Country Music Trailblazer Patrick Haggerty Dead at 78

Patrick Haggerty, the trailblazing musician regarded as the first openly gay country singer, has died. Haggerty passed away on Monday, Oct. 31 after suffering a stroke a few weeks ago. The 78-year-old activist and musician’s death was confirmed in a statement posted to his band Lavender Country’s social media pages, which shared that Haggerty “was able to spend his final days at home surrounded by his kids and lifelong husband, JB.”

Born in 1944, Haggerty grew up on a dairy farm near Port Angeles, Washington with nine siblings, and, according to Pitchfork, knew he was gay from a young age and credited his father with being open-minded and supportive. He enlisted in the Peace Corps after graduating high school, but was kicked out in the ’60s for being gay, something that the singer told NewsChannel 5 “changed my life.”

Haggerty eventually went on to release his first album, Lavender Country, in 1973. Recorded under the same name, that album is considered the first country album recorded by an out gay musician and included tracks like “Come Out Singing” and “Cryin’ These C*cks***ing Tears. Funded and released by Gay Community Social Services of Seattle, only 1,000 copies of the album were pressed for that first release, per Deadline.In addition to Haggerty, Lavender Country’s original members were keyboardist Michael Carr, singer and fiddler Eve Morris, and guitarist Robert Hammerstrom. Following the release of Lavender Country, the band released just one more studio album, 2022’s Blackberry Rose. The band also performed at the first Seattle Pride in 1974, as well as numerous pride and other LGBT events throughout the West.

“It’s really quite astonishing, to have come full circle and realize that my anti-fascist work and my art get to be combined into the same me,” Haggerty, who was also an advocate for gay rights, anti-racist justice, and tenants’ rights, as well as other causes, previously told Pitchfork. “I get to go out on stage and be a screaming Marxist bitch, use all of my artistry and hambonedness to do my life’s work. I get to be exactly who I am.”

Since news of Haggerty’s passing broke, tributes have poured in for the trailblazing musician. Don Giovanni Records remembered Haggerty as “one of the funniest, kindest, bravest, and smartest people,” adding, “he never gave up fighting for what he believed in, and those around him who he loved and took care of will continue that fight.” One fan remembered the singer as “an inspiration and a trailblazer. He was a true activist and his music opened doors.”