For Cidny Bullens, releasing new music is old hat. The Nashville-residing singer-songwriter has been a professional musician since the 1970s, charting a career that has earned him fans among legends like Elton John, Emmylou Harris and Rod Stewart. But for Bullens, the release of his new album Walkin’ Through This World feels a lot like starting over: It’s the first album he’s released as an out transgender man.
“It’s been eight years since I’ve been public about my transition, and I retreated for a while,” Bullens tells the Scene. “About four years ago, I came down to Nashville to perform my one-person show … and that show was the bridge from Cindy to Cidny.”
Prior to transitioning in 2012, Bullens performed as Cindy Bullens, releasing eight studio albums between 1979 and 2010. In the decade between 2010’s Howling Trains and Barking Dogs and the folk-rock- and power-pop-fueled Walkin’ Through This World, Bullens spent several years away from music before returning to the stage for the aforementioned performance piece Somewhere Between — Not an Ordinary Life.
Bullens introduced Walkin’ Through This World with “The Gender Line,” which explores the early stages of his gender transition with vulnerability and compassion. He opens the piece by recalling in stirring detail the inner turmoil he experienced before making the decision to transition, singing: “If you were me, what would you do? You look in the mirror and it’s not really you.” The cover artwork for the single features a photo of Cidny juxtaposed with a photo of Cindy, adding a striking visual to an already striking track.
“There’s a line in [Somewhere Between] where my daughter explains ‘the gender line,’ “ he says. “My daughter says, ‘Mom, you’ve always been on the female side of the gender line. Now you’re moving to the other side of the gender line.’ That was a really important line in the show.”
Much of the rest of Walkin’ Through This World further details his journey from Cindy to Cidny. Bullens says these songs were a departure from his earlier songwriting, which tended away from social commentary and drew more heavily from personal experience. But the personal became the political when Bullens transitioned, and the album finds him turning his powers of observation on himself.
“I don’t, as a songwriter, write songs about society,” he explains. “I don’t write songs about cultural change. I don’t write political songs. If you know any of my songs, they’re basically just a moment from my life or how I’m feeling about something, or something I’m observing.”
Bullens recorded Walkin’ Through This World with co-producer Ray Kennedy, whom he counts as a close friend and trusted collaborator. Guests on the album include a who’s-who of the music community he fostered while living in Nashville in the 1990s: Rodney Crowell, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Mary Gauthier, Jess Leary and Siobhan Kennedy. Bullens’ daughter, Reid Bullens Crewe, also performs on the album.
Bullens and his wife recently bought a home in East Nashville, moving to town following a brief stint in Santa Fe, N.M. Fortuitously, Bullens actually performed at The Bluebird Cafe the final night the venue was open before closing to the public in March. He cites being in Nashville as a major boon to his creativity, and looks forward to immersing himself more deeply in the local music community when the COVID-19 pandemic passes.
“Nashville is my muse,” he says. “I’m respected here — not that I’m not respected anywhere else. People ask me how Nashville is, and I have never had a bad experience here in Nashville, in terms of my career and my music.”
While Bullens is uncertain when he’ll be able to perform live shows in support of Walkin’ Through This World, he says he’ll be more than content if even one person finds healing and support in his new songs. He’s a musician, of course, but ultimately sees his work as a greater act of service to his community.
“I hope this album is part of my legacy,” he says. “I want it to serve. I want as many people to hear it as need to hear it, and that includes trans people who are having a difficult time. [I want them] to know that there’s an ally, and that there are other people who go through what we go through. If they can identify with the songs, that’s my wish.”
