“It’s bringing everyone to the table and saying country music, at its best, is for everyone,” Fancy Hagood tells Apple Music. For his four-song Apple Music Sessions EP recorded for Pride Month, he tapped a number of queer artist friends to join him for the project, including T.J. Osborne, She Returns From War, Jaime Wyatt, The Kentucky Gentlemen and Brooke Eden. “It’s about introducing country to new fans, queer people who might not like country, but maybe that's because they've never been able to see themselves in the genre.” Eden, who recently released the potent Pride anthem “Outlaw Love”, joined Hagood on a cover of Eli Young Band’s 2011 No. 1 single “Even If It Breaks Your Heart”, a song she says meant a lot to her while she navigated the difficulties of pursuing her artistic career as a closeted queer person. “I spent the first five years of my relationship in the closet and it was so hard,” Eden says. “And I felt like I was living this song. Now I feel like I'm living the other side of this song, which is the hope, and it's beautiful. I think it's just such a beautiful song and it says so much.” T.J. Osborne guests on an especially moving cover of Shania Twain’s Come On Over megahit “From This Moment On”, duetting with Hagood and showing off his signature baritone. Osborne shares that the duet was a natural pairing, as he and close friend Hagood would sing it together while driving around town. “I would be Bryan White, he would be Shania, and we would just be singing at the top of our lungs,” Osborne says. This particular memory is especially poignant for Osborne, as these sing-alongs took place not long after he came out publicly as a gay man. “From the confines of your truck, now to a big-ass recording studio at Apple Music,” Hagood says. “I think it speaks volumes to where you were then and where you are now, and that's what makes me so proud to be able to do that song with you. And I think that speaks to a larger thing about what's happening in Tennessee and why Pride is so important this time around. It's important all the time.” Wyatt and Hunter Park, a trans artist from Charleston, South Carolina, who performs as She Returns From War, join Hagood for a rousing take on the Pistol Annies favourite “Hell on Heels”, their combined voices a perfect fit for the harmony-heavy tune. Hagood first met Park when the latter DMed him on Instagram sharing the band’s music, which Hagood says he was “blown away” by. “Country music is about being honest, and being honest with yourself is the basis of country music to me, and living my truth,” Park says. “So it all kind of connects together. Not a bigoted person in this world can tell you different.” Sibling duo and Black Opry artists The Kentucky Gentlemen opted for Little Big Town’s Taylor Swift-penned hit “Better Man”, lending their celebrated harmonies to Hagood’s soulful vocal. “There's something really powerful about walking around, standing firmly in who you are and who you love and how you identify,” The Kentucky Gentlemen’s Derek Campbell says. “And it's something that you carry around with you every day. You have to make that choice.”