Remembering K.T. Oslin
What K.T. Oslin taught this young gay boy from the South about independence.
I’ve been thinking about K.T. Oslin a lot lately as I’ve been digging through country music archives from her heyday in 1988 and 1989 lately. (The Judds and K.T. were both on RCA at this time, and The Judds recorded K.T.’s song “Old Pictures” on Heart Land.) I have another piece on K.T. coming next week, but I first want to share this remembrance of her I wrote when she passed in 2020. It was originally published on my now-defunct blog at HunterKelly.com on January 14, 2021 to go along with my celebration of K.T. on my radio show at the time, Proud Radio.
K.T. Oslin’s life was singular and sophisticated. She never married. She never had kids. She had a full life in service of her art and her friendships and her point of view. She, along with Oprah, showed me that birthing your creativity can be your great contribution to the world.
K.T. spent years in New York City performing in Broadway choruses before she came to Nashville and became a country singer in her 40s. So, doing fundraisers for Planned Parenthood and Nashville Cares’ efforts for AIDS patients wasn’t a question for her even if it meant pissing off fans. K.T. came out of the gate on her own terms. This level of artistry is rarely, if ever, achieved with a closed, prejudiced mind.
Because of that Broadway training, K.T. brought theatricality to her performances, right down to the speaking parts in the song that allowed for dramatic vignettes in the middle of her songs. This spilled over into her videos, which vividly captured the complex and bittersweet aspects of the stories she told in her songs. Just watch the ongoing story she told in the videos for “80’s Ladies” and “I’ll Always Come Back.”
However, “Hold Me” is the theatrical opus I remember hearing on the radio when I was seven years old.
It would be another 30 years before I found myself in this situation myself — middle-aged, in a long-term relationship and feeling restless as my youth slipped away. Like K.T. sings about in the song, I’d ultimately find solace in the life I’d built for myself. But to have a preview of this life at such a tender age was a gift. Hearing “Hold Me” was the musical equivalent of putting on my mom’s high heels shoes and lipstick — playing dress up and imagining what my life could be like someday.
In many ways, K.T.’s life has provided a template for me. Along with Tina Turner, she
