Rainbow Ruckus 1/16: Willi Carlisle, Shawna Virago, Aaron Lee Tasjan, & 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? Thomas Inskeep is generously keeping an archive of all music featured on this Spotify playlist.
Also — if you’re looking for a Valentine’s gift — you can now purchase issue 3 of Rainbow Rodeo!
Willi Carlisle — “Higher Lonesome”
With next week’s release of Critterland, Willi Carlisle gives us a last peek at the album with “Higher Lonesome.” It follows the grand tradition of road songs, painting a picture of resigned determination: no matter how much bullshit there is to put up with, no matter how lonely it is, there is truly nothing else the singer could or should be doing.
ISMAY — “The Lonely Stallion”
ISMAY also has an album coming out next week. As we learned in our interview, Desert Pavement centers on a sense of place, and truly losing yourself within it. On”The Lonely Stallion,” ISMAY takes us on a dreamy ride through lonesome plains, envisioning themself as a wild horse who searches for belonging. “The Lonely Stallion” leaves us with an ambiguous ending, but there’s nothing uncertain about ISMAY’s mastery of their craft.
Aaron Lee Tasjan — “Horror Of It All”
Aaron Lee Tasjan goes new wave in the synth wonderland “Horror Of It All.” One thing that’s not a wonderland here, though, is the body, as Tasjan captures the unique joys and embarrassments of adolescence: lust, shame, and, above all, the fight to be true to yourself.
Shawna Virago — “Sing Me Home”
Note: This song is not available on Tidal
Shawna Virago is a pioneer of trans country music, as Stefanie Cuthbert reported last week. With the release of ier Merle Haggard cover “Sing me Back Home,” Virago struts all the stuff that makes Shawna stand out. There’s an obvious faithfulness to country music, but Virago’s punk rock leanings can’t help making themselves heard on this stripped-down arrangement, lending a certain cheekiness to the affair.
Rachael Sage — “Deepest Dark”
Last summer, Rachael Sage’s The Other Side made a splash, demonstrating Sage’s influences among the anti-folk and exploratory music of the Lower East Side while Sage blazed a trail to her musical path ahead. “Deepest Dark,” her latest single off the album, finds Sage staring boldly into the void — and choosing to defy gravity instead. This is a comforting lullaby from someone who’s faced down the worst and lived to tell the tale.
