Dispatches from the DOWN HOME DIVAS
#10 – Get It Together, Part II
Berea College Pinnacle, October 18, 2012
Welcome friends to our second installment of the Get It Together series, Down Home Divas on Success, Struggle and the Sisterly Life. Last week we heard from sister Ethan and now Sam is just busting at the seams for his turn. Jump in and hang on, y’all!
Questioning the Queen of the Blue Ridge
Sam Gleaves interviewed by Ethan Hamblin
Ethan –Well, sister dear, we sit here and our weeks have been rather hectic, to say the least and once again we have risen from the dust as phoenixes this morning and we’re ready to take on this article. So, as I begin this interview, just tell me about how your Down Home Diva experience has been defined by your relationship with your grandmothers.
Sam – Well, I remember distinctly one of my grandmothers, I won’t name which, telling me once that I should “not be a bitch, but be sweet to people,” and I’ve sort of modeled my whole life approach after that statement. My grandmother who’s still living, she’s truly a saint on this earth and she’s a touchstone that I look to in my times of need. She always told me that I had a pretty voice and that I should use it and that’s always kept me going, which I really need some days because truthfully, the life of a country singer can be rather tragic sometimes.
E- How do you think that your identification as a Down Home Diva has affected your singing career? Do you think that all good, strong country singers and traditional singers are Down Home Divas at heart?
S- I would say that a great deal of them, particularly the female singers in this tradition are Down Home Divas, but I would not say that of everyone, because there’s a great deal of heteronormative, sexist bullshit that goes on in the country music world that I have witnessed and occasionally felt the “frost” of. We need to look to the country music Divas of the past, because let’s just face it, country music has gone to shit in the past ten years or so. There are a few redeeming saving graces, Miranda Lambert and the Pistol Annies for instance, but even she’s married to this homophobic Blake Shelton and she’s all tied up in this Friends of Coal campaign.
E- You know Miranda packs her own gun on her, she carries it right on her hip! She doesn’t have security guards!
S- (singing) OF COURSE! “I’m going home, I’m gonna load my shotgun, wait by the door and light a cigarette, if he wants a fight, well now he’s got one, and he ain’t seen me crazy yet!” (laughter)
E- SO . . . back to the question, sister!
S- Oh, yes . . . As far as really impacting my singing career, this whole Down Home Diva thing has given me a lot more confidence to be out in front of audiences and say that I’m here and I’m country queer and you’d better get used to it! Being so “out” in this writing for the newspaper has led me to be more open in my singing and not afraid to address issues that are important to me.
E- When did you first know that you were a Down Home Diva?
S- Well, of course I was quite the little performer as a child. I was forever running around dressed in these ridiculous costumes – I had an octopus, some characters from Aladdin, some western wear, these Oriental type giddups that my mother bought at the Dollar General, you know. I was also the baby Jesus in the Wytheville Presbyterian Church’s nativity scene when I was just about one year old. The first time I ever sang into a microphone was in the school lunchroom – during “bus duty” when everyone was waiting on their buses, I was humming to myself and a teacher walked up and handed me a microphone! Isn’t that ridiculous! I sang “Do-Re-Mi” from The Sound of Music! They should have “known” right then I wasn’t gonna be my Daddy’s little linebacker!
E- Tell me about your mother’s influence on your Down Home Diva-ness.
S- Well, our faithful readers know that my mother is a force of nature; everyone in my family calls her D-Bird! She just gets more fabulous all the time; I’ve always admired her ability to listen and her work ethic and her taste in clothes. My parents split up when I was young, and Daddy was still a wonderful father and a big part of my life, but I grew up with a single mother for the most part and you just start learning common-sense sort of things very early on in a single parent household. When I was little, my mother was working all the time trying to make ends meet and going to graduate school and I just started to realize that there were things around the house that needed done, like laundry and dishes and house cleaning and stuff, so I started helping Mama out in the little ways that I could. That taught me some skills that most seven year olds probably don’t have, and I was proud as I could be of that at the time, I still am. That’s when I first knew that I was a Down Home Diva.
E- This summer, I remember you being upset because someone told you that “Divas don’t do dishes.”
S- Yes, I was a tad distraught because someone told me that they just didn’t see me as a Diva because of my willingness to help out with chores. That sort of pissed me off because I feel like if you aren’t willing to get your hands dirty, you’re really not accomplishing anything and progress should always be the Diva’s first concern. If you’re going to make noise and talk a big game, you need to be able to back it up – that would be the “Down Home” component of our philosophy.
E- How has coining the term “Down Home Diva” shaped your identity?
S- Well, we really have to thank sweet little Willie Dodson, who is just brilliant, because he suggested that we write an article and call it the Dispatches from the Down Home Divas. I guess you and I had been throwing the term around before then, because it really did adequately describe who we are – I mean, how else do you describe us? We had to invent our own category! Something that people might be interested to know is that when you and I first met, we really didn’t like each other. How do I even describe it, it was like tropical storm fronts colliding-
E- And forming a massive hurricane which is now our lives.
S- Right! The night I really remember us becoming friends, we sat up all night in my room in Dana singing old hymns, you know and we just connected. We must have been up ‘til 3, 4 o’clock in the morning singing, even though we had class the next day and from then on, our friendship has just cemented. We’re inseparable.
E- Well, last issue, you asked me about “frost,” sort of the disrespect a Diva might dispense when needed, and I think that you can definitely be “frostier” than me at times-
S- Oh, really! Explain that!
E- Well, statements like that, for instance! (laughter) We have different approaches when it comes to “frost” and yours just really entertains me and I admire it, very much so, so tell me about that.
S- Well, going back to my grandmothers, I’ve learned a great deal of patience in this life by watching them. Those women were THE MOST patient, they could put up with ANYTHING for an extended period of time, but there was a point they would reach where they were worn too thin and they were done being patient. You know what I mean, they were DONE, they just had to intervene and take control of the situation and restore order! In college, we’re continually surrounded by people all the time, it’s a crowded social fishbowl and you know what happens when a fishbowl goes unattended for a while, it gets cloudy. Sometimes I just need to be on my own to process things and to be creative and do all that shit and I seldom get that “me time” when I’m here. So, I try to be patient and go about my busy day, but when I’m fed up with people, it just becomes apparent, I might inadvertently make a face in response to some stupid comment I overhear. That’s my “frost” I guess.
E- I completely agree. As we wrap this up, where do you think your Down Home Diva lifestyle will take you after Berea?
S- Well, you’re coming with me-
E- Of course!
S- The DHDs will remain a unit. We should probably do some sort of world tour, speaking, singing, teaching people to get it together. Lord knows the world needs a dose of that. I guess I’m going to keep trying to find my true self, she’s an elusive character sometimes, and hopefully help others to do the same. I just really want everyone to know that God gave Noah the rainbow sign and there really is hope in this world, despite all appearances to the contrary, but we’ve got a lot of work to do.
E- Certainly.
S- That’s all.
