Hometown: Nashville, Tenn.
Pairs well with: Rocking chairs, western wear
It's hard not to root for someone wearing a light-up cowboy hat. Thankfully Madeleine Kelson and Evan Phillips easily justify this impulse with a moving country ballad about the beauty and mundanity of queer love. Kelson's voice is rich and warm as she croons: "Call me a sinner, and I'll call you a fool / Damn me to hell and I'll break you the news / If I don't get to heaven for loving her true, / God has never loved a woman the way I do." Trading boomboxes under windows for grocery store flowers, "The Way I Do" stands out as a testament to a steadier love that grows stronger year after year, and to that, I say yeehaw and amen.
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