Vote for my album in Rainbow Rodeo's year-end poll; we need punks, not aura farmers; let a song come to you

Hey folks,

Welcome back to another edition of Sharing Notes! Read online here.

Vote for my album in Rainbow Rodeo's year-end poll

Rainbow Rodeo is doing a year-end poll of listeners' favorite queer country records of 2025. I'm honored to have my album, The Tower of Babel Falls, make this list. Give it (and others) your vote here. Thank you everyone who has shared your enjoyment of my album. It really means a lot.

Many have had a rough start to the year as we contend with news of fascist displays of power and violence—America doing America things, like killing immigrants, shooting protesters, attempting to annex foreign countries for resources. It's why I called America a "sinking ship of fools." If you want some musical company for your political fear, anger, or hope, I hope my album can offer some consolation. If you want a free download code from Bandcamp, please reply to this email.

We need punks, not aura farmers

When it's no longer cool to be anti-fascist, who will dare to resist? I've been thinking a lot about Rachel Cholst's Coward Country piece, in which she levels a necessary critique against the respectability politics of Jesse Welles et al, songwriters who have farmed the post-punk outlaw country aesthetic. Faux-activist aura farmers contribute to the resistance only when they think it will boost their image. That's why I think we need more punks. Way back in the day, you didn't want to be a punk. "Punk" was pejorative slang for a submissive or victimized gay man. Only later was it reclaimed. Riot grrrl then came along and confronted the patriarchy within punk sub-culture. They were the punks of punks. Punk isn't perfect. But it's better than being a coward. Be a punk—that is—be that which they violently try to change: your wholly uncool, weirdo, anti-fascist self. And pass on the posers.

Let a song come to you

If you're stuck on a song, give the guitar or desk a rest, do something else, and let your mind wander. Damien Jurado, in interview, compares his songs to cats: he lets them come to him. Elaborating further, he does his songwriting mostly while he's busy doing something else. "The best way for me to write a song is to go about my day and just run errands: go to the post office, make my bed, do the dishes ... and the songs just start showing up." Many songwriters, like Paul Simon and Courtney Marie Andrews, speak to the help of quasi-meditative states that come from walking or tossing a ball. So next time you want to write, consider the inspiring power of doing something else.

Peace,
Arend

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