Lavender Country are queer icons. They released the first-ever openly gay country album way back in 1973, just after the Stonewall uprising. It didn’t sell many copies at the time, and its release resulted in the group’s singer-songwriter Patrick Haggerty being blacklisted for years. But decades later, following its reissue and wider recognition in 2014, their self-titled LP would be archived by the Country Music Hall of Fame, and Patrick would come to be known as the grandfather of gay country, paving the way for stars like Orville Peck, Brandi Carlile, and Lil Nas X. Host Elia Einhorn recently caught up with Patrick to discuss the new album Blackberry Rose and the group’s rollercoaster history. Then Patrick spins his first-ever DJ set!