Jamie heads back to Caithness for LGBT+ music event at Lyth
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Singer/songwriter Jamie Bacon is travelling back to his home county of Caithness to host a special Pride music event at Lyth Arts Centre on Thursday evening at 8pm.
Jamie prepares to take "a walk through queer music history" and look at artists and icons who were "either queer themselves, allies or loved globally by queer people".
"It's a real honour to be doing something like this," said Jamie whose show is called 'A History of Queer Music 1920-2000'.
He talked about one of the performers that will be included in the evening's rundown of musical hits that may not be as well known to the audience. "Ma Rainey was a blues singer in North Carolina in the 1920s who sings about being with women and how she doesn't like men. It was all under our noses and nobody really looked for it."
Wick-born Jamie said it will be a full two hours of music and stories with a 15-minute break in between. He will be playing with fellow band members Conor Heafey on bass guitar and Cameron Gibb on drums with the eras covered in the event going from early jazz, 1930s film music, old school rock and roll, disco, country and more. "There will be a little bit of everything and it may be educational for many people who are not part of the gay community. It may give people who are not in the community words that they have learnt from me and could share with, for instance, a son who came out as queer."
There will be classic gay anthems from the likes of Gloria Gaynor but some lesser-known musicians included as well to create an eclectic mix. "There's Melissa Etheridge, an openly lesbian country singer, for example. There are things that people might not know or might have heard on radio or MTV but it was never mentioned they were queer artists."
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Jamie grew up and lived in Wick until he was 17 when he went to university to study popular music at the UHI in Perth in 2013. "During high school I told a few friends but I was never out. I told my parents when I was around 20 and it was easier as I was removed from the town and was able to come to terms with myself to take that step."
He said he has been greatly supported by his parents, Morag Mackenzie and Andy Bacon, who run the popular Morag's Cafe on Wick's High Street. "I worked at my mum's café from when I was 13 to 17. It was a great experience working with my family."
Jamie says that he associates homophobia with an older generation in the town who lived at a different time when being gay was less understood. "With my generation and the younger generation coming up it's much more accepted and there's much more media showing it and it's much more visible now. There's a greater openness and there are better ways of finding like-minded people and getting information."
The Lyth Arts Centre event is one night only on Thursday (June 22) with the doors open at 7.30pm and music starting at 8pm. Tickets can be bought at lytharts.org.uk/event/a-history-of-queer-music-1920-2000/
The event is part of the art venue's Pride Season curated by Craig Manson and includes "top quality queer content" including drama workshops, theatre shows and film screenings.
