Queer music check: Willie’s on our side

Looks like the image of the gay cowboy has hopped out of the tent and into the recording studio. Willie Nelson, one of the quintessential Country music men of our time, has come out with “Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly (Fond of Each Other)” although the western toughie is not the first to sing this anthem of cowboy love. It was written 25 years ago by Texas-born singer-songwriter Ned Sublette and recorded in 1995 years ago by the rambunctious and raucously funny queer rock’n’roll trio Pansy Division. Queer rock is still going strong. Gay is in and the cowboy fashionista is heading the pack. But as these both give me another opportunity to plug Homo-a-gogo, the queer music extravaganza in August only a few miles up the freeway, I can’t complain.