Ty Herndon and the 2020 Concert for Love and Acceptance

The Academy of Country Music’s charitable arm ACM Lifting Lives, CMT, GLAAD, and country music star and philanthropist Ty Herndon are gearing up for the 2020 Concert for Love and Acceptance, the Nashville-based event that supports LGBTQ youth, their families, and the country music community.

Typically held during CMA Fest, this year’s event will be streamed online June 30 at 7:00 p.m. ET due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Produced by Herndon’s newly formed charitable foundation, The Foundation for Love and Acceptance, Herndon will be joined by Emmy and Tony-Award winning actress and singer Kristin Chenoweth and CMT’s Cody Alan, who has hosted alongside Herndon since 2017.

Herndon and GLAAD created the first Concert of Love and Acceptance in 2015 shortly after he became the first male country artist to come out as gay. This year’s appearance and performance lineup include Lauren Alaina, Lewis Brice, Terri Clark, Billy Gilman, Dana Goldberg, Dennis Quaid, Michael Ray, Kalie Shorr, Rita Wilson, Chely Wright, and many more. Beneficiaries are The Foundation for Love and Acceptance, GLAAD, and ACM Lifting Lives.

OUT FRONT had the pleasure of talking more with Herndon about the concert, his relationship with GLAAD, why it is important to support LGBTQ youth, and how the country music industry is not only changing its attitude toward the LGBTQ community, but how it is also standing up for Black Lives Matter.

Hi, Ty! Thank you for taking the time to chat with me. How have you been doing during these troubling times?
Wow, man, you’re going to start off heavy! I have to tell you, we had a devastating tornado here in Nashville right before the pandemic that came right through my neighborhood. There is literally still debris, and it has been difficult to see. Some people have been able to clean up, but the cool, hip part of Nashville kind of got destroyed.

I’m not talking about the honkytonks downtown; those seem to be fine. Just some of the cool venues, studios, restaurants kind of got wiped. I started running again because I’m trying to get rid of my dad bod, and I ran by one of my favorite pizza joints that got leveled. There were people outside with garden wagons picking up debris, and I got a little emotional. I waved at them and said thanks for doing this.

Ten days later, the pandemic hit, and quite honestly, I had the biggest tour booked since the 90s. We have been working very hard this year on new music and a documentary. For me, it was like standing in the bathroom watching everything you worked for, and someone was about to flush it, and you couldn’t stop them. I tunnel visioned for a while and kind of ended up in the corner in a victim mode. Not for long, just for about 10 days.

After talking to a bunch of my friends in the music industry, from really successful ones to people getting launched, a lot of them had the same reaction because we haven’t faced any of this before. Like, wait a minute, you can’t take my job away. Who are you, mistress devil from Hell Miss coronavirus? How dare you walk into my house! It was difficult. I am a man who has been through a lot in my life, and I have always been able to pull my bootstraps up, go do a show, and make it better. But that wasn’t happening anymore. I was just on the verge of a nervous breakdown. It was something new for me.

My mom called me one morning at around 6:00 a.m., and I knew I was in trouble because my mom sleeps til 11. My mom is a steel magnolia as well. She said, ‘I’ve been up for a couple hours thinking about you, praying for you.’ Then what she said next was powerful. She said, ‘Son, you know that platform that you have? Where you stand on stage and you make people’s lives different with your music and make them better?’ I said, yes ma’am. That’s my job. That’s the stage. She goes, ‘I need you to shut up right now. I’m not talking about the stage. I’m talking about your platform. I’m on Facebook right now, and I see you can sell things on here. I want to know how much to sell your platform because you’re obviously not using it. I’m sure I can find someone who will need it more than you do now. Boy, you get your ass up out of that corner right now, and I don’t want to hear any more of this foolishness. You figure it out.’

Then she hung up on me! Tough love at its best. I had a bunch of tears in that moment and thought to myself, you know what, a lot of people have lost a lot more than you have at this moment. It’s about how we can change it. How can we make it better? How can we help each other?You can always count on your mother to steer you back in the right direction. Now, you will be hosting this year’s Concert for Love and Acceptance. For those who are not familiar, can you tell us more about this event and how it began?
Yes, now we’re moving on. Now we’re going to preach! The Concert for Love and Acceptance was born when I came out. I have never been a fan of labels, but one of the cools things that I am able to tell these kids today when I go and speak to them, Concert of Love and Acceptance has always been about the opportunity to be yourself, the opportunity to be your best self. Whatever you want to do, do whatever you can to be the best at it.

Believe me, your sexuality will fall in place, and it’s going to be okay. Tell a kid to study hard and be the best songwriter, music producer, or go to law school, and be the best you can be. I had somebody tell me that when I was a kid, but I didn’t listen. So, I am happy to have the opportunity to say that, not only to kids, but some grownups as well. The Foundation for Love and Acceptance, we were actually able to launch this year, and I am so happy it happened now.

In the time we’re in, we need the words love and acceptance. The Concert for Love and Acceptance is happening on June 30, but we are launching the foundation at the same time. I have always been a huge advocate because I am gay, but I have also watched my music community crumble. I have seen more moving trucks in my neighborhood than I ever wanted to see in my life. People are losing their homes and cars. I stand for the music community as well as the LGBTQ community. Those are all my brothers and sister. So, our foundation, we partnered with the Academy of Country Music Lifting Live, and this foundation will help everyone under this umbrella. I am so proud of it.

Due to COVID-19, this event will to be streamed online. What can audiences expect?
It will be, but we are also filming it like a television special. We’re doing it like they do the Oscars and Emmys. It’s always an hour behind in case there are any bloopers, and I didn’t know they did that! So, that’s kind of cool. It’s live to tape, and then airing an hour later. We are super excited about that, but CMT is editing and producing the show, and the amazing Cody Alan is back for his fourth year, and my new partner in crime, Miss Kristin Chenoweth, she will be with me for as long as she wants to do this over the years.

I love working with her on Broadway Boot Camp, her great foundation. We have opening the show with four songs, the powerhouse Miss Tanya Tucker. She is something; I’ve known her almost my whole life. Rita Wilson will be returning with songs from her new album, Terri Clark and some other amazing country artists you will have to tune in to find out. We will also be taking a look back over the last six years at some of our favorite performances and have those artists talk about being a part of Love and Acceptance.

Why is working to support LGBTQ youth so important to you?
Oh, man. I was so lost as a kid. Growing up in South Alabama, I grew up on a farm, drove a tractor, and I straddled the fence so long that my middle part was swollen! I was just so confused, and there wasn’t a lot of knowledge in the south about gay or queer kids. We just didn’t hear about it. So, I always say today, educating people today is just the key. We are all victims of what we’re taught, what we grow up with, and you have to change that conversation.

That’s what’s happening right now in the country with Black Lives Matter. It’s at the forefront right now, and it’s a conversation that needs to be had. We’ve been having that conversation within the queer community for a long time and we know how to speak into that. It’s like Dolly Parton’s coat of many colors. We can’t make fun of anybody for what they wear or who they are. We just have to go hey, that’s a beautiful coat.

The answers are sometimes so simple and in front of your face, but it just gets so hard at times. I understand people’s hearts when it comes to anger because we’ve all been there. We have never needed this message more than now. No matter what shape, color, where you come from, we have to all learn to get together and love each other on this planet and call out the evil. We have to be an example of how to change that with love. As my mama did with me, it’s not always going to be easy, but it is tough love. Our hearts and ears have to be open.

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How beneficial do you believe GLAAD is as an organization?
Oh, wow. You know, they were the first people I went to because they changed the conversation. To me, that is very important. They monitor media; they make sure people are treated fairly, and I always like to say, my daddy never hit me with a belt, but it was sure sitting on the counter. Like, I don’t want that thing! If you don’t want that punishment, you better do it right. So, it was important to me to work with GLAAD because they became a family to me. Same with HRC. You know, they are on the heart side of it.

You partnered with GLAAD to create the Concert for Love and Acceptance shortly after you became the first male country artist to come out as gay. What do you remember the most about your coming out, and why do you think it was so significant?
I spent probably a year and a half talking with my dear friend Chely Wright who did this first. You know, her journey, with her book coming out, her story was completely different than mine. She gave me some great advice, and I just knew at the end of this story, when we had done our final conversation, she said, ‘why do you want to come out?’ I said quite simply, ‘I can’t live in this skin anymore if it can’t be authentic. I’ve done it long enough. I’m tired, worn out, never knowing what the truth is. I need to be able to sit and talk in an interview and not have to look around the corner. I don’t have to worry about what I said last week. I have to let it all go.’ She then said to me, ‘OK, you’re ready.’

I went to New York and sat down with Entertainment Tonight and People Magazine, and that was seven years ago. They broke the story on November 14, 2014. I was back in Kansas City sitting on the couch having a cup of coffee and my partner, still my partner, 10 years, he said, ‘Um, was this story supposed to come out on Friday? Cause this is Wednesday.’ The story broke early. So, I picked up my phone, and I had like 250 text messages overnight.

My partner, Matt, asked how I felt, and I said, ‘I didn’t know, 24 hours ago, if I would ever get to sing again. I didn’t know if I would still be accepted in country music.’ I was getting all these text messages from these major friends of mine in the industry, and I got a great number of texts from celebrities who are my friends, but these are buyers. These people in media, radio, and I knew in that moment that I would still get to sing. That’s the only time I got emotional, to be honest with you. I got emotional because I knew that the higher power, whatever you want to call it, your spiritual foundation, that the truth is always the right thing to do. For years, I couldn’t tell the truth, and I was so freshly set in that moment, and I really haven’t looked back. Since coming out, what would you say has been one of your career’s biggest highlights?
I had the opportunity to perform with the LGBTQ Center in Los Angeles and walk out on stage during the 50th year celebration. Other than winning a country music award, that was one of my career’s biggest highlights. To walk out there and change the pronouns from my huge hit-record from the 90s. From her eyes are blue to his eyes are blue. That song gave me a career.

So, I walked out there and the place was packed, and I started singing the song in the regular way. I could see people kind of scratching their heads. Like, do you know where you are? I stopped and told my story. I said that was the way I recorded the song, but I remember sitting in the studio thinking about the boyfriend I had in that moment wishing I could sing it this way. We then went to the new version and the crowd went wild. Thank you, Jesus.

In the past, the country music industry has been known to not be the greatest when it comes to LGBTQ people and views. Do you believe attitudes are changing?
I do. We’ve had a different conversation now. We got a lot of artists like Maren Morris and Michael Ray; they are having huge success in country music, and they are the younger generation that just doesn’t play. They’re like, we love everybody. This is about life and music. Quite honestly, this is what I think about it, I think that it super sad. Over the years, even in country music and other places around the world, the conversation hasn’t been correct. I keep going back to this because we are victims of what we’re taught. When you’re a 2-year-old kid sitting there and hearing these stories that are not right, you are a victim because you have not had the opportunity to have the heart that you should have as a human being. So, that’s been my message.

My grandmother always said that I would be preacher or teacher someday, and I didn’t want to listen to that, but you know, she was right. She went to heaven at 99 years old with her Gibson guitar in her hands because she was a badass guitar player. She went to sleep in her rocking chair, and I’m like, you know, I want to go out that way. I want to go out with the same peaceful heart she had.

I didn’t get ridiculed from my family. My grandmother changed the conversation years ago. So, if I have a platform for anything, I want to rid the world of ignorance. This can only change with love, acceptance, and the correct conversation. That’s what I believe.

I am glad you mentioned the Black Lives Matter movement a little bit ago. What are your thoughts on the current protests and the situation?
Listen man, I believe that we as a LGBTQ community, from Stonewall to all the thing that we have had to go through to see change, there were murders and injustice, and I believe the same thing us going on with Black Lives Matter. It’s a crazy time and, we are all worried about our jobs and getting back to work, and for this to come to the forefront now, I believe that the universe is really speaking.

This is the time that we need to pay attention. Just because I am not prejudiced and I love everyone, I am still asking myself, how do I make myself a better person? I always try to see the best in people, and that is how my mother and grandmother raised me. I don’t want to see injustice for anybody.

Country can sometimes have its named tarnished by racists and rednecks. How is the country music industry standing up for Black Lives Matter?
To be honest with you, I think it has been very impressive. I kind of worried about that a little bit, then I remembered, wait a minute, I’m gay, and they have been pretty damn good to me. Some of our superstars have really stood up and said, you know what, pay attention. I have been really proud of my country folk.

Before we wrap up, do you have other upcoming projects we should be on the lookout for?
Well, it’s so funny you should ask! Yes, I have a new record that we are working on right now, and I love duets, so I am thinking of doing a record with some of my favorite female singers. To answer your next question, no, I’m not afraid to do love songs. You can close your eyes and make any song fit any situation. So, I am going to do that, but the next thing on the horizon is an album that my label kind of asked me to do. I had six amazing albums with Sony, and I am going to go back and pick a song from each of those albums and do the missed hits record. I want to pick songs that I think may have gotten missed, or didn’t get released to the radio. So, that’s the next record. You got the exclusive on that, by the way!

I also have a Patreon page. I miss the old fan club days, so I though Patreon would be a perfect platform where you can pay a small membership fee, and you will receive a lot of exclusive stuff. From recipes and cooking with me, to first-look interviews. That kind of fun stuff. The other thing I want to close with, go to my website because the Foundation for Love and Acceptance is up and running, and we are raising $100,000.

We are off to a great start, but it’s up and running now. There’s a donate button on tyherndon.com. Even on our Patreon page, 50 percent of that monthly money goes into the foundation. This is not about me trying to pay my electric bill. It’s a great way to show support.

For more information and ongoing updates, as well as to RSVP for the live online event, visit the Foundation for Love and Acceptance at F4LA.org. The concert will also be streamed via CMT’s Facebook and YouTube pages.

Photos by Jeremy Ryan