Lesbian vacations and music festivals, in addition to giving us the chance to relax and be ourselves, serve as crucial exchanges of lesbian culture. (I assume the same holds true for gay men’s events, too, though I can’t comment firsthand.)
Gail Ann Dorsey is a recent discovery from the Olivia cruise I just took. Her rich, powerful voice is a welcome antidote to the many female singer-songwriters who can barely project across a coffeehouse stage. Dorsey is no novice, however, with a career covering twenty years, including nearly a decade as touring bassist/vocalist for David Bowie. She’s also performed or recorded with The Indigo Girls, Sophie B. Hawkins, Dar Williams, Tears For Fears, Toshi Reagon, Joan Osborne, and The B-52’s, among others.
Dorsey is an out lesbian, but I don’t want to call what she does “lesbian music.” Yes, it’s music played by a lesbian, but that doesn’t really describe anything (unless it conjures images of the stereotypical guitar-based folk-rock, which it most definitely is not). Her style is hard to pin down, since, as with many great musicians, it’s eclectic, encompassing rock, funk, country, pop, and the Philadelphia soul of her hometown. There’s a lot to like.
Her most recent two albums, I Used to Be and Rude Blue, will soon join my collection, and I’m looking forward to her new one, due out this fall. (That is, if I can get my son to take his Thomas the Tank Engine disk out of the CD player.)