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Revolution is an idea on many minds these days, with everyone possessing their own interpretation of its nuanced and multifaceted definition. One crucial element of revolution, often lost in the seriousness of it all, is joy. Yes, joy: such a small and simple concept that holds so much power, an act of assertion of your humanity in a world that wants to beat it out of you. To twin brothers Brandon and Derek Campbell, known as The Kentucky Gentlemen, joy is an essential element of their rhinestone revolution.

“We often say it feels like all this time, all our lives, we’ve been in a war that we didn’t provoke at all with the world around us,” the duo says. “We’re constantly at odds with the world, and the revolution is to shine anyway—choose to shine through the entire fight. And if you choose to shine, you’ll always win.”

It’s that resilient, definitely joyful sentiment that has been at the open-hearted center of The Kentucky Gentlemen’s music throughout their decade-long career. There will always be pain and hardship in the world, but there will always be a way to embrace the growth it presents us with, and a chance to celebrate getting through to the other side. On Rhinestone Revolution, out June 6 from River House Artists, the brothers are bringing the world deeper into the community they’ve built around their radiant, infectious blend of authenticity, self-acceptance, and joy.

Growing up in small-town Versailles, Kentucky, the twin brothers were surrounded not only by generations of extended family—“we couldn’t do anything without somebody knowing,” they joke—but multiple converging genres of music. There was church choir, where they learned worship songs and the walls of sound voices could make when joined together; classic, boot-stomping country full of fiddles, banjo, and pedal steel; and then there was ‘90s R&B with its smooth harmonies, at once simple and complex. The influences stuck, each making their mark across the music the duo would come to create as The Kentucky Gentlemen. “We play with a lot of that,” Brandon explains. “And I think that’s also, for us, part of the art of our music—to show how we should all be alongside playing with this together, and realizing how well these things coincide and how similar they are.”

Making their way in Nashville’s country music scene as independent artists, The Kentucky Gentlemen found themselves simultaneously embracing, defying, and expanding the constructs of genre. In a time where inclusion is increasingly up for debate, the pair boldly ask: Who gets to be the cowboy? The past several years have seen a revival and subsequent subversion of the age-old American trope, obliterating the stereotypical view of country as white, straight, conservative, and hypermasculine—reminding people that, as the scholar Carla Aurelie Mbappe once wrote, “it is a myth that the word cowboy equates with whiteness. Black cowboys was always a thing.”

As two artists creating forward-thinking, genre-spanning music, The Kentucky Gentlemen are opening up the conversation even more. “There’s not many folks around us who are like us, and so a lot of people say that what we do is revolutionary. We really want to delve into that aspect of us and who we are,” they say. “We want to invite people into our world: how we got here, what it took, how it felt on the way to get to where we are, and how we’ve always decided to shine anyway.”

Rhinestone Revolution, the duo’s full-length debut, encapsulates the energy and spirit that has led them to quickly become one of Nashville’s most exciting new acts. Recorded at the Nashville studio of producer David “Messy” Mescon (Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande, Shwayze), Rhinestone Revolution expands upon the eclectic sound that permeates their breakout singles, acclaimed EP (2022’s The Kentucky Gentlemen: Vol. 1), and live performances. On “Made For Moving On”—an earworm blend of old school country and 2000s pop—the duo open themselves up to vulnerability, allowing listeners to join them not only in the good times, but the challenging parts, too, including “how we’ve grappled with relationships and maneuvering our love lives.” Acceptance of both the good and the bad is a running theme throughout the album, coming up on “Vintage Lover,” a gospel-inflected ode to the start of a new relationship and “To the Moon,” a soulful country ballad about accepting the end of a relationship, and “Attaboy,” a soaring, heartfelt letter of validation to the twins’ younger selves that “if they just keep showing up and being who they are, exactly as they are, it’s going to be okay.”

Though the dynamic twin brothers now call Nashville their home, they inject their country sound with soul as smooth as Kentucky bourbon that has taken the industry by storm. Their independently released debut EP, 2022’s The Kentucky Gentlemen: Vol 1., was heralded for its “powerful” electric-guitar driven sound (American Songwriter) and “tightly-fused, unmistakable blood harmonies” (Billboard), with Rolling Stone praising single “Whatever You’re Up For” as “the most compelling commercial-country slow jam of the year.”

Since then, the pair have taken their act across some of the biggest stages in country music, from Bourbon & Beyond to the Newport Folk Festival, collaborations with artists like Fancy Hagood and Will Hoge, and tour dates with The War and Treaty. In 2023, they were named one of GLAAD’s New Voices in Country Music, and Artists to Watch by both the Nashville Scene and WXPN—where they were also selected as one of just five artists for their Black Opry Residency. And in 2024, The Kentucky Gentlemen were chosen for the inaugural class of OnRamp, a partnership between the Black Music Action Coalition and the Academy of Country Music to focus on improving inclusivity and equity within Music City.

On Rhinestone Revolution, the duo “really wanted to make sure we made something authentically us, that we felt would stand the test of time for who The Kentucky Gentlemen are,” Derek says. “We wanted to make sure that when people listen to our music and look at us and how we dress and how we care for ourselves, that it still comes across as art and within the country music realm,” adds Brandon. Creatively pushing themselves throughout the entire recording process, the duo created an album that embraces authenticity but resists clichés, music that honors their past while looking toward what the future can be.

“This whole journey getting to where we are today, and all aspects of our lives, has been very lonely at times,” says Derek. “Rhinestone Revolution encompasses our journey. It’s all the obstacles that we’ve faced, but how decided to shine anyway.”