The Kentucky Gentlemen -- Rhinestone Revolution
At long last, the Kentucky Gentlemen unleash Rhinestone Revolution, which is both a throwback in the best way, and a neon arrow pointing to a future of exuberant authenticity.
The Kentucky Gentlemen have waited a full decade to release Rhinestone Revolution. They're prepared, but you won't be. We've been teasing their music for the past few months here, but the album as a whole is the culmination of the Gentlemen's hard work swimming upstream in Nashville: proving that two queer Black men belong on the genre's biggest stages. Rhinestone Revolution holds the heartbreak and defiance that comes along with the journey – but mostly, this album is defined by joy.
As we discussed in our conversation for the Nashville Scene, twin brothers Brandon and Derek Campbell take pride in using music to tell their unique story. The great anarcho-feminist Emma Goldman once wrote:
I did not believe that a Cause which stood for a beautiful ideal, for anarchism, for release and freedom from convention and prejudice, should demand the denial of life and joy. I insisted that our Cause could not expect me to become a nun and that the movement would not be turned into a cloister. If it meant that, I did not want it.
The album's kick-off track "Even If It Kills Me" is nothing less than a bop, even as it details the twins' frustrations with constant rejection from executives who don't know what to do with them. Ballads like "To The Moon" and "Atta Boy" feature the twins' peerless harmonies – and an emotional sincerity that comes from truly knowing oneself. There's also an added Kentucky Gentlemen ingredient in these tunes: hooks that will simply never leave your head.
That makes the party tracks even more irresistible. "Denim on Denim" is spicy and flirty, a queer country disco track that will surely inspire some denim-on-denim moments on the dance floor. Similarly, "Whiskey Does" and "Warning Label" are cheeky remonstrances to people who are the living embodiment of a bad idea.
No matter the content, all of these songs are loving tributes to '90s country and R&B: lush production, attention to storytelling, and an unabashed earnestness that is genuinely revolutionary in a world that values algorithms and ironic detachment. Rhinestone Revolution is both a throwback in the best way, and a neon arrow pointing to a future of exuberant authenticity.
