Hailing from the fields and the farms and the line dances of rural Iowa, Paisley Fields now stands — in snakeskin cowboy boots — as one of New York City’s queer country leaders. Through his East Village Cxntry Club residency at Lucinda Williams’ new honky tonk and dive bar, as well as his musical mentorship work with The Recording Academy, Fields shows that country music is fun and for everyone.
On his fourth LP, On Are U Mad At Me, the singer, songwriter, and pianist proves that genre is as fluid as sexuality. The 12-track album saunters across country, pop, disco, grunge, and classical with ease, with bangers like lead single “parTy girl” and the two-stepping “Hands Off The Hat,” as well as tragicomic ballads like “You Should Tell Your Wife.”
Ultimately, Are U Mad At Me encompasses music for dancing, for honoring elders, for flirting, and for ordering the second mimosa at brunch because life is fleeting. As Fields says, “At the end of the day, I just want to make people feel a little bit lighter, like they are healing.”
