At most drag shows, performers are lip syncing for their lives. But the Ratskin Family Band does not put on your typical drag show.
When the self-proclaimed “first and only drag country band in the world” hit the stage, everything is performed live. Dressed in full drag, their set includes classics from artists like Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash, plus modern country hits and countrified versions of pop songs.
“We’ll take Lady Gaga’s ‘Abracadabra’ and turn it into a spaghetti-western, shoot-out duel kind of song,” says Amanda Prior, who plays banjo, guitar, and mandolin. “Or we’ll take a Chappell Roan song and turn it into western swing-meets-bluegrass tune.”
Throw in a few original tunes, and it’s guaranteed to be a rowdy and joyful night.
“There’s a saying: what do you get when you play a country song in reverse? You get your house, car, and wife back and you get sober,” Prior tells The Grind. “When you play a Ratskin show backwards, you get your apartment, bus ticket, wife, and non-binary bear trade lover back, and you turn back into a boy.”
Prior, who describes herself as “the only glamazon with a beard,” first immersed herself in Toronto’s drag scene as a high school student. She quickly bonded with local drag queen Jelly over their love of the banjo and country music. For years, they would playfully talk about starting a country band together.
By 2023, Prior was struggling with her mental health and decided to pack up her wigs. Music became her main creative outlet and she dove deeper into playing the guitar, banjo and mandolin. On New Year’s Day, 2024, Prior and Jelly revived their idea to start a band, but Jelly had a new idea: “What if we performed in drag?” Encouraged by her friend, Prior agreed.
The pair reached out to other musicians through friends, acquaintances, and happenstance, and thus the Ratskin Family Band was born. As Prior is quick to point out, amazing things can happen when you leave your house and talk to people.
“There’s this wonderful thing that happens at Ratskin shows that mirrors how the band came together, which is that people will say hi to each other and become friends. We became a band by doing the same thing,” she explains. In addition to Prior and Jelly (guitar, harmonica and accordion), The Ratskin Family Band is: Zephline (guitar), Terrie Dikoff (bass), Tago Mago (drums), Kitty Creature (fiddle), and Sherry Douglas (Dobro, pedal steel).
The band recently went into the studio to record their debut EP, made up of original songs. While the EP won’t be on streaming services until the fall, CDs will be on sale at the band’s show in April. Singles will also be released via Bandcamp throughout the summer.
Their first single, “All You Fascists (Bound to Lose),” is inspired by the Woody Guthrie song of the same name, but reworks the verses through a queer lens to poke fun at the ridiculousness of transphobia, homophobia and the rise of discrimination that queer people are facing. It’s a foot-stomping, barnburner of a tune that twinkles with the spirit of a beautiful community of artists bedazzled in rhinestones.
“It’s queer, but it’s extremely country,” Prior says of the song. “You’ll notice that it doesn’t read as a drag queen pop song. It’s anti-fascist, but it’s not a punk song. It’s very important to us that our recorded music sounds undeniably country.”
Prior and the rest of the group are proud to be carrying on the tradition of queer country music. Despite the perception that country music is made for and by straight white conservative men, the genre is rooted in Black traditions and has a richly queer history. Canadian artists like k.d. lang, and, more recently, masked country crooner Orville Peck are among the biggest names in queer country music.
And of course there is the outspoken 2SLGBTQ+ ally and country music legend Dolly Parton, who has long held the title of gay icon. As Parton once famously said: “It’s a good thing I was born a girl, otherwise I’d be a drag queen.”
“Even though there’s a very small group of country musicians who are out, think about the people making the costumes, the guitar tech backstage, the banjo players, and the fiddle players. There have been queer people in country music since time immemorial, because queer and trans people have always existed,” Prior says.
“As much as we like to say that we’re the ‘first and only’ [drag country band], I think we’re simply picking up Dolly Parton’s wig in the relay race of it all.”
The Ratskin Family Band will play the final show of their sixth month residency on April 9 at DROM Taberna (458 Queen St. W).
This article appeared in the 2026 Apr/May issue.