Rainbow Ruckus 6/24: The Cowgays, Josaleigh Pollett, Niko Storment and More!
This week's Rainbow Ruckus features kids like us, rivers, cigarettes, Earth girls, and bootleggers.
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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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- Sometimes it's difficult to see how far we've really come in such a short time. The Cowgays use '90s country nostalgia to full effect on "Kids Like Us," using the music of our childhoods to actually speak to us in a way that it couldn't back then. The first verse sets us in those feelings of isolation many of us grew up with, experiencing feelings we couldn't name. The song then carries us through to the settled adulthoods many of us had to create for ourselves. It's a Pride classic if I've ever heard one.
- Josaleigh Pollett immerses us in a minimalist soundscape with "Like a River." The pressurized percussion forces us to fixate on the refrain "If I let it quiet, who am I if not my thinking?" The song fills us with that claustrophobic feeling of anxiety spirals, while Pollett's hushed voice provides some reprieve. Their fourth album, If I Let it Quiet, will be out on July 24.
- When this song came on I thought, "Wait...who is this?" Shadwick Wilde goes retro on this quite-polished demo, "Cigs." This crooning ballad adds some mid-century style to an ill-fated romance, with Wilde pulling out all the stops.
- Niko Storment crafts a gorgeous tale of love from afar on "Earth Girl." Whom amongst us has not experienced a yearning that makes us feel all kinds of awkward and weird – especially if we're queer? Storment takes all of that and transforms it into an epic power rock ballad infused with steel guitar, taking that teenage awkwardness and cranking it up to 11 in a catchy and winning combination.
- Sad Daddy (Melissa Carper's bluegrass outfit) returns with "Bootlegger." Guitarist Brian Martin's warm gravel creates tension with the band's melancholy tone. The song had been kicking around Martin's head for years before the band came together to do what they do best: create something greater than their individual parts. As the narrator begs for any kind of alcohol to take him away from his troubles, there is a gentle sweetness that asks the listener to approach this person with compassion.
Find our Tidal playlist here:
