Rachel Cholst (Rainbow Rodeo) Talks Queer Country | The J-Card Podcast

Today’s guest is Rachel Cholst, editor of Rainbow Rodeo, a website, podcast, and physical zine dedicated primarily to queer country music.On today’s show, Rachel tells me about the origins of Rainbow Rodeo, the ups and downs of freelance music journalism over the last 15 years, and what it was like making the Country Pride show for SiriusXM.Of course, we also talked about her mixtape, which features some hits and probably one of my favorite band names I’ve ever heard: Two Cow Garage.As always, if you want to support what we’re doing, you can do so at http://tapeclub.substack.com. If you like $5 cassette tapes, that’s the place for you to sign up.More on IG:@rainbowrodeomag https://www.instagram.com/rainbowrodeomagSubscribe on YouTubeRue Defense Tape Club x GetMusic Collaboration Tape Music Submissions (NOW OPEN):While our regular quarterly subscriber-only cassette compilation for September is almost ready to go, we’ve partnered with GetMusic to bring our subscribers a special BONUS tape. Now’s a great time to become a paid subscriber, and it’s also a great time for any artists out there to submit their own music to us via this dedicated GetMusic submissions form.GetMusic is a music discovery and promotion service. Artists can provide Bandcamp download codes of their work for music fans to discover and add to their collections. You can find releases on there from J-Card Podcast host Alexei Shishkin and Rue Defense founder Graham W. Bell. Artists can sign up here, the first upload is free.The J-Card is presented by Rue Defense Tape Club, a quarterly, mail-order cassette compilation and DIY audio project. Each episode is part music discovery, part oral history, part hangout show. We ask artists, musicians, filmmakers, and other music-minded folks to build us their own personal mixtape and talk about the moments and memories that inspired it.New episodes drop here and wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for watching, and if you liked this one, share it with a friend who also might.Created by Alexei ShishkinAssociate Producer: Alivia StonierBooking: Jamie Halliday📬 Subscribe:Subscribe now📲 Follow us: IG: https://www.instagram.com/ruedefense Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/tapeclub.substack.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ruedefenseX: https://x.com/ruedefenseBandcamp: https://ruedefense.bandcamp.comTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@tapeclubLinktree: https://linktr.ee/ruedefense🤝 Support / Sponsorship: https://forms.gle/8L4o4yLvX5fQnpAXA 🎶 Submit Music: https://forms.gle/Mc7En6K8Tb2BbgxJA 📩 Contact: [email protected]⏱️ Chapters:00:00 - Intro to Rachel Cholst01:13 - Origins of Rainbow Rodeo04:37 - Substack vs. Ghost05:39 - Making the Physical Zine08:19 - Zine Printing & Shipping10:51 - Why Reviews Don’t Convert12:38 - Freelance Writing Career17:12 - Blogging Then vs. Now19:58 - Evil Tech, SEO & Writing21:55 - Video vs. Audio Podcasting23:08 - Hosting Sirius XM Radio26:35 - The Mixtape27:15 - “Jack and Diane” by John Mellencamp33:30 - “Jenny Says” by Cowboy Mouth38:03 - “No Shame” by Two Cow Garage42:31 - “Just A Little Heartbreak” by Karen & the Sorrows47:37 - “Gonna Be Leaving” by Abigail Lapell52:11 - “Burn” by Creekbed Carter Hogan57:04 - Honorable Mentions58:01 - Game: Firsts and Lasts1:04:09 - Plugs & Outro This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tapeclub.substack.com/subscribe