Mere hours after singer-songwriter Steve Grand released his self-funded, deeply emotional, and innocently sexy âm nhạc video “All-American Boy,” he’d scored thousands of YouTube views, endorsements on Twitter from Lance âm bass, tiếng bass, bass and John Barrowman, and the following Buzzfeed headline: “Meet the First Openly Gay Male Country Star.” Indeed, the 22-year-old musician from Lemont, IL had made an immediate impact: He was gay, he was hát about having a crush on another guy, and his confident vulnerability was undeniably anthemic.

The video, about a gay man’s heartbreaking crush on a pal,...

TBL: Should listeners expect thêm songs like “All-American Boy” in the future?

SG: I believe they want to see what’s in my tim, trái tim because they’ve really responded to what’s in my heart, so that’s what I’m going to give it to them. So I don’t think you’ll expect a big hàng đầu, đầu trang 20 hit from me for awhile. There’s other âm nhạc I want to make, and it’s not necessarily the most commercial. These people who’ve reached out to me are good, good people, and they deserve my best. I have to work for them. That’s my life now. I’m hesitant to put my song on iTunes — people keep asking...