James Wilson, known professionally as Paisley Fields, is a queer country music artist based between Brooklyn, NY and Nashville, TN.

Background

Wilson grew up in Hudson, Iowa where his grandparents owned a farm. They grew up listening to country music, but resisted performing in the genre until they reconnected with their country roots while living in Japan. Wilson is queer and non-binary.

Career

Wilson assembled an alt-country band which performed their first show as the Paisley Fields in Brooklyn on New Year's Eve 2013. After the release of their first EP ''Oh These Urban Fences'' in 2015, Wilson adopted the name Paisley Fields as a stage name. His first full-length album ''Glitter & Sawdust'', released in 2018, is an exploration of the duality of the masculine and feminine. The next two albums ''Electric Park Ballroom'' and ''Limp Wrist'' were released on Don Giovanni Records. ''Electric Park Ballroom'' is named after a dancehall they visited in childhood but the songs center on present-day urban narratives while ''Limp Wrist'' focuses on the realities of rural queer life. In 2019, Paisley Fields toured with queer country pioneers

Lavender Country Lavender Country was an American country music band formed in 1972 whose self-titled 1973 album is the first known gay-themed album in country music history. Based in Seattle, Washington, the band originally consisted of lead singer and guitarist ...

and Lavender Country later guested on Paisley Fields' "Stay Away From My Man." They played keyboards on Lavender Country's 2022 album ''Blackberry Rose.'' "Burn This Statehouse Down," a duet with

Mya Byrne Mya Adriene Byrne is an American singer-songwriter whose works falls mostly in the Americana vein, a combination of folk, blues and country music. Based in New York for 13 years, Byrne currently resides in San Francisco and performs solo or wi ...

protesting Tennessee's anti-trans legislation, was chosen as one of NPR music critic Ann Powers' favorite songs of 2023. As a songwriter, Wilson has written with Bob the Drag Queen ("Purse First") and

Scarlet Envy Jacob James Grady (born February 26, 1992), better known by the stage name Scarlet Envy, is an American drag queen, reality television personality, singer, and performer who came to international attention on the eleventh season of ''RuPaul's Dr ...

("Feeling Is Mutual," "Press On," "Is It Me?").

Style

Paisley Fields combines country, rock, pop, and disco while their lyrics include explicit queer themes, ranging from gay sex ("Ride Me Cowboy") to being outed ("Blackhawk County Line") to referencing

Matthew Shepard Matthew Wayne Shepard (December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998) was a gay American student at the University of Wyoming who was beaten, tortured, and left to die near Laramie on the night of October 6, 1998. He was taken by rescuers to Pou ...

("Iowa").

Discography

*"Burn This Statehouse Down" with Mya Byrne (2023) ( Kill Rock Stars) *''The Field Sessions Live'' EP (2023) (Don Giovanni Records) *''Limp Wrist'' (2022) (Don Giovanni Records) *''Electric Park Ballroom'' (2020) (Don Giovanni Records) *''Glitter & Sawdust'' (2018) *''Oh These Urban Fences'' EP (2015)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fields, Paisley Don Giovanni Records artists LGBT people from Iowa American LGBT songwriters 21st-century American LGBT people American non-binary musicians Non-binary singers Country musicians from Iowa Year of birth missing (living people) Living people