Martina McBride photo by Kristin Barlowe, courtesy of RCA Nashville.
March 18, 2009 — Pop music has Elton John, George Michael, Boy George, Melissa Etheridge and k.d. lang. Is the world ready for a gay, mainstream country star?
Martina McBride — who's been known to belt "Over The Rainbow," adopted in some quarters as a gay anthem — seems to think it's a fabulous idea. But she's not convinced the country audience is particularly keen on it.
"Honestly, that's a tough one," she told Out magazine in her first interview for a gay publication. "Our core audience is very conservative, is very Middle America, very Bible belt. I don't know. That might be a hard sell. I mean, I would be fine with it. But that's — I don't know if we're ready for that. I would hope so. I would love it!"
Growing up in a Kansas town of 180 people, Martina never encountered open homosexuals in her youth. But when she moved to Nashville, gay people became a fact of life. And she grew comfortable with the concept fairly quickly.
"One of the first gay people that I spent a lot of time around was my hairdresser, who still does my hair, and we've worked together for — oh, my gosh — probably 15 years now," she said. "Through him I got introduced to other gay people and the culture and everything, and that was my first introduction."
Since then, she's discovered that at least one of her songs — "From The Ashes," which appeared on her 1999 album Emotion — has inspired some of her fans in their coming-out process.
"My music is hopefully empowering to people, and so that's one thing that I hear over and over," she observed. "It's definitely something I want to put out there, so when I hear a story like that, I love it. My music's doing what it's supposed to do — it's empowering people to do whatever they need to do in their life."
Martina's next album, Shine, arrives in stores on Tuesday.
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