Praise Be To He: A New Righteous Gemstones Song Is Out Now
One of the best parts of Danny McBride’s god-tier mega-church satire The Righteous Gemstones is the music. The HBO show’s larger-than-life but true-in-essence parody of uber-rich televangelist life sometimes incorporates bits from the music career of Aimee-Leigh Gemstone, the Gemstone family’s late, great matriarch, portrayed in flashbacks by country star Jennifer Nettles. Season one gave us the instant classic “Misbehavin’,” a duet between Aimee-Leigh and her brother Baby Billy, a trashy huckster played with gusto by Walton Goggins. Within the universe of the show, the siblings used to tour around performing that song and others as child stars before Aimee-Leigh married into the Gemstone family. Here they are reuniting to sing and tap their way through it at church:
We’re nearing the end of season two, and the series has gifted us with another note-perfect Aimee-Leigh track. This one is called “Sassy On Sunday,” and instead of a live performance, it manifests as a pristine studio recording. The song slavishly re-creates the elements of 1980s adult contemporary pop with a country tint; the guitar solo in particular is the kind of breathtaking cheese you just don’t hear anymore. Even the graphic design for the packshot is sending my mind hurtling back to my parents’ old First Call cassettes. Nettles has been giving killer performances since at least Sugarland’s “Stuck Like Glue” video a decade ago, but her work as Aimee-Leigh is on another level.
The Righteous Gemstones airs Sundays at 10PM ET on HBO, right after Euphoria. Who are the cycle ninjas???