Pioneering Out Country Music Artist Patrick Haggerty Dead at 78

Patrick Haggerty, the openly gay frontman of the pioneering band Lavender Country, has died at age 78 following a stroke, the band announced.

"This morning, we lost a great soul," an Oct. 31 post on the Lavender Country Instagram account said. "RIP Patrick Haggerty."

"After suffering a stroke several weeks ago, he was able to spend his final days at home surrounded by his kids and lifelong husband, JB," the post added. "Love, and solidarity. 💜💜💜"

"At the front of Lavender Country, Haggerty led what is believed to be the first openly gay [country] band, recruiting friends around Seattle, Washington to record 1973's 'Lavender Country,'" Pitchfork recalled.

"1973's 'Lavender Country' is widely regarded as the first ever openly gay country album," UK newspaper the Guardian recounted. "The 1,000-run private-press record was funded by the Gay Community Social Services of Seattle, and featured songs such as 'Cryin' These Cocksucking Tears' and 'I Can't Shake the Stranger Out of You,' which would later be acknowledged as classics of the queer musical canon."

"Haggerty was born in 1944 and raised on a dairy farm in a small rural community near Port Angeles, Washington," Stereogum detailed. "He taught himself how to play the guitar and performed at local venues. After college, he joined the Peace Corps. but in 1966, he was kicked out for being gay."

That was when Haggerty relocated to Seattle, the article said.

"He began writing folk and country songs soon after, ones that reflected his own queer experience, and he started Lavender Country in 1972," Stereogum went on to add.

"Haggerty self-released a second Lavender Country album, 'Blackberry Rose,' in 2019, which Don Giovanni Records reissued widely earlier this year," Pitchfork said, going on to note that he was "an active member... [of] ACT UP with his husband of more than 30 years and ran for a city council position twice."

Don Giovanni Records praised Haggerty in a post to Instagram and Twitter that made mention of his sense of humor. "He never gave up fighting for what he believed in, and those around him who he loved and took care of will continue that fight," it said.

"He was more than a hero; he was also a friend, mentor, comrade, and fatherly figure for us and our families," Brendan Greaves, who co-founded Paradise of Bachelors, wrote on Instagram on Oct. 31. "He was hilarious too; it was always an adventure spending time with him."

Watch the official video for "Cryin' These Cocksucking Tears" below.