Adobe And Teardrops Podcast

This week, I review some of my favorite anti-racist country songs -- and what anti-racism even means. And yes, it's meant to be this short! Read the transcript here.

Links from the episode:

• The Spotify playlist this episode is based on
• My article in The Boot about the ACM Awards
• Redlining in Country Music: Representation in the Country Music Industry (2000 - 2020)
• 2016 interview w/ M Lockwood Porter
• Country Music Against White Supremacy and the #ChangeCountry Pledge
• Donate to the Color My Country Grant

Tracks played:

1. M. Lockwood Porter -- "Charleston" (How to Dream Again)
2. Karen and the Sorrows -- "The Price of the Ticket" (The Narrow Place)
3. Jason Isbell -- "White Man's World" (The Nashville Sound)
4. The Skipperdees -- "Sins of the Father" (The SkipperdeEP)
5. Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires -- "Whitewash" (Live at the Nick)
6. Amy Ray -- "Didn't Know a Damn Thing" (Holler)

Next week's topic: Contemporary Classics -- brand new music with a vintage feel

Podcast intro by Alma Contra, music from Two Cow Garage's "Stars & Gutters"

Send me music via SubmitHub! Send me money via Ko-fi or Patreon. Find Rachel and her comic via https://linktr.ee/rachel.cholst

This week's episode is the LAST episode in this format, where I spin some new tunes that I like. Moving forward, each episode will revolve around a certain theme!

Album of the Week: Doc Feldman -- A Healthy Dose of Anxiety

The first half of the album is a healthy dose of some anti-anxiety; this album is a bit of a left turn for Doc, veering away from heartland rock and ploughing full-speed ahead into 70s-style Southern rock, like we heard on "Let Me Love You." But Doc doesn't make things simple. Even with that easy ridin' music, these lyrics are gorgeous and thoughtful. Meanwhile, "Heavy Edges," where the album gets its title from, is an almost chamber pop jeremiad about living in late-stage capitalism: one that would do Two Cow Garage proud. This is on my album of the year list to revisit in December.

Sarah Jarosz -- "Johnny" (World On the Ground) (1:57)

Doc Feldman -- "Let Me Love You" (A Healthy Dose of Anxiety)(5:57)

Two Cow Garage -- "Death of the Self-Preservation Society" (Death of the Self-Preservation Society) (12:15)

Brittany Howard -- "13th Century Metal" (Jaime) (15:44)

Tim Montana -- "River Kids" (Long Shots) (22:51)

Cowboy Mouth -- "Walk Among the Angels" (Word of Mouth) (26:21)

Adam Hooks and the Huckleberries -- "Brown County Blues" (So Far Gone) (29:26)

Lauren Jenkins -- "Like You Found Me" (Single) (33:44)

West of Texas -- "Darlin' How You've Changed" (Heartache, Hangovers, and Honky Tonks) (39:37)

Brit Taylor -- "Waking Up Ain't Easy" (Waking Up Ain't Easy) (43:14)

Veronique Medrano -- "Wasted Days" (Single) (46:35)

Darrin Bradbury -- "Deanna, Deanna" (Single) (51:50)

Next week's topic: Anti-Racist Country Music

Podcast intro by Alma Contra, music from Two Cow Garage's "Stars & Gutters"

Send me music via SubmitHub! Send me money via Ko-fi or Patreon. Find Rachel and her comic via https://linktr.ee/rachel.cholst

Read the episode transcript here!

Rachel has some big personal news, which should explain why this episode is late! Plus, the best in Americana and queer punk.

Album of the Week: Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band -- Dance Songs For Hard Times

Anyone familiar with their work knows that the Big Damn Band does nothing but dance songs, but this time around the trio is playing with as much urgency as fun. Regardless of the events of 2020, there's always hard times for people somewhere, and there've been plenty of hard times since 2016. The reverend and his revelers take the blues to an elemental level, one where venting about difficulties takes as much pride of place as having fun.

1. Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band -- "Ways and Means" (Dance Songs for Hard Times) (3:01)
2. DL Rossi -- "Whiskey" (Lonesome Kind) (6:39)
3. Under the Rocks -- "Palm of Your Hand" (Single) (10:17)
4. Veronique Medrano -- "Wasted Days" (Single) (16:49)
5. Brightwire -- "Tears Through the Sunshine" (20:41)
6. Edwin -- "Face in Chrome" (West) (23:53)
7. Lande Hekt -- "December" (Going to Hell) (28:39)
8. Blowboater - "clever weather" (Blowboater) (31:37)
9. Max and the Martians -- "Death Dance" (All The Same) (35:56)
10. Jess McIntosh and Aaron Smith -- "Dinah" (Jess McIntiosh and Aaron Smith) (40:15)

Next Week's Topic: Final Grab-Bag!

Podcast intro by Alma Contra, music from Two Cow Garage's "Stars & Gutters"

Send me music via SubmitHub! Send me money via Ko-fi or Patreon. Find Rachel and her comic via https://linktr.ee/rachel.cholst

In this episode, there are two Rachels, three Zachs, and three songs by country artists who eschew Nashville. Rachel Hurley is my co-pilot on this one! Rachel is the headmistress of Sweetheart PR and co-hosts the Music Rookie podcast. She talks about her impressive journey through the music industry before we gush about the music we love this week.

Read a transcript of this week's episode on Adobe & Teardrops!

• Zack Joseph -- "Keeping Me Sane" (Keeping Me Sane)(8:10)
• Zach Schmidt -- "I Can't Dance" (Raise a Banner) (12:26)
• Zachary Lucky -- "No Shame in Working Hard" (Midwestern) (15:46)
• Twinnie -- "Chasing" (Single) (19:42)
• Sir Canyon -- "Drift on Down" (Single) (36:45)
• Van Plating -- "The Way Down" (Single) (30:38)

Podcast intro by Alma Contra, music from Two Cow Garage's "Stars & Gutters"

Send me music via SubmitHub! Send me money via Ko-fi or Patreon. Find Rachel and her comic via https://linktr.ee/rachel.cholst

Hi, everyone! Welcome to Episode 166!

My brain is in vacation mode. I stayed in a ridiculous mcmansion. In this episode, we get into some brand new music, some crate-digging, and an interview with Mackenzie Shivers!

• Dallas Moore -- "Blue Jean Jesus" (The Rain) (2:21)
• I Can Lick Any Son Of a Bitch in the House -- "It Don't Get Much Better Than This" (Mayberry) (5:56)
• The Roseline -- "Seven Hundred Second Chances" (Single) (8:45)
• The Blips -- "Gold Rush" (The Blips) (13:03)
• The District Attorneys -- "Boomtown" (Slowburner) (16:16)
• The Pollies -- "You Want It" (Transmissions) (19:23)
• June Star -- "Seven Pieces" (Single) (23:06)
• Ryan Barry Quintet -- "Desert Son" (Moonlight) (26:45)
• Jeremy Parsons -- "Something Other Than You Are" (Things to Come) (30:24)
• Interview w/ Mackenzie Shivers (34:40)

Podcast intro by Alma Contra, music from Two Cow Garage's "Stars & Gutters"

Send me music via SubmitHub! Send me money via Ko-fi or Patreon. Find Rachel and her comic via https://linktr.ee/rachel.cholst

It's episode 165 of Adobe & Teardrops! Thanks for sticking with me! Well, everything is coming up Rachel this week. I've been on spring break. I joined a fantasy baseball league. I joined a queer softball league. Opening day is in less than an hour as I record this. We might be moving into a 2-bedroom apartment in the same building. Oh yeah -- things are good. Also, an interview with Hey, King! Album of the Week: Hope Dunbar -- Sweetheartland Hope Dunbar's Sweetheartland. This is the kind of music I've been looking for since I started Adobe & Teardrops. Dunbar has an awesome heartland rock sound while staying true to herself, something that, frankly, I haven't seen many women who go for that sound really succeed at. She's a great storyteller, which we'll hear on "What Were You Thinking," and can really pull out the stops with "Evacuate," which Patreon subscribers will hear.

• Elizabeth King -- "Living in the Last Days" (Living in the Last Days) (2:46)
• Cristina Vane -- "Blueberry Hill" (Nowhere Sounds Lovely) (5:55)
• Kai Mata -- "Wine" (Single) (9:55)
• Henry Conlon -- "Lucy" (Single) (13:59)
• Valerie June -- "Stay" (The Moon and the Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers) (19:00)
• Hope Dunbar -- "What Were You Thinking" (Sweetheartland) (22:01)
• Scott Making Cents -- "Profile Picture" (Dog EP) (25:28)
• Andrew Waite -- "Ain't Goin' Out Like That" (Single) (28:55)
• al Riggs -- "Ragged But Right" (I Got A Big Electric Fan To Keep Me Cool While I Sleep) (33:20)
• Amina Shareef Ali -- "Honest Song" (In The Dark (Awake Of Course)) (36:33)
• The Barker Brothers -- "Thinkin' June" (Single) (39:41)
• Claire Kelly -- "The Restless and the Reckless" (The Scenic Route) (42:39)
• Hey, King! -- Interview and "Half Alive." (Read the rest of the interview here.) (47:26)

Podcast intro by Alma Contra, music from Two Cow Garage's "Stars & Gutters" Send me music via SubmitHub! Send me money via Ko-fi or Patreon. Find Rachel and her comic via https://linktr.ee/rachel.cholst

Hey, y'all! Welcome to episode 164 of Adobe & Teardrops! From now on, you can read the a transcript of the podcast on Adobe & Teardrops.

My computer decided to pick a fight with me, so this one is super late and I won't be doing an extended cut for Patreon subscribers cuz I just want to get this done. Sorry about that.

Album of the Week

Miko Marks' Our Country is truly a testament to what country music can sound like when we expand our definitions of it. Spoiler alert: it's so much better. This album came to Marks in a dream several years after she gave up on Nashville when it pushed her out. You can read my interview with her by clicking on the link in the show notes or in the transcript. Our Country is a tour de force of classic country, soul, and their meeting place. We'll begin with the first track off the album, "Ancestors."

(1:15) Karen and the Sorrows -- "Walk Through the Desert" (The Narrow Place)

(6:05) Sunny War -- "Like Nina" (Simple Syrup)

(10:34) Esther Rose -- "Keeps Me Running" (How Many Times)

(14:31) The Wanted -- "I Guess" (Strange Flight)

(19:39) Miko Marks -- "Ancestors"(Our Country)

(24:08) Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal -- "Changing" (Natural Born Hustler)

(32:52) Kris Angelis -- "Meet You In Our Dreams" (Single)

(37:14) The Armadillo Paradox -- "Eyes Like Stars" (Out of Gas in Oil Country)

(40:24) Chevel Shepherd -- "Everybody's Got a Story" (Everybody's Got a Story)

(43:13) Dave Wilbert -- "It's All Yours" (Single)

(46:00) One Way Traffic -- "Good Thing" (Single)

(51:24) DADA GAUGIN -- "Haru no Hi" (Single)

Podcast intro by Alma Contra, music from Two Cow Garage's "Stars & Gutters"

Send me music via SubmitHub! Send me money via Ko-fi or Patreon. Find Rachel and her comic via https://linktr.ee/rachel.cholst

For a complete transcript of this episode, click here!

New website, who dis?

Adobe & Teardrops condemns the violence against AAPI women this past week. I played a set of AAPI Americana artists in solidarity, and to remind us that this impacts the Americana world as well.

Album of the Week: Melissa Carper -- Daddy's Country Gold

I also wrote this up in No Depression. I can't say enough that Melissa Carper is so freakin smart. Daddy's Country Gold is vintage-style excellence, but it also subverts classic country music and insist on adding a queer presence there. As we'll see on "Makin' Memories," a lot of this album is about questioning the past, and what really happened, and maybe seeing new things in it that we didn't before.

1. Gabe Lee -- "Ol' Smokey (Reimagined)" (Single) (2:49)
2. Mercy Bell -- "Black Dress" (All Good Cowboys) (6:40)
3. Amina Shareef Ali -- "Farewell to My Man" (In the Dark (Awake of Course)) (11:26)

1. Morgan Wade -- "Other Side" (16:26) (Reckless)
2. Rob Leines -- "Saturday Night" (19:35) (Blood, Sweat, and Beer)
3. Royal Horses -- "Time Wounds All Heals" (Single) (24:10)
4. Sam C. Jones -- "Born to Love You" (Single) (27:44)

1. Melissa Carper -- "Makin' Memories" (31:56) (Daddy's Country Gold)
2. Mandy Rowden -- "Ghosts on the Arkansas" (35:48) (Parachute)
3. The Heels -- "High Heels On" (Single) (40:36)
4. Deadass Dobro -- "Through the Night" (Single) (43:23)

1. Schmekel -- "FTM at the DMV"(48:54) (The Whale That Ate Jonah)
2. Janet Simpson -- "Nashville Girls" (50:11) (Safe Distance)
3. Samhain -- "Let the Horses Run" (Single) (53:07)
4. Ontarians -- "No Regrets" (The Greatest Short Story Never Told) (57:22)

1. Yasmin Williams -- "Adrift (ft. Taryn Wood)" (Urban Driftwood) (1:01:54)

Podcast intro by Alma Contra, music from Two Cow Garage's "Stars & Gutters"

Send me music via SubmitHub! Send me money via Ko-fi or Patreon. Find Rachel and her comic via https://linktr.ee/rachel.cholst

I won the Self-Made Indie Podcaster Award for Best Female Host and Best Music Podcast! Thank you so much!!!

I was super busy this week what with applying to grad school and learning how to be a social animal again! This week has some awesome music, so let's get into it! Album of the Week: Semler -- Preacher's Kid I don't have Grace Baldridge's experience of growing up queer and Evangelical, but you don't need to be Christian to have shame around being queer. Before I get into the album, I do want to point out that Baldridge pulled a Lil Nas X and listed this album under Christian music -- after all, it is about their experience with the religion. And it's music. And it has since shot up to #1 of the Apple Music Christian charts. Maybe it's Baldridge's gravelly voice; maybe it's the way they expertly intertwine their experiences of pain, humor, awkwardness, and empowerment. Whatever your background, this is an album that gently reminds you of the queer shame you felt going up, that maybe you still haven't abandoned, and celebrates with righteous joy that we made it through.

1. Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno -- "Biding All My Time" (Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno)
2. Ontarians -- "No Regrets" (The Greatest Short Story Never Told)
3. Rosie Cima & What She Dreamed -- "Stuck" (Realm of the Warring Gods)
4. Dirty Bird -- "Thunder Don't Run" (For the Time Being)
5. Mac Leaphart -- "That Train" (Music City Joke)
6. Semler -- "Jesus From Texas" (Preacher's Kid)
7. The Octobers -- "Rip Van Winkle" (Single)
8. Fee Doyle -- "My Previous Life" (Trail Markers)
9. Lainey Wilson -- "Neon Diamonds" (Sayin' What I'm Thinkin')
10. Oh Susannah -- "Pretty Blue Eyes" (Soon the Birds)
11. Bill Mallonee -- "Everybody Does (A Clamoring of Ghosts)
12. Adeem the Artist -- "I Never Came Out" (Cast Iron Pansexual)
13. Clark Naito -- "Pen Ken Pan" (Single)

Podcast intro by Alma Contra, music from Two Cow Garage's "Stars & Gutters" Send me music via SubmitHub! Send me money via Ko-fi or Patreon. Find Rachel and her comic via https://linktr.ee/rachel.cholst

Arr, matey! Sling some skilly'n'duff and grab a tankard of October Ale, because this episode features a sea shanty by Brian Jacques, the author of my beloved Redwall books. Which, by the way, Rosa and I are going to make a podcast about it.

Also, some of the best new Americana out this week! Album of the Week: Charles Ellsworth -- Honeysuckle Summer Ellsworth's music has always had an excellent Americana sensibility, but in the past it has ranged from humorous to straight-ahead spleen. On Honeysuckle Summer, he cuts to his own core with some of the most honest and personal songs I've heard from him, with beautiful storytelling that really did make my heart ache."Blood in the Halls" is easily one of the best songs about gun control I've heard while making this blog.

1. The Liverpool Fisherman -- "Yate's White's Blues" (Swallow the Anchor)
2. Kaiti Jones -- "Gettin' Around To It" (Tossed)
3. Charles Ellsworth -- "Gripping Onto Water" (Honeysuckle Summer)
4. The Prairie States -- "High That I'm Riding" (Single)
5. Amythyst Kiah -- "Black Myself" (Single)
6. Pressgang Mutiny -- "Stormalong John" (Across the Western Ocean)
7. Adeem the Artist -- "I Never Came Out" (Cast Iron Pansexual)
8. Maddisun -- "Meant to Be" (Single)
9. Eagle Rock Gospel Singers -- "Willfully Blind" (I Will Rise)
10. Brittney Spencer -- "Thoughts and Prayers" (Compassion EP)
11. Elizabeth & The Catapult -- "the muse" (sincerely, e)
12. Hurray For the Riff Raff -- "Crash on the Highway" (Small Town Heroes)
13. Henriette -- "never go back" (Single)
14. Terry Blade -- "Ms. Mizell" (Single)

Podcast intro by Alma Contra, music from Two Cow Garage's "Stars & Gutters" Send me music via SubmitHub! Send me money via Ko-fi or Patreon. Find Rachel and her comic via https://linktr.ee/rachel.cholst