Rachel Maddow Show Features Bettysoo and James McMurtry's Anti-Drag TN Law

On Sunday, May 7 in Nashville at Third and Lindsley two singer-songwriters took to the stage to play their original music. James McMurtry - a tall, quiet, enigmatic, and well-respected songwriter, and son of novelist Larry McMurtry - and BettySoo, a five-foot powerhouse of a singer and guitar player, award-winning songwriter, and second-generation Korean-American Texan - had been on tour together throughout the spring.

"We were in the Northeast in April when news about the drag ban hit the wire, and we thought it was both ridiculous and extremely harmful for no good reason," recounts BettySoo. "We were backstage at a show one night, and there were these coffee table books with portraits of rock and roll icons over the years - Bowie, Tina Turner, etc.- and James commented something like, 'Well, they might as well try to ban rock 'n roll, because elements of drag have always been a part of it.'"

McMurtry notes, "Liberace was on Network TV in the seventies and people of our grandparents' generation didn't seem threatened. One has to wonder, why now?"

BettySoo continues, "So he had the idea that when we got to Tennessee, we should surprise everybody by doing a full band encore with the two of us dressed in drag." They knew not everyone would be happily surprised. "We had three shows in Tennessee, and since we weren't aware the federal injunction was still in place, we thought there was a small chance we could be arrested after the first show."

Leading up to the shows, McMurtry decided they would play his song "Red Dress" as the encore, and BettySoo would help him find one to wear. Through the early days of the tour, she ducked into every thrift store she could find, looking for the perfect red dress for McMurtry. She finally found it, at a church charity shop in a small town in North Carolina.

If you see the video played on The Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC, you'll hear McMurtry say with confidence, "When in Tennessee, we will do our little bit for humanity." But the musicians were nervous when they walked out on the Knoxville stage in drag on Friday night for the first time.

"We walk out there, and I'm like this tiny drag king, and he's on my arm," BettySoo says. "I'm aware James will attract more negative attention dressing up like a woman than I do dressing as a man. That's a real trigger for some people. He also knows a contingent of his audience will be alienated by what we're doing, but that kind of thing has never stopped him from speaking up and doing what he believes in."

Maddow describes, "When they came out to do an encore together they surprised everybody with the fact that they had, backstage, changed clothes... with BettySoo now sporting a dark suit, a mustache, and a nice hat, and James McMurtry wearing a red mini-dress and pearls."

Mary Gauthier, another award-winning songwriter and LGBTQ rights advocate, was at the show Saturday night in Nashville. "BettySoo and James McMurtry took a stand against the barrage of anti-LGBTQ assaults and laws in Tennessee," Gauthier asserts. "Their action was a powerful act of civil disobedience, it was not grandstanding. They took a risk, and they stood for something other than themselves. I am forever grateful for their courage and their support."

"James and I weren't doing this as a publicity stunt," says BettySoo, "we wanted to show what a ridiculous and harmful law it is. Drag performances aren't corrupting; they're the opposite of that - they are freeing. They challenge oppressive societal structures of dominance and misogyny while inviting play and freedom. They grant permission to audience members to embrace and exhibit their most authentic selves by showing how celebratory and joyful that can be.

There were definitely people who were upset and talked to the police," she continues, "but by and large, the audiences were enthusiastic, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. So many people told us how meaningful it was to them, but really, we were just using our privilege to try to bring attention to a very serious issue."

BettySoo knows there are heightened levels of risk full-time drag performers take on when it comes to protesting these laws. "Drag is as old and as integral to stage performance as theater itself. All performers' livelihoods and identities are deeply connected to the personas they embody on stage," she acknowledges, "and this ban is not only a violation of first amendment rights, it is dehumanizing for drag performers to have to take on the risk of legal consequences every time they follow their artistic calling.

On top of this, legislation like this is very dangerous because it reinforces stigmas and harmful stereotypes that risk the bodily safety of every non-heteronormative, queer, or non-cis-person, both from violence from others and from self-harm."

photo by Mary Gauthier

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