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There once was a time when Brandon Stansell was in love, but the man he loved wasn’t in love with him quite yet.

"We were in two very different places when we first met,” recalls Stansell, 36, in an interview with PEOPLE as his two dogs bark in the background. “He was just coming out of something and not really looking for anything, and I was not. I met him and just went crazy for him.”

From there, the country artist found himself having to learn to be patient, especially when it came to this love story in the making. But six months after meeting the man that rocked his world, Stansell found himself at a crossroads.

June 30th may be the last day of Pride Month, but reasons to support the LGBT community don't end with June. While artists including T.J. Osborne, Brandy Clark and Lily Rose are out and proud, here are 10 emerging LGBTQ acts to add to your playlist.

Meet Chris Housman, Brooke Eden, The Kentucky Gentleman, Angie K, Cody Belew, Adeem the Artist, Katie Pruitt, Fancy Hagood, Jaime Wyatt and Brandon Stansell.

“Hurt people hurt people,” Brandon Stansell sang from the Analog at Hutton stage in Nashville recently, closing a national tour in support of his latest album, This Must Be the Place.

True as it is that hurt people hurt people, forging further paths of destruction to match their own, we can be thankful that sometimes hurt people also heal people… and ourselves, when we find community, share our stories, and lift each other up. This was the energy on full display as Stansell returned to his home state, which, to be clear, is a place that hasn’t always been kind to queer people… or to Stansell, himself.

Growing up gay in the Georgetown area in Hamilton County, life wasn't always easy, Brandon Stansell said, but lots of therapy and a small but supportive community helped him grow into the man he is today. And he couldn't be happier.

Proving that paradise is less a location and more of a state of mind, music star Brandon Stansell and drag performer extraordinaire Ginger Minj pack their bags and head into the 'sunshine' in their new video.

I don't have the words to say how good it feels to be back on stage. We just kicked off the tour this week in LA and it wasn't until I was up in front of the crowd I realized just how badly I'd missed it. I released my Hurt People EP in 2020 and my new album This Must Be The Place in June of this year - which means it's been a two year wait to be able to perform anything from either. But seeing people singing along at the shows has made it all worth it.

Honest, personal and damn good fun from an artist on the rise.

Brandon Stansell is enjoying the ride.

The country star is back with his newest single "Wild Ride" off his forthcoming album This Must Be the Place on Thursday and PEOPLE is getting an exclusive first listen. To Stansell, the song is about enjoying the process before getting to your end destination.

“When I took a breath and stood still, it all began to make sense,” he says. “I had been trying to be enough of this or enough of that for the world. It was exhausting, and it actually took me further away from who I truly am. Feeling the confidence to stop trying please everyone but myself changed everything. I found clarity.”

Brandon Stansell isn't judging in his new song, just worrying about a loved one's happiness. "Did You Settle Down Too Soon?" is premiering exclusively on The Boot; press play below to listen.

"One of the greatest freedoms I found after coming out was that there were no expectations for me — I shattered those when I decided to be honest about who I was," Stansell, who is gay, tells The Boot. "When nothing is expected of you, the world seems to open up a bit, and all the really matters is not what others want for you, but what you want for yourself.

As Brandon Stansell took the stage in his hometown last year, he hoped his show would earn him new fans as well as “jump-start conversations” with loved ones who’d rejected him more than a decade ago when he came out as gay.

Though the rising country artist’s October performance in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was enthusiastically received, both his father and four siblings chose to skip the show. The sole family member in attendance that night was his mother, Pam, who still publicly disapproves of her son’s sexuality.

Now based in Los Angeles, Stansell has captured these experiences for posterity in a new documentary. Directed by Trent Atkinson, “Three Chords and a Lie” follows the singer-songwriter as he revisits his adolescent haunts, including the school and Southern Baptist church he attended as a child.

Everyone’s definition of Pride is different. That’s why Proud Radio, now broadcasting in different iterations across every Apple Music radio station, strives to reflect the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community. By featuring guests from around the world who open up about their individual journeys—with colorful dispatches from San Francisco to our new Nashville HQ—each show is a celebration of the progress we’ve made in the fight for equal rights and an important reminder of how far is left to go.

The Tennessee singer/songwriter talks to GRAMMY.com about capturing the return to his hometown of Chattanooga and the importance of LGBTQ+ representation in country music

Over the weekend, in a grassy field deep within the Malibu mountains, cars were filled with queer film and music fans excited to see the premiere of Three Chords and a Lie, the new documentary about rising country music star Brandon Stansell. The out singer performed a few of his hits at Outfest’s drive-in movie series—a clever Covid-19 workaround for the queer film festival—before introducing his movie to an excited, supportive crowd.

Rising country music artist Brandon Stansell is having a brilliant and busy 2020 and most recently shared his stellar new single ‘Like Us’ which is featured on his honest documentary Three Chords And A Lie which has premiered on OutTV.

Country singer-songwriter Brandon Stansell is telling stories that often go untold on country radio on his new EP Hurt People. There's no shortage of country songs about taking your significant other home and showing them around your hometown, but Stansell's heartwrenching "Like Us" is a reminder that those visits unfortunately aren't a reality for LGBTQ+ people.

Time seems to stand still in small towns. If you’re part of the LGBTQ+ community, or a person of color, the pressure to conform to particular standards triggers a sense of isolation. Many leave the constraints of rural life for bigger cities and greater possibility of acceptance. In listening to Sam Hunt’s hit single “Kinfolks,” queer singer-songwriter Brandon Stansell was struck by the song’s celebratory tone, and he realized he would never be able to experience such joy in bringing a boyfriend back home.

For Pride 2020, PEOPLE's Deputy West Coast Editor Jason Sheeler has collected powerful coming out stories from a range of extraordinary individuals within the LGBTQ community. The stories — some conducted as interviews and some told to Sheeler as first-person essays — feature celebrities and everyday Americans from a range of backgrounds and experiences. What do they have in common? Very human experiences and uncommon bravery, earned by coming out as LGBTQ.

There aren’t a lot of out gay country music artists. Brandon Stansell is not only out, his new single is about his difficult coming out — “Hurt People.”

The first time Stansell came out publicly was at Taylor Swift’s birthday party 10 years ago. “I was dancing on Taylor Swift’s Fearless tour,” says Stansell, 33. He was also juggling his studies as a senior at the conservative Belmont College in Nashville. He wasn’t out there, and he wasn’t out to his conservative parents. But he had found a support system for the first time. “I had queer friends in my life,” he says. “And I had a boyfriend.”

Rising artist Brandon Stansell reveals the heartbreaking way hurt travels in his song "Hurt People." An acoustic rendition of the track, premiering exclusively on The Boot, harnesses the lyrics' personal pain into a simple, gorgeous performance.

In promotion of his brand new EP Hurt People, Brandon Stansell has released a brand new single, this week, of the same name, which features female country superstar Cam. This follows-up Brandon Stansell’s single “I Just Want You (To Be Happy)” and Cam’s single “Redwood Tree”.

"If you can figure out the WHY, the HOW will come." That's country singer-songwriter Brandon Stansell's mantra these days – and a sentiment that rings especially meaningful when taken in tandem with his new song, "Hurt People," a beautifully sparse duet with Cam about looking at how pain from the past can often lead us to hurt others in the future.

Brandon Stansell is sharing his coming out story in his new single "Hurt People," featuring country star Cam.

The emotional lyrics in Stansell’s song depict a narrative not often shared in the country music world.

"I've always connected with country music for its storytelling, but for the LGBTQI+ community — we are often told not to tell our story,” Stansell, 31, says of the single. “Though I don't believe a person has to be queer to find themselves in the lyrics of this song, 'Hurt People' is one of those untold stories.”

“I hope this song provides listeners of the genre a sense of representation that they may not often experience," he adds.

Country singer-songwriter Brandon Stansell is a self-described "routine person," so adjusting to life during the coronavirus outbreak hasn't been particularly easy. "Having to break the cycle of all that is normal about my day-to-day has been pretty tough," he tells Billboard. "Thankfully, I’ve been able to stay sane in large part due to a few close friends and a couple bottles of gin."

It's a good time to be out country singer Brandon Stansell. Along with celebrating his latest move in the music industry, the star is sharing a new song with his fans. 

On Tuesday (Nov. 19), it was announced that Stansell, who has long been managed by Ryan Aceto at Ammo Management, recently signed a new management deal with Producer Entertainment Group (PEG), finalizing the merger between Ammo and PEG. Under PEG's recent deal with Warner Music's Alternative Distribution Alliance, all of Stansell's future releases will be distributed by ADA.

WTVF-NASHVILLE —Rising country music artist Brandon Stansell joins the show to talk about his new single, "Top Shelf".

When Brandon Stansell was scouting beach locations to film his new video, his manager offered a suggestion: El Matador beach in Malibu, California. They liked the spot, where performer Blair St. Clair (with whom Stansell shares management) had also filmed her latest video, for its natural beauty and because it was usually deserted.

Jon Pardi’s new cowboy song, a moody track from Hank’s grandson Sam Williams, and more to stream this week

Rising country star Brandon Stansell celebrates new love on his effervescent, summer-ready new single "Top Shelf." The song, which Stansell wrote with his friend and frequent writing partner Mylen, compares being in love with the intoxicating feeling of sipping top shelf liquor.

"We have great people in our lives and we started throwing around this idea for 'top shelf' as a metaphor for the good people that we have...My friends call me a singer of sad songs, which is normally my forte," Stansell tells Wide Open Country, laughing. "So it's really nice to have a new upbeat song to throw in the mix -- especially in the summer."

Brandon Stansell’s new single “Top Shelf” has the country singer/songwriter savoring every moment of a new relationship. The infectious tune showcases the rising artist and LGBTQ+ advocate’s sultry falsetto coupled with polished pop-country production and an infectious beat bound to get the feet tapping.

Music serves as the great unifier, and country music is rampant with messages celebrating inclusive love. The people who work for CMT are always proud of the network’s LGBTQ fans, and in observance of Pride month, the network has chosen five LGBTQ artists you need to know who are doing their part to unify music fans of all backgrounds.