Perhaps the thing that separates Indiana Queen from other country bands most is that the band is all Kevin Thornton. The harmonies that seem to extend to infinity, they’re surprisingly all him. The outcome is an uncluttered, clean sound that forces listeners to actually pay attention and appreciate the intimacy he provides.
Oh, and one more thing: he’s gay.
Indiana Queen’s latest album is "Summon without Sorrow", and with the album, the band is releasing a sexually explicit art film unlike anything ever seen in country music. It’s bold, fearless and unapologetically homoerotic.
"You’ll never see or hear manufactured songs about trucks and beer in my art," says Thornton. "That stuff is garbage."
He’s fixin’ to make it in country on his terms and "Summon without Sorrow" is one rootin’ tootin’, powerful celebration of love and acceptance. And don’t we need it more now than ever before? We spoke to Indiana Queen from his Nashville home.
GC: "Summon without Sorrow" is especially significant considering the uncertain future that lies ahead, and not just for the USA, but the entire world. Have you come to terms with Trump’s victory?
IQ: I’ve hardly come to terms with anything. It’s a lot to process. I certainly feel anxious about the future. There is a song on the album, "I Could Not See The Future", that I wrote several months ago, fearing a Trump presidency, and here it is. If nothing else, I have a feeling a lot of art will get made in the next four years.
GC: Who do you blame for the outcome?
IQ: Billionaires. In other times of history, this is the moment we came with pitchforks. Unfortunately, this time Americans used the pitchforks on ourselves.
GC: The album is about reflecting on past sadness. Do you believe what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger?
IQ: No, I don’t. Sometimes what doesn’t kill us gives us chronic depression or addictions. Sometimes it makes it hard to trust and love again.
GC: Do your past troubles still haunt you?
IQ: I don’t have ghosts any more. I used to. My fundamentalist Christian past made for a pretty hellish teenage period. That’s when I realized I was gay. But time has its way. The demons turned to ghosts; then the ghosts faded into my past. That’s the true meaning behind "Summon Without Sorrow." We can look back and remember the pain but we don’t have to bring it up again. I look back at it all with reverence. It made me who I am today.
GC: What is your view on fundamentalist Christians today?
IQ: It’s a world view rooted in fear. You’re taught that if you step out of line, you will pay for it forever with a terrible after life. That sort of thinking gives birth to a lot of awfulness. In my small home town in Indiana, most young people’s lives revolve around church and I grew up in the early 90s when there wasn’t internet or contact with the outside world. It was all I knew.
GC: Is "You Are Not Alone" a song to your teen self?
IQ: I guess you can say that. The song is about how we all impact one another. Whether we like it or not, we are in this together.
GC: You can’t expect country music will embrace the graphic homosexual scenes in the Summon without Sorrow film.
IQ: They weren’t going to embrace me anyway. I’ve been trying for almost two decades to be embraced by this town. There’s a song on the album called "Nashville Don’t Give A Damn" about my love/hate relationship with the city. At some point I just decided to do what I wanted to do without concern for Music Row.
GC: Are you a real cowboy or is it simply your form of drag?
IQ: Maybe both. Most of the time, I do feel like an outsider and a loner, things we all associate with real cowboys. But I live in a condo with cats.
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