Rainbow Ruckus 8/20: Jake Blount, Kentucky Gentlemen, The Cowgays, and More!

Keep queer country community strong and dive into our 600/500 Challenge today!

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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• Jake Blount is readying another banger, but first we get to listen to him shred on "Shady Grove." Blount's yearning gives this traditional song some extra punch, combined with male harmonies that underline the identity of the "little love" Blount is begging to stay. Single-Footing Horse is due out in September.

• Combine Bonnie Montgomery's outlaw rockabilly with Melissa Carper's classic country song and you're in for a winning combination on "I'd Rather Have Love." The pedal steel-heavy shuffle underscores all of the narrator's fine country music trappings, and how none of them hold a candle to the warmth of true love.

• The Kentucky Gentlemen wrote hundreds of songs before their debut Rhinestone Revolution, so it's not surprise we're already getting more bangers from them. "Dear Radio" is as much country as it is '90s R&B, a grooving track begging the DJ to play any song but the ones that hit a little too close to home.

• The fall is always a heavy-hitter when it comes to Americana releases, and Mary Gauthier is looking to heat September up with her upcoming album RECKONING (September 25). "Some Times" finds Gauthier's storytelling in fine form, with a character sketch of an older Black man whose memories span the difficulties, upheavals, and triumphs of the past century – and reflecting on the work that has yet to be done.

• The Cowgays don't have time for your patriarchy. But you should make time for this video because there is something quite charming about watching the trio ward off muppet harassment. In this jaunty country rocker, the Cowgays declare their pride and security in flying their freak flags high.

Find our Tidal playlist here: