Rainbow Ruckus 10/10: Joy Clark, Rett Madison, and Izzy Heltai!

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.

Joy Clark — “Guest”

Joy Clark is one of the breakout artists of the Black Opry Revue. Clark’s guitar playing borders on the spiritual, and taking in the sense of rightness she feels when she’s playing in front of people is sublime all on its own. While much of Clark’s work has emphasized positivity, “Guest” grapples with depression and feeling alienated from one’s own self. Clark approaches the song with vulnerability and, above all, her

Rett Madison — “One For Jackie, One For Crystal”

Rett Madison returns with another red-hot single on “One For Jackie, One For Crystal.” It’s not that the song itself is fast-paced, necessarily — if anything, the carefully plodding groove and surreptitiously palm-muted guitars foreground that “One For Jackie” isn’t your usual song. In fact, it’s a revenge fantasy that unfurls as gracefully and mysteriously as Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode to Billie Joe.” There’s no question as to who’s at fault here — or why he deserves an ignominious death.

Izzy Heltai — “Fifteen”

Only ten more days ’til Izzy Heltai releases his follow-up EP mostly myself again. On “Fifteen,” Heltai returns to his primary themes of feeling stuck while only getting older — and wondering where the time goes. Heltai’s approach is sweet and hopeful, yet full of fear things might not work out. It’s a heady mix that reminds us that sometimes just living life is the bravest thing you can do.