Rae Spoon returns to country roots for new LP, ‘Assigned Country Singer at Birth’ Detail Page

Assigned Country Singer At Birth is Rae Spoon’s thirteenth solo album and marks their return to country music. It’s arguably not any safer than it was in the early 2000’s to be a transgender country singer, but there’s no room for doubting their connection to it when you hear them sing. The album is equally subversive and relatable, a testament to the fact that country music is as expansive as the people who are connected to it. Songs about trans folks, harm reduction, disability, inclusion, religious trauma, solidarity and opposing colonial land occupation may seem antithetical to traditional country, but they are as much a part of Spoon’s experiences as love songs, trucks and beer.

Today they share the album’s first single, “Can’t Fail Me” featuring Cassia Hardy, which arrives with a video directed by Rae Spoon. “Can’t Fail Me” is a song that “embraces the intense clarity and urgency of sharing space with people without knowing how much time there is left,” says Spoon. “I’ve spent years living close to my own death and the deaths of others. Some of the most connected moments I’ve had are when we meet each other without a lot of expectation or withholding. So much living happens during sickness and near death. It’s a love song for sick, Disabled and oppressed people who care for and hold each other.

“Often a liminal relationship with time feels like trying to float without flailing, like I do in the accompanying film. The footage is from a shoot on the unceded traditional territory of the T’Sou-ke First Nation (Sooke, BC). The lake is near a hospital I spent a lot of time institutionalized in for cancer complications.

“Cassia Hardy is the featured vocalist. She’s a prolific musician from Treaty 6 (Edmonton) that I have a lot of respect for. I wanted to sing with her because of our shared experience of being from a place that is both home and politically/institutionally hostile to us and people we love.
“Releasing this single on my 45th birthday helps me celebrate that I’m still here while acknowledging the combination of privilege and luck that allowed me to live this long. I view my survival is a responsibility to keep trying to make pathways easier for people who have a more difficult time.”