🎵 Songs for the Soul
There are artists whose music entertains us, and there are artists whose lives themselves become part of the message.
Since discovering Adam Mac’s Disco Cowboy album, I’ve found myself returning again and again to his blend of country, funk, pop, disco, and unapologetic authenticity.
His music is often playful and joyful and will make you want to take to the dance floor when songs like “Dust Off Your Boots” and “I Just Wanna Dance” come on. Love, lust and romance are also woven into his songs like “Turpentine” and “Last Rodeo”, which he wrote for his husband. The video for the latter features them exchanging vows against a stunning Southwest backdrop.
He also tackles vulnerable and deeply moving topics in songs like “Boy Like Me” and “Golden Boy”. And throughout it all runs a thread that resonates with me: the beauty of embracing who we are.
Adam shared in an interview with Rolling Stone Nashville Now that songwriting became an outlet after the unexpected death of his best friend Alyssa during his senior year of high school. What began as a way to process grief became the beginning of his journey as a songwriter.
He also spoke candidly about spending years trying to fit into what he thought country music expected him to be. He avoided pronouns in his songs and tried to make himself as “palatable” as possible. Eventually, however, he reached what he described as a “why don’t I just do what I really want to do?” moment.
Instead of trying to blend in, Adam chose authenticity. He embraced the way he wanted to dress, the stories he wanted to tell, and the unabashedly queer perspective that had always been part of who he was. Far from limiting him, that freedom opened the door creatively. As he reflected in the interview, there was something both scary and deeply gratifying about finally showing up as himself and being celebrated rather than hidden.
Adam Mac chose to become an openly gay artist in country music and has chosen visibility over hiding and authenticity over conformity. That courage matters.
His viral hit “Disco Cowboy” topped CMT’s 12-Pack Countdown and kicked open doors to national praise from Billboard, PEOPLE, GLAAD, and more—with PEOPLE calling him “country music’s very own Elton John.” His next album Southern Spectacle leaned even more into his unique blending of country, pop, funk and disco.
Adam Mac is also now part of a newly formed openly queer Nashville-based trio called The Cowgays with Chris Housman and Brooke Eden. During a group vacation in Mexico, the trio was singing in a stairwell. Eden’s wife yelled from upstairs, “If Miranda Lambert can have the Pistol Annies, y’all can have the Cowgays,” and the group was instantly born.
Their debut bluegrass-tinged gospel anthem “Wish I Wasn’t Gay” addresses the religious trauma and struggles of growing up queer in conservative households. “Good Hoedown” with playful, high energy embrace of ’90s country, while “Kids Like Us” celebrates queer joy and youth.
What I appreciate most about Adam Mac’s music is that it doesn’t only make space for struggle. It makes space for joy.
His songs remind us that authenticity isn’t just about surviving. It is also about celebrating. About dancing. About laughing. About taking up space. About embracing the beautiful, messy, colorful reality of who we are. 🌻🎵✨
Enjoy watching Adam Mac’s “Southern Spectacle” video.
We Are All Meant to Shine! 
Leave a comment