to be broken.
"I still listen to country music. I love country music," says lang, but her relationship to the genre is complicated. "Any sort of phobia is a red flag, but I would have to say that racism is my No. 1 issue with it," she tells Q.
"How do you reconcile that? Or how do you work against it? Is it by having conversations like these?" Schlanger asks.
"I think just trying to become a better person every single day. You know, that's all you can do," says lang.
The full interview with k.d. lang is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Interview with k.d. lang produced by Vanessa Greco.
