вЂњI saw how the military occupation of a nation was really hard on women. NearвЂ™s introduction to feminism came through the anti-war movement. Feldman served as the emcee to the Michigan WomynвЂ™s Fest, and her song вЂњAmazonвЂќ opens the festival every year. Later in life, Feldman explored his/her gender identity and stated that she/he was comfortable with either pronoun. She had good reason for her anger: she was kicked out of Emerson College for being a lesbian and refused psychiatric treatment. Proudly describing herself as a вЂњbig loud Jewish butch lesbian,вЂќ FeldmanвЂ™s song вЂњAngry AtthisвЂќ encapsulates pre-Stonewall rage, a list of grievances at having to keep his loving relationship a secret. While the world of womenвЂ™s music is quite wide, here is a small, non-definitive sample of queer womenвЂ™s music artists. A Sampling of Queer WomenвЂ™s Music Artists According to Patrick HaggertyвЂ™s interview in Country Queer Spotlight, DobkinвЂ™s Lavender Jane Loves Women is considered the first queer folk album, while his own Lavender Country preceded the album by a few months. That misogyny led some womenвЂ™s musicians to create fully sex-segregated spaces Alix Dobkin played to women-only crowds. I was one of two and because of my name, people assumed I was a guy, until theyвЂ™d come into the studio and see me and the color would just drain out of their faces when they realized I was a woman.вЂќ вЂњBeing a woman recording engineer in LA was really tough.

At the age of 30 with no mainstream success, Fure considered her career finished and worked as a recording engineer. In the вЂ70s, music labels typically restricted women to novelty acts and would only have one woman on their roster.

She ultimately moved out to LA to catch the folk wave, but couldnвЂ™t find her footing. Fure had the performance bug and played out everywhere she could, convinced she could be a star. Tret Fure, who was featured in Country QueerвЂ™s list of butch country artists, recalls her own path to womenвЂ™s music. The narrative has often overstated the contribution of northern European American women.В The whole story can only be told when many voices are the storytellers.вЂќ вЂњThere were, and are, hundreds of women - in the spotlight as well as in the background - who have made the development of WomenвЂ™s Music possible. Holly Near, who is widely regarded as one of the stalwarts of the genre, told Country Queer that womenвЂ™s music was simply the soundtrack to a social movement, and was not - and still is not - easily defined as one sound or group. While womenвЂ™s music is strongly associated with white lesbians, this is not the case. вЂњI never went, but I have friends who did, who found it a very liberating experience.вЂќ WomenвЂ™s music artists created parallel structures to the mainstream, misogynist music industry, such as Holly NearвЂ™s Righteous Babe record label and Michigan WomynвЂ™s Fest. вЂњI always think of it as being very queer and feminist and sort of subcorporate, independent,вЂќ writes Kim Ruehl, former editor of No Depression and the author of the recent book A Singing Army: Ziplhia Horton and the Highlander Folk School. The patriarchy, of course, includes the mainstream music industry. And thatвЂ™s such a powerful thing, to snub your nose intentionally at the patriarchy in your art.вЂќ вЂњWhether itвЂ™s loving women, whether itвЂ™s just about empowering other women itвЂ™s definitely intentionally centered around women. Matthews compiled an excellent womenвЂ™s music playlist for NPR last June. вЂњWomenвЂ™s music is about women who are singing songs for and about women,вЂќ explains Crys Matthews, who released her album Changemakers this past summer. While womenвЂ™s music is eclectic in its sound and subject matter, thereвЂ™s one binding principle. WomenвЂ™s music was an outgrowth of this heady time, a genre and cultural space that incorporated activists from the feminist, peace, civil rights, and LGBTQ+ movements, encouraging women to pick up their guitars and create music by, for, and about women. Politically and culturally, queer people demanded to take the space they deserved, and that demand extended to folk music. Once Stonewall happened, the floodgates were open.

Song queer as folk soundtrack