INTERVIEW: Country Risqué Will Never Fly Straight
In our interview, Miles Gordon and Daniel Bromfield of Country Risqué tell us more about the album's inspirations and appreciating the hell out of men.
With their third album As the Crow Flies (an editor's pick!), San Francisco's Country Risqué is here to stay, carrying the torch of queer country that dabbles in traditional sounds. The album is the perfect road trip through the wilds of the Golden State with tales of rambling and homecomings. Miles Gordon and Daniel Bromfield tell us more about the album's inspirations and appreciating the hell out of men.
Explain the title of your album.
Miles: To me the title As the Crow Flies represents the whole direction and concept of the thing. The second side of the album is very much drawn from our mutual experiences in Oregon (Daniel and I met in college in Eugene, I’m from Portland), the title of the album reflects the vibe of the place and is also one of the lyrics in “Crow Song” on the album. That song is about my experience as a child on my back porch in Portland, OR watching the crows come to roost in the old growth elm trees behind my house. I feel like that type of vibe was what we were trying to get at with the album generally, though there’s definitely some bangers too especially on the first side (we even get in a song about a preacher’s gay scion).
Daniel: I realized after the fact that “As the Crow Flies” means straight. We are most certainly not that.
Who are some of your musical influences?
Daniel: Gram Parsons and the Louvin Brothers got me into country music. The Beatles are my #1 in general as far as songwriting. Marianne Faithfull is big for me vocally. Bill Fay inspires me to present myself with intensity. My piano solo on “Motorcycle Johnny” is strongly inspired by the Ethiopian musician Hailu Mergia.
Miles: I spent my most formative years in the Grateful Dead/jamband universe with my mom so that pretty much colors everything I do. Aside from that for this project definitely Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, The Byrds, the Everly Brothers, of course Mr. Haggerty without whom none of us would be here.
Name a perfect song and tell us why you feel that way.
Miles: "Ripplin’ Waters" by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band/John Denver more famously. It’s just the perfect expression of love that weaves its way through the most intricate and colorful lyrical phrasing.
Daniel: “Can’t Buy Me Love” by the Beatles. Not an atom out of place, over in 2:12. The Beatles were the first band I got into, but it wasn’t until I rediscovered them as an adult that I realized what they were *doing.*
How do you feel your queer identity comes out through your music?
Daniel: I appreciate the hell out of men. I love their mischief and their goofy faces and their enthusiasm. I’m very good at seeing what is attractive in other people and expressing that in words. I think that makes me good at writing about why I love them.
Miles: In this music it definitely comes out of the gate, particularly the first album with songs like Drove Me Crazy, etc. This album’s admittedly a bit more subdued in that respect, which wasn’t deliberate for me at all as much as how the songs turned out. Especially the second side which is more abstract and less declarative in that way, save the one true honky-tonk banger Took me Off My Mind which closes the thing. I actually kinda find that fitting, you get looped into this little suite of pastoralness then suddenly you’re back at the gay bar trying to suss out the google executive again (Drove me Crazy and Took me Off My Mind are
Whom would you love to collaborate with? Why?
Miles: River Shook, who I’ve admired greatly over the years, simply because I feel like we have similar spirits and attitudes towards this music as both equal parts mold to break out of and color palette to paint with. Lucinda Williams if someone has her number, just because she’s the best. And Garrett T Capps, who makes some of the weirdest most spectacular country tex-mex sounds I’ve ever heard (and we’re label-mates now so that just might be possible!)
Daniel: Dawn McCarthy. Our version of the Everly Brothers’ “Milk Train” is based on her version with the great Bonnie “Prince” Billy from their Everlys tribute album What the Brothers Sang, which is a very interesting project because it features two singers with an obvious sexual charge singing material originally sung by brothers. Dawn sings in the band Faun Fables and brings a skunky and freaky energy to everything she touches. I’d love to have her voice on one of our records someday.
