Drew Beckman is transforming country music by telling stories.
The Florida native, a 31-year-old newspaper reporter-turned-musician and creative force behind Drew Beckman + the Boundary Boys, is using music to tell stories of the queer experience, all through the perspective of a queer cowboy traveling West in the 1800’s.
“It’s very much concept-based music,” he said before his concert at DC9 on Thursday, drinking from a water bottle and wearing a burgundy button-up shirt, along with his signature cowboy hat.
Beckman and his bandmates have been making their rounds through the DC area; they’ve played several shows at DC9, Songbyrd, and were the subject of a Washington Post article. There aren’t many prominent country and bluegrass bands in the DMV area, but Beckman said that his choice to play country music was not accidental. “We’re subverting a traditionally conservative genre; probably the most conservative genre,” Beckman said of choosing to write about the queer experience through a genre that historically has men singing about women, women singing about men, and frequent references to Christianity. “At the end of the day, I’m telling stories. And I think country music is the best way to tell those stories.”
Beckman had no musical experience until the age of 28 when he woke up one morning and wrote a song. “I couldn’t get to sleep, and a song came to my head,” he said. He sang it for his high school friend and his family. “They were all shocked. It was like a little hit.”
Beckman then wrote another song, and then another song, before he began performing at a local open mic at the Boundary Stone, where he connected with the men who would later become the Boundary Boys. “I used to sing a capella because I couldn’t play any instruments or anything, and people would literally come up in the middle of the songs and start playing.”
From there, things took off for Drew Beckman + the Boundary Boys; the four other men — Sean Hopkins, Dylan Fitchett, Reed Doherty, and Hank Murphy — took care of the instrumentation behind Beckman’s visions, which stem from his own experience growing up queer. The dynamic works out, as Beckman never ended up learning an instrument. “I need these guys, and they need me for this project. We just keep having fun.”
Undoubtedly, the Boundary Boys have made their mark on the DC music scene. While some concert-goers said that they were seeing the band for the first time, many said that they had seen them perform at Kingman Island Bluegrass and Folk Festival. Folk and country music aren’t plentiful in Washington, so it seems as though the band has built a following of loyal fans who come to see the band to get their country fix.
Kiersten Kampshroeder, a DC resident, was drawn to the Boundary Boys’ soulful harmonies because it reminds her of home: her family currently lives in Alabama, and she also spent several years living in Louisiana.
The DC music scene is small, so other fans, like Courtney Beglin, learned about Beckman through their association with the music scene. Beglin is an artist who has worked with local DC-based bands on their album art, and met Beckman through mutual friends and attending open mics, despite not being a musician herself. “The thing about the DC music scene is that, once you get in the door, you start talking to one band and it spirals from there,” she said. “All of a sudden you’re seeing great shows three times a week.”
The word-of-mouth method seems to be working for Beckman and the Boundary Boys: Faye Hixenbaugh, a 25-year-old from Maryland who is familiar with the local music scene, heard about Beckman from volunteering with Sofar Sounds, which is an international organization that hosts concerts in unusual small spaces, such as apartments. She began going to his shows and also saw the band perform at the Kingman Island Festival. “I’m a big fan of them. I don’t actively listen to country music all the time, but there’s definitely a much bigger folk music scene in DC,” she says. “Pop, country: not so much.”
Beckman said that he was initially drawn to DC9 because of their willingness to step outside of their comfort zone and take a chance on smaller, up-and-coming artists. And it has definitely paid off: the concert’s audience of about 40 people sang the words to half of their songs. But for the most part, Beckman and the Boundary Boys are unusual for the venue.
Bill Spieler, who has been a business partner for the venue for 15 years since its opening in 2004, said that the venue hasn’t strayed much from what they do now: “it’s more of an original indie rock kind of format. That’s the bulk of our calendar.” However, the venue hosts everything from rap punk to electronic bands. While country music isn’t big right now in DC, Spieler said that hasn’t always been the case. “It’s funny because in the 70’s and 80’s, WMZ [a country radio station] was the top radio station in the market.”
In any case, Spieler thinks that the quiet presence of country music is not enough to hold Beckman back: “If he can market himself and the band, I think there’s some big things that he can do,” Spieler said.
While Beckman is certainly impacting the local music scene, he isn’t the only one making waves in country music: Lil Nas X, a 20-year-old country/trap/hip-hop artist best known for his viral single “Old Town Road,” has quickly become a prominent figure in the music of Gen Z. “Old Town Road” gained recognition in a way that shows the changing nature of how music is shared: it went viral on the social media app TikTok and ended up becoming the longest-running No. 1 song in history on Billboard’s Hot 100 charts.
On the last day of pride month this year, Lil Nas X came out as gay while he was still holding the No. 1 spot. He kept the slot for the next 7 weeks until Billie Eilish’s “bad guy” dethroned “Old Town Road.” Beckman himself is a fan of Lil Nas X, and said that he’s glad to see a queer artist occupying so much space in the music industry. “He’s so important for rap and country music,” said Beckman of Lil Nas X. “Gen Z is going to devour us in the best way. There’s no rules and they don’t give a fuck.”
Beckman said that he was surprised by how things took off for him. He and his band earned their reputation largely through performing around the area, a concept that seems almost unique in an era where many musicians gain recognition through Instagram. “It’s completely wild that I’m so embraced and accepted now. As a kid, I couldn’t even have dreamed of having a room full of people wanting to listen to my stories about the queer experience.”
At the DC9 concert, the band went through several genres: they sang an upbeat folk song about missing loved ones. “And still I roam,” Beckman sang alongside his bandmates. They put a modern country twist on Eddy Arnold’s “Make the World Go Away.” They harmonized on several tracks as though it is second nature. All of their songs, however, come full circle and have undertones of country music.
While Beckman’s musical persona is a mysterious, lonely queer cowboy, it seemed as though he couldn’t help but let his personality shine through onstage. He offered witty commentary to introduce songs that were always met by cheers from the audience. “If you got an ass, shake it!” he said before the band performed a song that strayed more towards rock and roll than the bluegrass folk music heard in some of their earlier songs.
It’s almost hard to believe that Beckman has only been performing for less than three years: it’s easy to see why his fans are drawn to his charisma. Performing is what the band is known for, and why people come to see them time and time again.
Beckman said that he is going to continue to use his platform to tell stories about the queer experience, and won’t let the conservative nature of country music hold him back. “It’s kind of the sign of the times. Just being like, ‘what are you going to do about it?’ This is what I want to do. I want to tell stories that haven’t been told before.”
Alexandra Hardle 