Every week, Rainbow Rodeo brings you the best new queer country music! Listen to this playlist on Spotify! Thanks to Elliott for making a parallel list on Apple Music! Listen to the parallel list on Tidal. Missed a week? TA Inskeep is generously keeping an archive of all music featured on this Spotify playlist.
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- The Bootstrap Boys deliver romantic country grooving on “Fade Into You,” a piercing exploration of unrequited love
- Laura Jane Grace and the Mississippi Medicals explore their garage rock roots on the anxiety-combatting “Karma Too Close”
- On “Medication,” Breymer concerns themself with the impacts of medication on their mental health. The song is driven by a questing piano and tense string arrangement, capturing that fear of what happens if the pills don’t work — or if they do
- Erin Rae swoops into calm is down with “On Her Side.” Rae has become a master of ethereal, cosmic Americana that says much with few words.
- With “Dreamers,” Wild Ponies flies their freak flag high on this country ramble. The song is an ode to those who work hard to make the world a better place than they found it
- New Orleans’ Loose Cattle lets their doubts fly with “Further On.” The duo are champions of that special country-flavored rock and jazz that emerges from the Crescent City’s musical gumbo, and “Further On” is our first taste of their exciting new album, Someone’s Monster, coming out in November.
- Neo-soul artist River Westin taps into his inner Twin Peaks with “Kiss Me Like You Used To.” Westin’s angelic voice transforms his yearning into something unearthly here.
- Jett Holden brings the full weight of retribution down on a philandering lover on “Karma.” The song is something to behold live, but Cassadee Pope adds urgency when contrasting her impassioned voice with Holden’s full-throttle rage
- Jake Blount and Mali Obamsawin have created something of a super-duo for their upcoming album symbiant. Both Blount and Obamsawin have sought to highlight the contributions of Black and indigenous culture to traditional Americana folk music, respectively, and their interpretation of “My Way’s Cloudy” is a devastating thesis statement.
- Katie Tich calms things down with “Icarus,” a shimmering tale of lost love and a ray of hopefulness.
And as a bonus, someone on Threads (that’s where we are now) recommended this charming highway ramble by Adventures With Alice ft. Catherine Porter. “Driving Route 288” is a celebration of Australian queer country artist Debbie Rollason’s 25th Anniversary.