Rainbow Rodeo 7/9: Melissa Ferrick, Izzy Heltai, Semler, and More!
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? TK Inskeep is generously keeping an archive of all music featured on this Spotify playlist.
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Magical Grrrl — “Liberate My Soul”
Betty Gee (aka Magical Grrrl) dives into a garage rock whirlwind with “Liberate My Soul.” The irresistible groove is an examination of queer liberation and self-acceptance — and how it’s not as easy to achieve as we wish it would. Magical Grrl’s scrappy guitars and determined vocals give the song a bit of steel inside its psychedelic whimsy. It’s also too cool for Spotify, so when you purchase a download on Bandcamp, you’ll also get the demo track thrown in for free!
Melissa Ferrick — “Black Dress”
Melissa Ferrick is back in a big way (check out their set on Mountain Stage.) On “Black Dress,” Ferrick plays on the rock’n’roll side of the pool. This lo-fi rocker burns hot with desire and Ferrick’s trademark inventive lyricism takes an old trope (horny arena rock song) and elevates it into high art.
Izzy Heltai — “Know Why Now”
Izzy Heltai grapples with the terrible fear of being known on “Know Why Now.” Heltai’s soft-spoken poems of tenderness and his greatest fears feel more like a lullaby than existential dread. Maybe it’s the natural warmth in Heltai’s delivery, a sense that we are all in this together, even as he feels terribly alone. Heltai’s music is soothing, a reassurance that everything we’re feeling is normal, even if it isn’t good.
Amy Annelle — “Down and Out in Denver”
Veteran song-slinger Amy Annelle hits it out of the park again with “Down and Out in Denver.” Left high and dry by the muse, Annelle brings her outsider folk energy to a ballad of losing oneself and joining the company of other lonely travelers who have passed through tiny, inhospitable towns in the past. In the end, there’s a sense of joy and liberation — as the old adage goes, sometimes you have to lose yourself to find yourself.
Semler — “Saints of Nevada”
Semler navigates the space between queer country and Christian contemporary seamlessly (as she discusses in her interview with CJ Surbaugh in issue 2 of Rainbow Rodeo), and “Saints of Nevada” is a shining example of that. Semler gently pushes back against the prejudiced teachings of her youth against the backdrop of Sin City. Unsurprisingly, we are left with the realization that good people are everywhere, no matter what those who presume to make pronouncements think.
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