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Why Did the Chicks Say Goodbye to Earl? [1]

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Date: 2025-05-08

I remember the first time I heard the song ‘Fancy,’ written by Bobbie Gentry and recorded by Reba McEntire. I was at a drag brunch fundraiser supporting a scholarship for LGBTQ students at the University of Kentucky’s College of Agriculture, the first scholarship of its kind in the region.

The theme of the brunch was ‘Drag me to the Farm,’ and featured country hits from female singers like Dolly Parton, Shania Twain, Loretta Lynn, and of course, Reba. When the opening notes of ‘Fancy’ came on, the audience (which was admittedly several mimosas in by this point) started cheering and didn’t stop. I didn’t get why at first, but the hype made plenty of sense by the end of the first chorus: Fancy had not let me down.

I hadn’t grown up listening to country music. Of course I’d at least heard many of the biggest hits on country radio – even the cultural rock I lived under wasn’t big enough to keep songs like the infectiously catchy country anthem ‘Chicken Fried’ from my consciousness. But I can’t say I was a country fan until I was reintroduced to the genre by a troupe of drag queens over plates of biscuits and chicken. The food was delicious and the lip-syncing performances were entertaining as all get out. But the music – which ranged from wry, raucous ditties to heartfelt ballads – was the center of the experience.

Since then, I’ve taken more of a personal, and professional, interest in country. And while I love the music, I’ve become equally fascinated by the history, politics, and cultural complexities of the genre.

Country music has a well-earned reputation for being conservative. But it’s also been an avenue for Loretta Lynn to sing about topics like birth control and divorce in the 1970s, and for younger artists like the Chicks, Gretchen Peters, and Martina McBride to take on difficult subjects like domestic violence.

How does this music coexist in a genre with songs like ‘Country Girl (Shake it For Me)’? What tensions exist between the men and women who make country music, and between the men and women who listen to it? How are contemporary artists carrying on the tradition of the outspoken women who helped build the genre?

We explore these questions and more in the latest episode of ‘Twang.’ Episode three is out now, along with a companion playlist compiled by our host, Lane Wendell Fischer. As always, we hope you’ll listen – not just to the music, but to the lives behind that trademark twang.

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