Exploding Genres
Howdy, cowpokes,
Sorry it’s been so long. A life-altering decision, plus another string of family health crises (different people than the one who’s been having them all spring, just for a little variety) has meant putting the weekly newsletter to the side. However, Rainbow Rodeo has been trucking along this whole time. It’d be too tedious for you and me to include all of the articles posted in the past month, but go click around on the site or the various social medias. This newsletter will cover this week’s posts.
I will leave you with this quote from our most recent podcast episode with Rising Appalachia’s Leah Song:
Song: Everyone has always asked from the very beginning of our career, like, what is your genre? And it's been a really complicated answer because we, we grew up deeply, deeply immersed in Appalachian folk music. Our mother is a prolific fiddle player. Our father plays blues guitar. And we were hauled around to fiddle camps all around the South, but we also were raised in the heart of Atlanta, Georgia, in the middle of the kind of neo soul and hip hop movement of the South, and that was the music of our peers, it was the music of our school.
…
Song: I'm so excited all these conversations widening and letting us naturally overlap, instead of keeping us all in our various polite corners where the music genres are supposed to stay.
Rachel: I'm hoping those get a little more blurry as time goes on.
Leah: Totally. I hope they explode.
Reviews
Desert Mambas skewers masculinity in their country lounge lizard EP Pastel Southwestern
Amy Annelle transports us to an off-kilter parallel universe of love and loss on The Toll
New Music
Chris Housman reveals the the cloud-induced origins of his “High Hopes” video
Molly Brandt embarks on a rough-and-tumble adventure on to the “Queen of Clark County”
Playlist
This week features Amythyst Kiah, Liv Greene, Um Jennifer?, and More!
Rainbow Roundup
Austin Lucas is now using the name Abigail. Welcome, Abigail!
Thanks so much to Dollar Country for giving us a shoutout in their June newsletter! This is such a cool little corner of the Internet — Frank crate digs and digitizes forgotten old country vinyl. Subscribe on Substack — or get a physical newsletter for a reasonable fee!
The album is a little too poppy for Rainbow Rodeo, but Maren Morris is living her best life on her coming out journey, using songwriting to give her the courage to do it (also this song is legitimately hot), and getting pointers on how to be queer from MUNA
Melissa Etheridge apologized for something on her Threads and Instagram account, but like all bad apologies does not name what she did or how she’s going to do better next time. From the replies by embittered middle-aged lesbians in the comments (read for a bad time), I’m gonna have to guess she used an outdated term for trans people in her memoir. Always a good time to remind people that just because somebody was not a dick to YOU doesn’t mean they are nice to everyone!
Jake Blount and Mali Obamsawin are making an album together. Decolonial post-apocalyptic vibes abound.
Ted Gioia is one of the best cultural critics to ever do it. There’s an intriguing blurb here that country and Latin listeners are more receptive to new songs than hip-hop and rock — perhaps that’s why those two genres are more ascendant in the charts lately.
For Flaming Hydra, k.e. harloe covered an inspiring new Pride celebration in rural Pennsylvania. Turns out those alt-right freaks are a noisy minority after all.
Speaking of which, the American Girl Doll zine captures queer life in the South and Midwest
Events
Tuesdays (NYC) — Stud Country now hosts weekly queer line dancing parties at Brooklyn Bowl
8/23 - 8/25 (Nashville) - Orville Peck is throwing a killer festival
10/3 (Harvard, MA) — Mary Gauthier leads a songwriting workshop and an evening of song with Jamee Harris at The Fruitlands Museum
10/17 - 10/20 (Texas) — Mary Gauthier, Jaimee Harris, and Carrie Rodriguez launch their Three Women & The Truth tour
Artist Resources
What's a premiere and how do you pitch it?
Got a release coming up? Add it to Country Everywhere’s newsletter! Country Everywhere is a directory of artists and news for queer, BIPOC, and disabled artists.
With Bandcamp changing hands and union busting, here are some alternative resources for selling your music online
Are you on BlueSky? Queer country artist 2 AM Wake Up Call created this feed of musicians. You can ask them to be added to the feed!
I also made a Y’alltertantive Feed on Bluesky. Let me know if you’d like your posts to appear on the feed!
We Are Moving the Needle is looking for women and non-binary audio engineers and music producers
Eli Conley is teaching Unlock the Song Inside: Beginning Songwriting Class for Queer & Trans Folks & Allies, and he also offers an online LGBTQ+ songwriter circle!
Are you on Mastodon or another part of the Fediverse? Get your music on RadioFreeFedi!
PS — If you’re thinking of joining Mastodon, make an account on musician.social and read my tips for making Mastodon work for you!
Submit your music and events to The Q LGBTQ Creative Network
This Twitter thread has a whole list of places to find jobs in the music industry
And here’s a list of resources for “women” entering the music industry — presumably they also encourage nonbinary participants
Submit your profile to the Country Everywhere which seeks to unite BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and disabled artists and professionals
Sign up to the Black Opry Revue’s interest form!
Check out the weekly Queerfolk Fest show in Nashville