Lyrically, H.C. McEntire a rare openly gay woman making country music touches on spirituality, sexuality, politics and Southern culture, with much of Lionheart’s material written while the battle for LGBTQ rights intensified in North Carolina. So in “When You Come For Me,” when McEntire sings “Mama, I dreamed that I had no hand to hold. And the land I cut my teeth on wouldn’t let me call it home,” it’s comforting, inspiring even, to know that she has Phil Cook and Tift Merritt and William Tyler and others backing her musically. There is strength in numbers, and McEntire is a strong, centering presence in these songs.