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A Drag Mystery: An Interview with Queer Music Historian JD Doyle

By Gregg Shapiro

In the pantheon of newly released CD and LP music reissues, Love Is a Drag (Modern Harmonic), originally issued on Lace Records in 1962, stands alone. Too serious and too high-quality to be dismissed as a novelty item, Love Is a Drag contained the following text on the album cover: “For Adult Listeners Only—Sultry Stylings by a Most Unusual Vocalist.” Why? Because the album’s 12 pop standards such as “Lover Man,” “He’s Funny That Way,” “My Man,” “The Man I Love,” and “Mad about the Boy”—songs traditionally sung by a woman to a man—were all performed by an unidentified male vocalist. Additionally, the album cover featured two men, one smoking in the foreground and the other slightly out of focus in the background, in what one might assume is a gay bar.

For the Love of Music: Queer music historian JD Doyle has made it his life’s mission to deliver gay-specific music of all genres  to Houston’s LGBT community.
For the Love of Music:
Queer music historian JD Doyle has made it his life’s mission to deliver gay-specific music of all genres
to Houston’s LGBT community.

In 2012, 50 years after the release of the album, the unraveling of that musical mystery began when queer music historian JD Doyle was contacted by the album’s producer. Doyle, who maintains the LGBT history website jddoylearchives.org, had the honor of writing the liner notes for the Love Is A Drag reissue. I spoke with Doyle about the album before the reissue hit the shelves on Record Store Day in November 2016.

Gregg Shapiro: JD, when did you first come across the 1962 LP Love Is a Drag?

JD Doyle: I’ve been aggressively collecting music by LGBT artists since the 1990s, so some time back then.

How did you acquire it?

I’m sure in a used-record store. I have thousands of albums, and do not try to remember when or where I get them.

Had you been aware of its existence before finding a copy of it?

I am sure of it.

Do you think that there could possibly be more titles like this out there somewhere?

If you mean more albums done with that approach, no, not from that time. This LP was released in 1962, and the next one with that approach—Mad About the Boy on Camp Records—came out in 1965. [Then] Zebedy Colt’s I’ll Sing for You [came out] in 1969. None were distributed widely or sold well.

What is involved in your process of record-hunting for your Queer Music Heritage website?

I have been a record collector for decades, long before the radio show. As for my process, lots of fanatical and aggressive research, [initially accomplished by visiting] used-record stores and [studying] record-sale publications. Whenever I traveled, I sought out the record stores of the different cities. A pilgrimage was always part of my vacations. Later, this was made easier by the Internet—especially on eBay.

What were the criteria for artists or albums to make the cut for Queer Music Heritage?

Almost all is music by LGBT artists, with an emphasis on that which is lyrically gay. If one song on an LP or CD has “out” lyrics, you could be sure that would be the one I played. My position was that I did not hear music that was directed to me as a gay person until I was 30, so once I got to be in a position to have my own radio show, I changed that. Straight artists can make the cut only if the song was lyrically about gay topics such as same-sex marriage, gay Boy Scouts, whatever. And while I loved the gay divas—Streisand, Midler, Garland, Minnelli, etc.—they did not make it.

Ultimately, you were able to solve the long-standing mystery surrounding Love Is a Drag, as you wrote in the liner notes for the reissue.

The 1962 album was released with the singer not identified, and with the intriguing premise of a man singing standard love songs to another man. Of course I wondered about that for many years, while occasionally playing tracks on my radio show. A key is that I set up my music website as a resource, because history needs to be accessible, not just played on the radio and gone. So all my shows are archived, and search engines can find them. When I received the email from the album’s producer, Murray Garrett, I was stunned. It was like a Holy Grail knocking on your door. I immediately wrote him back requesting a phone interview, and I was delighted to be able to capture the story. He essentially had been looking back at his life and wanted to reveal [Gene Howard as] the album’s mystery singer to someone—and he found me.

What is your opinion of the song selections on Love Is a Drag?
I happen to love the standards, and many of the songs I had already conscripted into my personal favorites list, changing the pronouns in my head like gay people have had to do most of their lives in order to have the music “speak to them.” My special favorites were the “man songs,” like “The Man I Love,” “My Man,” “Can’t Help Lovin’ that Man.” The well-known standards [occupy] most on the album. [Two] possible exceptions are “Bill” and “Jim,” [which don’t] work as well for me.

Are there other songs that you think would have been a good fit for the album?

Ones that come to mind are “Am I Blue,” “Someone to Watch Over Me,” and “We Kiss in a Shadow.”

If there’s one place where the album plays it safe, it’s on “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” where vocalist Gene Howard sings a tamer version of the song. For instance, he doesn’t sing the original Lorenz Hart lyrics such as “I’ll sing to him/Each spring to him/And worship the trousers that cling to him.” Can you please say something about that?

Good catch. [Laughs] Yes, I love the original lyrics. Maybe the trousers part was a bit racier than they wanted to approach. Or maybe they just wanted a shorter version. The two “male” versions I have to compare it to are both five-minute songs, where this one is only three.

What’s your opinion of Howard’s singing abilities?

Gene Howard was an excellent singer with Big Band credentials—a very good choice for that project.

As you mentioned, you were able to interview the producer, Murray Garrett. What do you remember most about that interview?

My favorite story is the one he told me concerning Liberace. Garrett and Howard were well-known for photographing album covers, and [a photo shoot] for Liberace was scheduled. When he came over to the studio—bringing his own candelabra—Garrett put the Love Is a Drag album on the phonograph without saying a word about it, just [letting it play] in the background during the photo shoot. When they were finished, Liberace went back into the dressing room, changed back into his street clothes, picked up his candelabra, and very quietly walked over to the turntable, picked up the record and said, “Ta, ta.” And he walked out with the record. Many times after that, Liberace told Garrett, “You know, you produced my favorite album.”

loveisalbumcoverIn the liner notes for the CD reissue of Love Is a Drag, you write that not only was Gene Howard not gay, but the models on the album cover were also straight. Where did that leave Love Is a Drag in terms of your Queer Music Heritage criteria?

While no one involved with the LP was gay, the intent of the album was for it to be perceived as gay. And as it was done in such good taste, that is perfectly fine with me. As a listener, it was a treat for me to hear songs I loved done “man-to-man.”

The story behind Love Is a Drag has a cinematic quality to it. If a movie were made about Love Is a Drag, who would you like to see cast as Gene?

That’s certainly a question I had not thought of. [Laughs] If you want someone well-known, I might suggest Harry Connick Jr. Most of Gene Howard’s success was in the 1940s, so he still would have been a recognized name in 1962. I think he should be portrayed by an already-respected singer today, not an unknown.

What current LGBT artists are you listening to and excited about these days?

I am so consumed by the work on my history websites that I have limited my attention to just a few artists whom I have become friends with, such as Tom Goss, Tret Fure, Pansy Division, and a handful of others. [However,] one act that caught my attention this week is The Heaters. While I do not know if the members of this female band are lesbian, I love their ’60s “girl group” sound, and one track on their CD is stellar. The song “Sandy” keeps repeating the refrain “this boy wants to be a girl.” How can you resist that? [Laughs]

Gregg Shapiro is a regular contributor to OutSmart magazine.

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Gregg Shapiro

Gregg Shapiro is a regular contributor to OutSmart Magazine.
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