I spoke with Rachel Cholst, a music journalist from New York City who has been writing about the queer country music community for the last 9 years. You may have already seen her work in magazines like No Depression, The Boot, and Wide Open Country. Currently, she is the editor of Rainbow Rodeo Magazine, and as far as she knows, Rainbow Rodeo is the first print publication devoted to queer country music.

There are interviews, reviews, critical essays, and some podcasting. Something I think that is amazing is that Cholst talks about creating, documenting, and preserving history for queer artists in country music. And it makes me think, man, how often do people try to create history and preserve it, and how often is it erased? There is an essay she wrote in Rainbow Rodeo a couple of months ago called “Building the Queer Country Canon in Real Time,” where part of that thread can be seen. We talked about this idea in the interview, too. And it seems, Cholst is continuing to create these threads through Rainbow Rodeo as a platform and as a community.

I did ask her about Beyonce’s album that people contend is country because ownership and tradition are often hotly contended in the realm of music.

And if you think, but Jonah, I don’t like country. Well, well, I have a gateway album recently released that you could check out, and that’s S.G. Goodman’s Planting By the Signs.

Check out Rainbow Rodeo! https://rainbowrodeomag.com/

Review on Rainbow Rodeo: "S.G. Goodman -- Planting By the Signs"

I worked with Eleanor Henderson for a year at Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY, during the 2022/2023 school year. She was the chair of the Writing department at the time, and I was a lecturer. We had a lot of conversations about teaching, writing, and ideas. We've stayed in touch since, and still to this day, talk about said things, while keeping each other up to date as our lives keep moving on through new milestones. I was so excited and a little nervous to interview her. But she is a teacher, and a novelist, and her presence is very present.

During my time teaching at Ithaca College, I learned that she wrote a book called Ten Thousand Saints where the characters lives were heavily involved in the straight edge hardcore music scene in New York City in the 1980s. Her husband was heavily involved in the scene during the time, and though they met later, by proxy, he spurned her hunger and curiosity to delve deeper into the movement that's influenced so many people and musicians. Naturally, as a gigantic music fan, I thought that maybe we could talk about the book she wrote a bit ago, and it being the 10th anniversary of the movie that was made (for the record, Eleanor is celebrating this!), We get into a little hardcore, Ian Mackaye, ethnography, ethics, writing, expanding or exploring ideas, and life.

She's currently working on her 4th book!

Her other books are: The Twelve-Mile Straight, and her memoir, Everything I have is Yours

Catch them here: https://eleanor-henderson.com/

I met Misha Tentser at graduate school in Syracuse, New York, four years ago and we became friends not long after. He's a poet, writer, and teacher, and it's always a pleasure to talk to him! We get deep into dream logic, mental health, the figurative weight of objects, being nerdy about your art, emotional confrontation of the self, psychogeography, and what it's like to be a writer.

Here are some links to Misha's published work!

"Before" in Midway Journal.

"BoJack Horseman Visits Chagall’s America Windows," "BoJack Horseman Visits the Strip Mall Optometrist" in Had Magazine

"Landscape," "Goodyear, AZ" in Sonora Review.