Read the full essay on the weekly Rainbow Rodeo newsletter — and get artist resources, events, and queer country news from around the web in your inbox!

Before anything else, I want to give a huge thank you to Jeremy Leroux of Country Everywhere for patiently helping me tweak some backend stuff on the site. Did you know you have to register with Google to get things to rank on their search engine? I did not!!!

How about Tracy Chapman, eh? And that other guy who was mouthing the words next to her? (I kid — Luke Combs so genuinely enjoys every opportunity he gets to sing and I would be shitting my pants if I had to sing with a childhood hero of mine, so you better believe I’d be making sure I had the timing absolutely right.)

I finally got around to watching the video today and can’t recommend it enough if you haven’t yet. My boss came over the next day to ask me about Combs, and we discussed Chapman’s impact on both of us. I remember, like Combs, listening to her in the backseat of my parents’ car. I was fascinated by her vocal androgyny — both “Fast Car” and “Give Me Some Reason” were clearly written about women, but wasn’t that a girl singing these love songs? For my boss, who is Black, Chapman represented gender and artistic expression that broke free of the hip-hop and R&B molds imposed on Black women in the ’90s.

Subscribe to read the full essay.

Rainbow Roundup

• PS, folk music is culpable in the theft of Black culture and music
• Cecilia Gentili, a giant of trans rights, has passed away
• Congrats to Paula Boggs, who won the American Bar Association’s Stonewall Lifetime Achievement Award
• Jaimee Harris is on the most recent episode of the Marinade Podcast
• Don’t Rock the Inbox recontextualizes the Americana canon
• Are you on BlueSky? I made a feed for LGBTQ+ and BIPOC country music!
• You can get almost 50% off the book Queer Country using this code: F21UIP
• Support disabled artists when you support Rampd
• This thread gives advice on self-managed transition in Alabama and other states that restrict our bodily autonomy
• And here’s a directory of DIY HRT
• Eli Conley is running a queer songwriting circle

Events

• 2/11 (Philadelphia) — Brittany Ann Tranbaugh, Sam Rise, and Andrew Sa are headlining another installment of Baby’s First Rodeo
• 3/16 (Forth Worth, TX) — The Forth Worth African American Music fest returns featuring Lizzie No, Joy Clark, Crys Matthews, and Lilli Lewis as well as many others!
• 6/6 (Torrey, UT) — Jaime Wyatt is playing Fort Desolation Fest
• 6/22 (Vienna, VA) — Storied venue the Wolf Trap is hosting an Out & About Fest, featuring Brittany Howard, Jenny Lewis, Kim Gordon, and many more artists!

Artist Resources

• DEADLINE 4/1: Apply to perform at Philly Folk Fest!
• Got a release coming up? Add it to Country Everywhere’s newsletter! Country Everywhere is a directory of artists and news for queer, BIPOC, and disabled artists.
• With Bandcamp changing hands and union busting, here are some alternative resources for selling your music online
• Are you on BlueSky? Queer country artist 2 AM Wake Up Call created this feed of musicians. You can ask them to be added to the feed!
• I also made a Y’alltertantive Feed on Bluesky. Let me know if you’d like your posts to appear on the feed!
• We Are Moving the Needle is looking for women and non-binary audio engineers and music producers
• Eli Conley is teaching Unlock the Song Inside: Beginning Songwriting Class for Queer & Trans Folks & Allies, and he also offers an online LGBTQ+ songwriter circle!
• Are you on Mastodon or another part of the Fediverse? Get your music on RadioFreeFedi!
• PS — If you’re thinking of joining Mastodon, make an account on musician.social and read my tips for making Mastodon work for you!
• Submit your music and events to The Q LGBTQ Creative Network
• This Twitter thread has a whole list of places to find jobs in the music industry
• And here’s a list of resources for “women” entering the music industry — presumably they also encourage nonbinary participants
• Submit your profile to the Country Everywhere which seeks to unite BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and disabled artists and professionals
• Sign up to the Black Opry Revue’s interest form!
• Check out the weekly Queerfolk Fest show in Nashville