Rainbow Ruckus 9/12: Matt VanFossen, My Sister My Brother, Bryan Ruby, and More!
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.
Matt VonFossen — “Get Me Now”
If you’re looking for a big country voice, Matt VonFossen’s got it. In this all-too-familiar tale, VonFossen refuses to take back a lover who has spurned him. The song is big and bombastic, the kind of epic production you miss from ’90s country. The pronouns make “Get Me Now” queer, converting what should be a radio classic into a song that includes people who are often excluded by mainstream country.
Bryan Ruby — “Centerfield”
Speaking of classic country voices, Bryan Ruby should serve as a 1-2 punch with VonFossen. Ruby’s exuberant cover of John Fogerty’s “Centerfield” touches on his own experience as a former pro baseball player in the indie leagues. With my Yankees being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs yesterday, they should give Ruby the call up. The energy is certainly there on Ruby’s amped-up cover of the classic.
Um, Jennifer? — “Cut Me Open”
If you’re familiar with the “step on me, mommy” genre of tumblr shitposting, trans indie-folk duo Um, Jennifer? memorialize it in song with “Cut Me Open.” Sometimes, desire is a visceral thing, and the driving pop-punk thrum of “Cut Me Open” lends urgency to the act of taking off one’s pants and jack(ing) it. It’s all fun and games until someone loses some viscera, of course — but before then, we’ve got “Cut Me Open” to bop along with.
My Sister, My Brother — “More Than You Could Give”
Detail-oriented readers will remember Maia Sharp and I discussing Garrison Starr and her new project with Sean Mcconnell, My Sister My Brother, on the Rainbow Rodeo podcast. On “More Than You Could Give,” the duo reckon with a parent’s shortcomings with an intimate piano ballad. The duo send each other soaring to the heights, supporting each other as their pain becomes bigger and bigger. This is a somber listen, but a cleansing one as well.
Jaime Wyatt — “Love Is a Place”
Jaime Wyatt continues to embrace a wide range of genres as we get slices of her upcoming album, Feel Good (out Nov. 3). “Love Is a Place” is a funky Southern rock ode to the woman who’s shone Jaime there’s another, better way to live. The song is a gentle boogie and feels like it’s destined to hit many a wedding playlist in the years to come. Wyatt’s voice and lyrics are front and center here, demonstrating her newfound confidence.
Ester — “Seed, Sun, Soil”
Chicago singer-songwriter Ester spins an intricate web of guitar, melody, and lyrics on “Seed, Sun, Soil.” The song is ostensibly about the loss of their houseplant, but Ester digs deeper: exploring loss, failure, and creative effort — all encapsulated in meeting the seeming whims of a living thing we can barely communicate with. This is no twee indie folk song: “Seed, Sun, Soil” is majestic in its complexity, almost medieval in its unusual scales and haunting flights of fancy.
