“If you’re a girl in the South in the ’90s you’re supposed to be getting crushes on boys. I was so fearful of being different. … I spent most of teen and pre-teen years trying not to appear gay, whatever that means. Still even now it’s been hard to peel back the layers.” Erin Rae to NPR
Nashville’s Erin Rae has shared another deeply personal track from her forthcoming record Putting On Airs. ‘Bad Mind’ is a touchingly poignant pysch tinged piece of gentle country infused pop that relates the intensely personal story of how in 1996 her aunt, because she was gay, had her daughter and Rae’s cousin taken away from her by the authorities. For years her cousin was only able to see her mother every second weekend and then only if her female partner was not present.
Such heartbreak fed into the anxiety and fears that Rae herself had around her own sexuality and such struggles growing up in a small minded, ignorant and unjust society form a significant lyrical part of the record. A record which just quietly is a phenomenal listen from beginning to end. Putting On Airs is out June 8 on Single Lock Records. Pre-order here.
Bad Mind
Erin Rae (USA)
From the album, ‘Putting On Airs’, Single Lock Records. Out Jun 8.
Erin Rae Facebook
Audio Stream