Rainbow Ruckus 3/31: Trans Day of Visibility Edition
This week's Rainbow Ruckus honors Transgender Day of Visibility by highlighting songs from trans artists we've reviewed this year, as well as a gorgeous new one from Light Bird.
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.
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For Trans Day of Visibility, I wanted to do something a little different. This week, we're featuring a brilliant new song from artist Light Bird, as well as highlighting songs from some of the albums we've reviewed by trans artists this year.
- Light Bird comes to us from New York City with "Alright." The song is delightfully twangy, even as it's bittersweet. Written on the cusp of her coming out – and the subsequent end of her engagement – the song captures the resigned liberation of knowing that sometimes, even a good thing must end. If you're in Brooklyn tonight, Light Bird will be playing Cassette at 8 PM.
- Sweet Petunia queer trad music with their incorporation of modern elements. The duo's most striking feature is their innate harmonies: Guy and Simspon's voices intertwine to create something timeless. Their gently insistent banjo and guitar lines help create a sense of humble persistence, whether the pair are singing of lost loves, gender dysphoria, friendship breakups, or the titular mental breakdowns. Life is pain – the old songs taught us that – and life is also about seeing it through anyway.
- Adeem the Artist "writes from a place of genuine pain and passion. There is a coarseness that comes from the fraying of nerves and emotions rubbed raw in their voice," writes Richard Marcus. "Yet in spite of the cathartic nature of the material they never descend into self-indulgent navel gazing. There is an amount of self-awareness to these songs you rarely find in popular music of any genre."
- "Broken Bow" is "perhaps Wren Carpenter's best song, finds them lamenting their luck finally running out," writes Bee Delores. "It brims with tears, yet a yearning still sparkles in their eyes. "The acoustic guitar serves as their duet partner throughout much of the album, a vehicle by which Carpenter unpacks the various chests of her soul. Their matter-of-fact songwriting rings charming and poetic."
- "Quietly revolutionary and subtle, Anjimile's You're Free To Go works its way under your skin and into your awareness to give you a better understanding of Anjimile's experiences and reality," writes Richard Marcus. "Waits For Me," in my (Rachel's) opinion, is a daring composition that is both emotionally raw and highly considered, a masterpiece of exploring gender identity.
Find our Tidal playlist here:
