Last month I blogged about the brave Chely Wright becoming the first major out country music star.  I must admit that I didn’t know a great deal about her before that.  I knew some of her songs but my country music knowledge starts and stops with Dolly Parton and the Dixie Chicks.  However, like any lesbian, I decided that after she came out I might just have a little listen to a few of her songs and I must say, I was impressed.

So who is this woman who is now courageously flying the flag for us in the country music scene?  Well, she was born in 1970 in Kansas City, Missouri into a musical family.  By 11 Cheyl was singing in local bands, and by the time she was 22, she had signed for Mercury/Polygram.  Although she released her first album Woman in the Moon in 1994 it wasn’t until 1997 that she had her first major hit with Shut Up and Drive, which is still the song that pops into my head every time I hear her mentioned.  However, Single White Female is probably her most famous hit as it was her first number one.

Chely has released seven studio albums with various labels, the latest of which is the eagerly anticipated Lifted Off the Ground, you don’t have to be a genius to figure out the theme that inspired the songs on this album.  With titles like Damn Liar and Broken it is a beautiful album that I imagine she has wanted to write for many years.  My favourite song has to be Wish Me Away, it’s just so poignant.  Here is a clip of Chely singing Damn Liar at Lansing Pride:

In her book Like Me Chely doesn’t hold back.  She speaks openly about her struggles and about how low she was, even holding a gun in her mouth and wanting to end it all.  Some people might say she waited to long to come out but it is never to late to have a positive impact on people who are going through the same thing she did. Courage has no age limit.

Coming out in the the American country music scene can not be easy.  I watched Chely on Oprah, only a few weeks after she came out through People magazine and I thought she came across as someone you can really sympathise with.  She wasn’t trying to make excuses for dating men (as well she shouldn’t) and how unfair that was on them (according to some), she wasn’t trying to play the victim, she was merely telling an honest account of what she had been through, and I, for one, found it inspiring.

So what do we think of Ms Wright? Too little too late or a brave woman lighting the way for others to follow suit? Plus, check out those abs.

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