In an honest new memoir, the musician opens up about being closeted in country, sexual assault, and finding love in his 60s<\/p>\n
On 14 June 1995, Nashville singer Ty Herndon was riding high with a No 1 single on the country charts and an album hurtling towards gold status when he was arrested on charges that could have killed his career in an instant. At 10am, he pulled into a gas station in Texas, right across the street from park well known for gay cruising and hookups. Amped by a hit of meth amphetamine, Herndon strolled into a glade where he soon met a guy he later described as \u201cmovie-star handsome\u201d. The stranger began stroking his own crotch, then reached for Herndon\u2019s. But when the singer unzipped his fly, the man, an undercover cop, said, \u201cThis ain\u2019t your day, cowboy,\u201d leading to the star\u2019s arrest on charges from drug possession to indecent exposure.<\/p>\n
While news of the incident traveled fast \u2013 aided in no small part by the police alerting the media \u2013 Herndon\u2019s record company swung into parallel action. They cooked up a massive PR strategy that painted the singer as victim of drug use while feeding the media a series of lies to explain away the sex. \u201cThe drugs could be forgiven,\u201d Herndon says during a Zoom interview the other day from his Nashville home. \u201cBeing gay definitely could not.\u201d<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/8d027decc35d58b46f21e9201a7da61bc6fab790\/0_210_3231_2583\/master\/3231.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=598770933e95e3348fb0a0d7358316dc\" "\\"Country")
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