I don't really like to talk about myself

June 18, 2023 5:38 AM

Happy Pride Month! Ferron [Wikipedia] is one of the godmothers of queer woman's music. She talks to Rainbow Table along with filmmaker Gerry Rogers about her career and songwriting. [~50m] Trailer for documentary Girl On A Road. [4m25s] But because this is Ferron, there is a second documentary! Thunder sneak peak 1 [9m30s], sneak peak 2 [7m12s], trailer [4m50s] And from 2022, Ferrron's full set at Vancouver Island Musicfest [58m]
posted by hippybear (9 comments total)

Before I dig in on this lovely Sunday, I just want to take a moment to acknowledge all the posts you've done for Pride month so far, hippybear! Just wonderful!
posted by cooker girl at 7:52 AM on June 18, 2023 [3 favorites]

"I don't really know anybody who has made art and had a totally thrilling happy childhood."
posted by ovvl at 2:20 PM on June 18, 2023

Thank you, hippybear! "Ain't Life a Brook" was one of the first songs I learned to play on the guitar.
posted by pangolin party at 2:40 PM on June 18, 2023

Ferron! I haven't listened to her music in a long long time. These Pride posts you're making are bringing me a lot of joy and nostalgia, hippybear. Thank you for making them!
posted by S'Tella Fabula at 8:53 AM on June 19, 2023

Thank you so much, hippybear!

Here's a transcript of JD Doyle's interview with Ferron for the May 29, 2006, edition of "Queer Music Heritage," a show on the Houston, Texas, community radio station KPFT. Doyle interviewed Ferron about her CD More Than That, which had just come out, and they go on to discuss ... hmmm, around two dozen of Ferron's songs!

The entire hour was devoted to Ferron, and the KPFT website includes Ferron's discography; articles about Ferron
(most of them scanned from small-circulation dead-tree publications), and scans of her album covers, cassette art, and singles.

(Note: The Ferron section of the "Queer Music Heritage" website is better seen on a desktop or a laptop than on mobile.)

A couple of observations:

1. As an old member of Generation X (born 1965), seeing Ferron's gorgeous cover art brought back to me how much I miss vinyl, and how much I miss Maine's feminist/LGBT bookstore. New Leaf Books in Rockland: RIP. (It closed in the late 1980s-early 1990s.)

2. "Queer Music Heritage" is a real trove of information on queer musicians. Here are Doyle's archives, and they are staggering:

From January 2000 until March 2015 "Queer Music Heritage" was both a radio show and a website, and the goal of both was to preserve and share the music of our culture. It has become the resource on the net for the history of LGBT music. Each month's page gives the playlist and additional pages of info, and you can download or stream every show; there's over 580 hours of programming available. This is a deep site, covering over 2,000 pages. Thank you for your support over the years.

The archives have a search function, and occasionally Doyle adds new graphics to a section, new information to sections, or even a brand-new page. The newest pages are listed first.
posted by virago at 10:04 AM on June 19, 2023 [1 favorite]

I remember seeing Ferron at the height of her fame in large venues, and then seeing her later in a small folk venue, still giving it everything she had. She is a great songwriter. I wish more people knew that.
posted by acrasis at 1:09 PM on June 19, 2023

virago: you should make that into your own FPP for Pride Month. That's amazing!
posted by hippybear at 2:37 PM on June 19, 2023

Ferron was my first live non-classical concert.
posted by matildaben at 4:01 PM on June 19, 2023

This post went by when I was off-grid, and I’m still not in a position to check out the links, but I just want to say that Ferron is awesome.
posted by doubtfulpalace at 8:20 PM on June 20, 2023