Are you ready to hear about small adventures, small pups prepping for adventures, country, blues, folk, and jazz fusion? Buckle up!

And remember that all Patreon and Ko-fi donations this month go to the Trans Justice Funding Project!

Album of the Week -- Roadside Graves (That’s Why We’re Running Away)

Roadside Graves is a formerly Brooklyn-based band that’s now in New Jersey, this album is about learning how to walk away from situations. I had a really hard time picking two songs to feature: Roadside Graves are that rare combination of sonically experimental with the lyrics to back up their chops. I love the forlorn melange of punk, roots, and indie rock.

1. Margo Price  -- “Twinkle Twinkle” (That’s How Rumors Get Started)
2. Courtney Marie Andrews -- “If I Told” (Old Flowers)
3. Kristian Veech -- “Running” (Single)
4. The Replacements -- “Androgynous” (Let It Be) AND “Nobody” (All Shook Down)
5. Roadside Graves -- “Dead Kids” That’s Why We’re Running Away)
6. Doc Fell -- “Gotta Be” (Single)
7. fIREHOSE -- “Chemical Wire” (Ragin’, Full On)
8. The Lounge Lizards -- “Voice of Chunk” (Voice of Chunk) 
9. Merry Christmas -- “Meredith Bites the Earth” (The Night The Night Fell) 
10. Dennis Ellsworth -- “Made For You” (Common Senselessness)
11. Molly Maher -- “Bird Song (I’ll Follow You)” (Follow)
12. Samantha Crain -- “Certain Expectations” (A Small Death) 

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

Rachel had a beach day! And watched baseball! It’s *almost* like it’s summer. And remember! All Patreon and Ko-fi proceeds these month go to the Trans Justice Funding Project! Album of the Week: Stephie James -- These Days     I forgot to talk about this in the podcast itself but These Days is my favorite album this week. I enjoy the way James builds an entire alternate universe out of these five songs. It’s like traveling down a road you know by heart -- except it turns out that’s not actually true. It’s comforting and adventurous all at the same time.

1. Cinder Well -- “No Summer” (No Summer)
2. Hit Like a Girl -- “No More Dysphoria” (Single)
3. Michaela Anne -- “Good Times” (Single)
4. Stephie James -- “Sin City” (These Days)
5. Bad Flamingo -- “Dandy Little Day” (Single)
6. Drama Dolls -- “Favorite Girl” (Single)
7. Dirty Streets -- “Think Twice” (Rough & Tumble)
8. Rev. J. Mikhael Smith and the Brimstone Miracle -- “Certain Expectations” (Dogwood Winter)
9. SG Goodman -- “The Way I Talk” (Old Time Feeling)
10. Chantel Van T -- “Rumble and Crawl” (Single)
11. Songhoy Blues -- “Worry” (Single)
12. Secret American -- “Here Comes a Man” (Warmth & Shelter)

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

Sometimes you just need to take a mental health break! It’s all good...we have a refrigerator on the way. Also, I’m starting a new thing! I’m going to feature an album each episode!   Album of the Week: Samantha Crain -- A Small Death       Americana is becoming more expansive as the people who started the millennium off playing punk with a twang move on to more challenging terrain. Crain’s A Small Death is a wide-ranging album that dabbles in jazz and electronic music. Fellow Tulsa singer-songwriter John Calvin Abney is along for the ride and adds some more cosmic layering to Crain’s gorgeous songwriting. It’s an astonishing synthesis of Crain’s explorations into pop and her folk roots and easily one of my favorite album this year.

1. Homeless Gospel Choir -- “Don’t Compare” (This Land is Your Landfill)
2. Angelica Garcia -- “Guadalupe" (Cha Cha Palace)
3. Sargeant X Comrade -- “Take Me Higher (Who Let the Devil In)” (Single)
4. Samantha Crain -- “An Echo” (A Small Death)
5. SG Goodman -- “The Way I Talk” (Old Time Feeling)
6. Karima Walker and Katy Kirby -- “Idaho - Dakota” (Single)
7. Star de Azlan -- “A Man Who Can Dance” (Single)
8. John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band -- “Tender Years” (Eddie and the Cruisers Soundtrack)
9. The Savants of Soul -- “More Than One to Choose From” (Single)
10. Paul Sanchez -- “A Thousand Songs” (I’m a Song, I’m a Story, I’m a Ghost)
11. Emily Winter -- “Dear Emily” (Single)
12. Cold Chocolate -- “Follow Far Behind” (Down the Line)

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

Rachel has some mysterious bug bites (uh-oh) and some thoughts on Lady Antebellum.   Remember to sign up for the Patreon or shoot me a Ko-fi this month -- all the proceeds will go to the Trans Justice Funding Project!  

1. Paul Sanchez -- “A Thousand Songs” (I’m A Song, I’m a Story, I’m a Ghost)
2. Zoe Boekbinder -- “Mirror” (Shadow)
3. Nickel and Rose -- “Another Man” (Single)
4. Joshua Ray Walker -- “Voices” (Glad You Made It)
5. Nocona -- “Too Much to Lose” (Los Dos)
6. Folks Like Them -- “Folks Like Them” (Single)
7. Libby Rodenbough -- “Country Jam” (Spectacle of Love)
8. The Weakerthans -- “Sun in an Empty Room” (Reunion Tour)
9. The Greyhound Factory -- “Someday” (Single)
10. Ozymandias Carter -- “Rise Again” (The Vanishing Crowd)
11. Ameena Sharif Ali -- “Farewell to My Man” (Single)
12. Mashmallow -- “Heaven Is You” (Single)

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

Rachel recounts her Pride adventures and is proud of Bella for fucking up the vet. Rosa says hello! And there’s some great Southern rock in this episode.   Plus! For the month of July all proceeds will go to the Trans Justice Funding Project so there’s never been a better time to sign up for the Patreon or contribute to Ko-fi!  

1. Dexateens -- “Take Me to the Speedway” (Heathens Homecoming 2020)
2. Julian Taylor -- “The Ridge” (The Ridge)
3. Micah Bendigo -- “I Walked in the Water” (Single)
4. Ashleigh Flynn and the Riveters -- “This Love” (This Love)
5. Dirt Reynolds -- “I Know What it Means” (Scalawag)
6. Lacey Williams -- “Cut’n’Curl” (Single)
7. Tenille Townes -- “The Most Beautiful Things” (Lemonade Stand)
8. Michael McArthur -- “Wild In the Blood” (Oh, Sedona)
9. Brooke Stephensen -- “Backbone” (Single)
10. Rochelle Riser -- “Way Out There” (Single)
11. Amina Shareef -- “Farewell to My Man” (Single)
12. Will Stewart -- “Southern Raphael” (Way Gone)
13. Greater Bird of Paradise -- “The Hourglass” (Single)

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 episode is going to be more dreamy and pop-oriented than usual. We’ll also get back to shorter episodes starting in July now that music is being released more regularly and I have less of a backlog.   All Patreon, Ko-fi, and SubmitHub proceeds for July and August will go to the Trans Justice Funding Project so be sure to subscribe!

1. Moses Sumney -- “Polly” (grae)
2. Phoebe Bridgers -- “Halloween” (Punisher)
3. Pale Fire -- “Husbands” (Single)
4. Made of Stone -- “Seasons” (Single)
5. Kamara Thomas -- “You Wreck Me” (Earth Hero -- on harddrive)
6. Bloods -- “Some Girls are Bigger Than Others” (Seattle)
7. Shamir -- “Feminine Guy” (Cataclysm)
8. Jasmine Dreame Wagner -- “Switchblade Moon” (Switchblade Moon)
9. Eli Gauden -- “Always Hungry (Asking For More)” (Call My Name)
10. Deadname -- “Hogtied” (Demonstrations)
11. Will Stewart -- “Southern Raphael” (Way Gone)
12. Mountain Time -- “Rosemary, Etc.” (Music For Looking Animals)
13. R McClure and Tall Shadows -- “Sweet Thing!” (Single)
14. Clementine Was Right -- “Outside of Reno” (Lightning & Regret)
15. UPSTATE -- “Everything Changes” (Single)
16. Ameena Sharif -- “Farewell To My Man” (Single)
17. Risa Kopp -- “Ransom Paid” (Single)
18. David Starling -- “Cowards” (Single)

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

CW: I discuss suicide at the end of the podcast when I introduced “Shame Is a River”   Come say hi to me at the Pride School Festival on Discord! I’ll be DJ-ing a queer country and punk set!   Otherwise, I talk about laptop woes, finally feeling feelings, and a Bella pupdate!

1. Matt Lovell -- “Sabotage” (Nobody Cries Today)
2. Ameena Sharif Ali -- “Farewell to My Man” (Single)
3. Chris Pureka -- “Betting on the Races” (Back in the Ring)
4. Indigo Girls -- “Country Radio” (Look Long)
5. Boy Scouts -- “A World So Full of Love” (Single)
6. Darlin’ Brando -- “Last Call (feat. AJ Croce)” (Also Too...)
7. Cody Landress-Gibson -- “Nights in Arkansas” (Cody Landress-Gibson)
8. Matt Steinfield -- “Ozark Mountain Desparation Song” (Single)
9. Robert Connelly Farr -- “Hold Her Close (Gasoline)
10. Alma Russ -- “Better Than That” (Next Town)
11. Julie Arsenault -- “Mr. Golden Sun” (The Creature That I Call Myself)
12. Thin Lear -- “A Simple Phrase” (Wooden Cave)
13. Bad Flamingo -- “Open the Gates” (Single)
14. Risa Kopp -- “Ransom Paid” (Single)
15. Nana Grizol -- “We Carry the Feeling” (South Somewhere Else)
16. Rett Madison -- “Shame Is a River” (Single)

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 kick off this episode by discussing the importance of anti-racist white voices in music -- and what I mean by anti-racism. To hear more white artists who stand up against racism -- and grapple with their own roles within it -- you can listen to my Spotify playlist.   I also interview Kara Kundert and Justin Hiltner about the Bluegrass Pride nonprofit and their streaming festival Porch Pride. You can catch it on Saturday, 6/27 and Sunday, 6/28!   Thanks again to Patreon and Ko-fi contributors who helped me buy the laptop; I need it specifically to make the podcast. The rest is gonna go to to the Trans Justice Funding Project!

1. Ladama -- “Misterio” AND “Tierra Tiembla” (Oye Mujer)
2. Nana Grizol -- “We Carry The Feeling” (South Somewhere Else)
3. Suzy Callahan -- “Bicycle in Your Future” (Not Exactly Sad)
4. Ben de la Cour -- “Amazing Grace (Slight Return)” (Shadow Land)
5. The Northern Belle -- “Remember It” (Single)
6. American Aquarium -- “The Luckier You Get” (Lamentations)
7. Andrea & Mud -- “Birmingham, AL 8:30 AM” (Lines)
8. Victoria Bailey -- “Honky Tonk Woman” (Single)
9. Will Hawkins -- “Bright Lights” (Single)
10. Erin McKeown -- “The Queer Gospel” (Mirrors Break Back / According to Us)
11. Courtesy Tier -- “There Will be Fire” (Ithaca)
12. Misty River -- “Take This Dance” (Live From Under the Apple Tree Studios)
13. Handsome Hound -- “Geometry of You” (Geometry of You)
14. Imperial April -- “Peachy” (Single)
15. Jake Blount -- “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” (Spider Tales)
16. The Jerry Cans -- “Swell (My Brother)” (Echoes)

INTERVIEW: Justin Hiltner and Kara Kundert of Bluegrass Pride discuss their livestream festival Porch Pride!   Send me music via SubmitHub! Send me money via Ko-fi or Patreon. Find Rachel and her comic via https://linktr.ee/rachel.cholst

We’ve got a big chonker of an episode this time out. Here, Rachel talks about the Black Lives Matter movement and how it impacts country and roots music.

She forgot to mention it in the podcast, but she also made a playlist of anti-racist white musicians. Anti-racism means actively defining and fighting against all the insidious or “subconscious” forms racism takes -- and admitting that all white people have this ingrained in them. Here’s where you can read more about anti-racism. Here’s where you can listen to the Spotify playlist, which she’ll dig into on this coming Friday’s episode.

1. Amythyst Kiah -- “Black Myself” (Songs Of Our Native Daughters)
2. Jake Blount -- “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” (Spider Tales)
3. Mickey Guyton -- “Black Like Me” (Single) 
4. Paisley Fields -- “You & The Country” (Electric Park Ballroom)
5. Cory Grinder and the Playboy Scouts -- “I Wouldn’t Count On It” (Good Boy)
6. Christopher Odell Mills -- “Heaven” (Single)
7. Wilderness -- “American Lights” (Real Rock Radio) 
8. Uncle Sinner -- “Rocky Island” (Trouble Of This World) 
9. Lowbirds -- “1995” (A Few Years In) 
10. Soo Line Loons -- “What Matters Now” (What Matters Now: The Quarantine Sessions) 
11. Under the Reefs Orchestra -- “Tucuman” (s/t)
12. The Juniper Berries -- “Give Up Yr Ghost” (The Juniper Berries)
13. Dustbowl Daddies -- “Shoulda Let You Down” (Single) 
14. Russ Parish -- “Together” (Single) 
15. Troubaduo -- “Bright Side of Blue” (Songs of Hope, Vol. 1)
16. Tom Galloway -- “Mercy Of Your Mood” (Single) 
17. Raye Zaragoza -- “Fight Like a Girl” (Single)

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

Would you hang out with me while I livestream and record the podcast at the same time? Let me know on Twitter or Facebook!   This was a difficult week for people of color in America. If you can, donate to Black Visions to provide aid for activists on the ground in Minneapolis. If you are white, consider joining Showing Up For Racial Justice (SURJ), an organization for white allies against racism.   And stay tuned for the poll so you can vote on next week's repeat song!

1. Jaime Wyatt -- “Rattlesnake Girl” (Neon Cross)
2. Jake Blount -- “Brown Skin Baby” (Spider Tales)
3. Kathryn LeGendre -- “One Long Sad Song” (Single)
4. Teddy Thompson -- “At a Light” (Heartbreaker Please)
5. Michelle Mandico -- “Mr.” (Something New)
6. Rae Radick -- “Keep ‘Em Guessing” (Single)
7. 2nd Grade -- “W2” (Hit to Hit)
8. Jeremy Squires -- “Morning Star” (Eastern Glow)
9. Raye Zaragoza -- “Fight Like a Girl” (Single)
10. Hayes Peebles -- “Loneliness” (Single)
11. Mike Blair & The Stonewalls -- “River” (Single)
12. Drover Shy -- “When I’m Gone” (Single)
13. David Stone -- “Evelyn” (David Stone)

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