The Life Behind Bars, which gives the new album of the Vandolier’s name and topic, was the life of Jenni Rose. The band from Dallas lived a life behind bars when she was a singer. Her coming-out as a trans woman processes Rose on this fifth album as well as the addiction to which she had fled. That alone is a brave statement in view of the attacks of the Trump administration on the LGBTQ+community.
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The fact that Vandoliers come from the tight republican Texas and reach a rather conservative audience with their and less and less alternative country rock over the years does not make things easier. As if the sextet, which played a concert in women’s dresses in 2023 as a protest against a ban on drag shows in Tennessee, made sure that the message reached the right ones, they continue to develop on Life Behind Bars towards Country.
While Rose impressively describes how it was to grow up in the “Bible Belt” without being sure of his sexual identity (“I was everything that you hate / i was Told i would be in bright”), cowboy hats could also be swung in a small town bar. And for the final ballad “Dead in A Ditch”, a whiskey glass is deeply looked at. The clichés sit, the message arrives as a submarine in the Heartland.
You can find out which albums were published in June 2025 via our monthly publication list.