My mom won a Ty Herndon CD from a radio station once. As a 10 year old who at least knew when a guy was attractive, I think I stared at the smoldering cover of his 1999 album Steam more than I listened to it.
Ty will be headlining Charlie’s 35th Anniversary, playing the bar on Friday, June 3. His show will begin at 7pm on the parking lot stage, which follows an hour of free drinks beginning at 6pm.
His 14th studio album, House on Fire, is being released this year. Ty is no stranger to performing in gay bars. His first time was at Neon Boots in Houston, Texas.
With a career spanning more than 20 years in country music, he came out publicly in 2014, shortly after releasing his first album in seven years, Lies I Told Myself. Currently, there aren’t too many mainstream country artists who are publicly out. Along with Ty are Chely Wright and Billy Gilman. While many consider singer-songwriter Steve Grand to be part of that club, Ty says his longtime friend doesn’t consider himself a country artist.
In his new album, Ty spent a lot of time figuring out what it would look like. The title track to House on Fire he calls the deepest and heaviest on the record, as it examines everything he’s been through, from addiction to secret relationships.
“I was able to take all those things, heal, and burn that house down to rebuild,” he explains. “And I’ve had to do that more than once. It’s a powerful song.”
But as for songs targeted directly at a gay male audience, he’s not quite heading that direction yet.
“Country music is all about people putting their own lives in the middle of the songs,” he explains. “I was very careful to make it non-gendered. It’s an album that speaks to everyone.”
Especially to his longtime boyfriend, Matt, who has several songs written about him on the album.
“I didn’t even have to tell him which ones!” he laughs.
Although he’s only been a writer on his last three albums, he says classic hit songs like Loved Too Much reference a 14-year relationship he had to keep secret but eventually had to end.
As the song goes: “Love is something different that disregards the rules; you call me a dreamer, but sometimes dreams come true.”
He and Matt were able to attend his first gay wedding last year. In the future, he just wants to get married in a barn someday.
“Knowing us, we’ll just get married in a courthouse and have a party in a barn. We’ll just make an announcement when it’s done.”
For more information on Herndon’s appearance and the rest of Charlie’s 35th Anniversary, visit CharliesDenver.com
