LGBTQ+ parents will soon have their very own lullabies to sing to their children.
Broadway Records recently announced a revolutionary collaboration between dozens of Broadway stars, who came together to record The Rainbow Lullaby, an album filled with lullabies that celebrate LGBTQ+ families.
According to the record company, it is the first LGBTQ+ lullaby album in the world. The idea for the album came from actor, singer, and songwriter Ryan Bauer-Walsh. More than 30 other LGBTQ+ performers join Bauer-Walsh on the album, including Caitlin Kinnunen of The Prom, Kyle Dean Massey of Wicked, Lauren Marie Patten of Jagged Little Pill, and Jelani Remy of Ain’t Too Proud. The entire composition team identifies as LGBTQ+ as well.
“With LGBTQ+ lullabies, I couldn’t believe that there was no such thing,” Bauer-Walsh said in a Youtube video.
“You have to realize that there was an entire generation of role models that the HIV crisis took away from us. I didn’t grow up with gay role models and I didn’t grow up with queer traditions or gay families around me, and so I feel like it’s my time and my generation’s time to really start to contribute to queer family traditions and queer family music traditions.”
Bauer-Walsh created the album in honor of his late mother, Nancy, and the legacy of love she left behind. “I was thinking of the sweetest kind of hug that I could no longer get from mother,” he said in the video.
The album consists of 25 tracks, whose titles include Mommy and Mama, When we Dreamed of You, Family Means, Your Own Sweet Family, and Two Mama Flamingos. Bauer-Walsh told HVY Journalists that he hopes at some point to publish an illustrated songbook to accompany the album.
In a statement to Broadway Records, composer Paul Losel explained the incredible influence music has on babies. “Hearing a lullaby that corresponds to a baby’s LGBTQ+ parents is something that was missing before this beautiful album and it will assist in creating the nurturing and loving bond between them.”
The album will be released on October 28. Proceeds will go toward the Ali Forney Center, which serves homeless LGBTQ+ youth.