K.d. lang is a trailblazer — not only because of her award-winning records, but also for her strides to make country music more inclusive as one of the few lesbian artists in the genre.
Even in the height of backlash, lang held onto the identity that felt true to her, refusing to alter her artistry in a way that was consumable for the heterosexual male bigwigs in the music industry. As Vanity Fair offered in lang's 1993 cover story, her presence "signal[ed] a whole new era of possibility for celebrities" — one that didn't force women to become the hyper-feminine country diva.
In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind, revisit the night that lang won her first golden gramophone for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for Absolute Torch and Twang at the 1990 GRAMMYs. The singer was enthusiastic as she made her way to the podium, bellowing a triumphant "Yeehaw!"