Rainbow Ruckus 3/11: Nathan Evans Fox, The Belle Curves, Bryan Ruby
This week's Rainbow Ruckus features new beginnings, rainy day riders, hopeful protest, queer country samba, and love songs that promise us the world.
Every week, Rainbow Rodeo brings you the best new queer country music! Listen to this playlist on Tidal! Thanks to Elliott for making a parallel list on Apple Music! Missed a week? TA Inskeep is generously keeping an archive of all music featured on this Spotify playlist.
Please note: we are no longer updating our Spotify playlist.
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- With "Lots of New Beginnings," Nathan Evans Fox addresses imminent parenthood with a frank approach – one that is imbued with love, humor, and all the hopes and dreams we have for each other and the ones who come after us. Far from hokey, Fox strikes the perfect balance between sentimentality and something that's real.
- The Belle Curves return with their signature of effortless melancholy cool on "Rainy Day Rider." In anticipation of their upcoming album Tides & Rain, the song is a timeless love song to a shiftless lover whom you know will absolutely break your heart.
- Bobby Blue's soaring voice gives "We Are We" a hopeful tone to this protest song. The buoyant bassline and catchy groove certainly help drive the point home: the only way we get through any of this is with solidarity – and humility. [Note: This song is only available on Bandcamp!]
- Reyna Tropical negotiates a long line of lineages – and long-distance relationships – on the slinky "Tu Voz." It's a love song, yes, but singer and writer Fabiola Reyna packages the song with country imagery that interrogates her Texas upbringing, messaging around what it means to be queer, and tracing her roots further south – all while expressing queer longing in this country samba exploration.
- Few people do '90s throwback country pop than Bryan Ruby. "Take You There Sometime" perfectly navigates classic country tropes, romanticizing rural life, and avoiding the chauvinism that country often serves up alongside that. "Take You There Sometime" is a love song that promises us the world.
Find our Tidal playlist here:
