The Cowgays
In the nearly empty courtyard of Rosemary & Beauty Queen, hours before their Strut Nashville performance kicking off Pride Month, The Cowgays are at sound check, warming up a cappella. As their voices lock into the richly layered harmony of their irreverent gospel anthem “Wish I Wasn’t Gay,” the sound rumbles past the bar and out onto Forest Avenue like an animal overjoyed at being released from a cage. The sound thunders so that even listening from across the street, it feels as if they’re singing to you from mere feet away.
Later that evening, Brooke Eden (one-third of The Cowgays, dressed in sleek and dazzling yet campy all-black Western wear complete with sequined chaps) introduces the song to the audience: “Is it OK if we take y’all to gay church?” With that, she and her fellow Cowgays Adam Mac and Chris Housman (equally striking in all-black gear that matches Eden’s) roar into the performance, transporting a crowd that is practically hanging from the rafters to a space of healing. The song’s opening lyrics — “Wish I wasn’t gay / Wish I wasn’t gay / I don’t wish I wasn’t gay no more / Clap your hands for Jesus, hallelujah, praise the Lord / I don’t wish I wasn’t gay no more” — beckon the audience to rejoice in reclaiming their ability to love themselves, if only for one night.
A few days later, in front of the vanity mirrors in their dressing room at Town Studios in East Nashville, Mac touches up his bandmates’ glam, studying their faces as he blends blush into their cheeks before a photo shoot.
“I’m the drag mother of this house,” Mac tells the Scene, holding a makeup sponge out to the side.
Mac is stunning, his eyeshadow lined with rhinestones that match the detailing on his powder-blue shirt. He floats throughout the room, eager to tell me the details of his outfit.
“This lattice denim fabric was originally a vest that we cut up,” Mac says, showing me the lining beneath his white cowboy hat. “And then I just rhinestoned the hell out of it.”
All three musicians have worked as solo country singer-songwriters for more than a decade. Though they have been releasing music as The Cowgays for only a handful of months, the trio always looks as if they’re ready to walk the red carpet at the CMA Awards, even when many of their outfits are sourced from online platforms like Depop.
“We have to take the arts and crafts and bring it to the workroom and make it drag,” Eden announces, referencing queer cultural touchstone RuPaul’s Drag Race.
The band’s positive attitude is infectious. The trio warmly greets anyone who enters the dressing room. It’s as if they want everyone they meet to leave The Cowgays’ orbit with their head held high. The vibes are genuine.
The story of The Cowgays begins in an Airbnb in Mexico after a day of drinking on a catamaran. The three friends, already bonded by their experience as queer solo country artists in Nashville, were vacationing in Tulum to celebrate Eden’s birthday. They found themselves singing old country songs in the building’s stairwell, hitting their stride when they harmonized on the Everly Brothers classic “When Will I Be Loved.” Housman, who grew up singing harmony in a family band, taught both Mac and Eden their vocal parts.
The Cowgays’ initial sound was rooted in a desire to revisit the music that dominated country radio when they were kids. Having all grown up on ’90s country, they felt comfortable leaning into the campier aspects of that era, which was also defined by harmony-heavy, story-driven songwriting.
The Cowgays at Town Studios
“Even Shania’s music had present harmony throughout every one of her songs,” Housman points out. “There really aren’t many trios doing heavy harmonies like we are, so leaning into that ’90s country sound felt so natural.”
During an early writing session, the trio conceived “Good Hoedown,” a delightfully campy romp about two-stepping your way out of rock bottom after things fall apart.
“We left the ‘Good Hoedown’ writing session like, ‘Yo, this is it — this is what we’ve been searching for,’” Mac says. “From then on, we went into every writing session with that filter in mind. How can we take the songs that we love and reimagine them through a Cowgays lens?”
But the sound isn’t about emulation; it’s about transcendence. They somehow take a genre many would consider dated and make it entirely their own.
“It’s almost like we grew up in the same household because we all know the same music,” Eden says. “Writing these songs has been nostalgic for us — we feel like we’re healing our inner children. After not having the stories we so badly needed to hear as kids, we’re taking the sound of the ’90s and writing our stories to it as adults.”
Kylie Sonique Love, winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 6, appears in the “Good Hoedown” music video in a scene-stealing turn as the Belle of the Hoedown. After filming wrapped, the group grabbed some burgers at Dino’s, where Love declared herself Mac’s drag mother, telling him he “can’t be wearing all that makeup and not have a drag mom.”
The Cowgays’ empowering third single, “Kids Like Us” — a nostalgic country anthem that reclaims the idea of belonging for queer youth in the United States — might be a song that actually saves lives. It was written to help closeted kids keep their heads above water by spreading queer joy and sharing their stories.
The conversation turns to how acceptance of the LGBTQ community has dipped in recent years. “Queer people experiencing joy is a form of protest,” Housman remarks. All three members agree that the main ethos of The Cowgays is spreading queer joy.
“It feels like the pendulum has swung the other way,” Mac says. “Pride funding is way down. The [Trump] administration is attacking our community left and right. Trans people’s rights are literally on the brink of extinction. The pendulum needs to swing back, and we’re hoping that showing up like this, as bold as we are, is part of the movement that pushes it the other way.”
I ask the band if they consider themselves outlaws within country music, and they agree emphatically, noting that the word itself is close to their hearts. They reference some of their favorite outlaw pioneers — Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson — who were rebellious by nature and sang about progressive subject matter.
“When I think of outlaws in Nashville, I think of Holly G and the Black Opry,” Housman says. “I think of all the artists of color working in Nashville, because there ain’t nothing outlaw about another straight white man singing ‘beer,’ ‘hunt,’ ‘drink,’ ‘golf.’”
“It’s literally copy-and-paste,” Eden says.
“It’s giving in-law, not outlaw,” Housman says, and the band breaks into a cackle.
The Cowgays at Town Studios
The trio also grew up in the church, and religious trauma is another thread that binds them together. Eden notes that they were all exposed to what she calls “R-rated” material at a young age through teachings about hell, and how challenging that can be for queer youth growing up in religious environments. Much of their music is written with those kids in mind — lying awake at night, trying to reach their small hands through the ceiling so they can grab God by the collar, look him in the eye, and ask: “Why do you love everyone but me?”
Eden and her wife have a 19-month-old son, and she talks about wanting to raise him with a strong moral foundation without relying on fear-based religious teachings. Overall, though, the band is hopeful about the future. After releasing only three songs, their online numbers are skyrocketing, and they’re booked solid. (And yes, an album is on the horizon.)
Their solo careers are thriving as well. Eden jokes that she lost all of her press-on nails throughout the day because she hasn’t had time to get her nails done between gigs and still needs to play guitar. A special edition of Mac’s sophomore album Southern Spectacle will be released in July. Housman is set to make his Grand Ole Opry debut on July 26, and on the day of our interview, he announced the release date for his sophomore album Dodge City, available Aug. 28.
The band members may no longer be religious in the traditional sense, but all three maintain a relationship with a higher power, which they call “G.U.S.” — God, Universe, Source. I note that they seem to be finding the most success when they’re at their gayest, which suggests that God might not be as homophobic as they were taught to believe. Eden says following an “authentic path is the best way to connect with a higher power,” and Housman agrees — though he admits that somewhere along the way, he forgot to get baptized.
“That’s why you’re gay,” Mac says, finding humor in heaviness — as queer people so often do.
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