Before country musician Steve Grand uploaded “All-American Boy” to YouTube, the most prominent Google search result for “gay country song” was a link to Yahoo! Answers. Three years ago, “Gex” asked, “Is their any gay country song?” to which “ihatebho” replied, “Another song dealing with homosexuality: Ain’t Going Down On Brokeback Mountain by Willie Nelson,” which, yes, is a real song, with the refrain “That sh*t ain’t right.” Luckily, Grand fixed that unfortunate connotation with his “All-American Boy” video, which has been watched nearly 500,000 times since last week, becoming YouTube’s unofficial first gay-themed country song to become a hit.
“All-American Boy” portrays a young gay man who misreads signals from an apparently straight “all-American” male friend. On a day hanging out with the gang, the two guys and a girl take off in a car. She drives, as the guys sit together in the back, with the straight man, at one point, falling asleep on the gay man’s shoulder. Feeling like a third wheel, the girl eventually, angrily drives off, leaving the two men to pal around in the woods, where they end up stripping down and going skinny-dipping — even sharing a quick kiss. Ultimately for the straight guy, it was just all in good fun. But for the gay man, it was something much more significant, and he is left dazed, confused and longing.
Grand said he has no idea where the YouTube success may take him, though he does admit he’s “not much of a singer” and more of a songwriter. “Of course, I want to continue to grow as a man and grow as an artist.” (Via)
We now have gay rock stars, country musicians, and rappers. Next up: polka.
