Tag: Glenn Brigman

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Dominque and the Diamonds Share Heartbreakingly Gorgeous “I Don’t Mind”

Led by Colombian-American frontwoman Dominque Gomez, Los Angeles-based country band Dominique and the Diamonds can trace their origins back to 2024: the band came together on a whim, after Gomez was asked to perform a country set at the local summertime concert series The Grand Ole Echo. 

Friends from cosmic country outfit Caravan 222 and rock band Triptides were recruited to play as Gomez’s backing band, and over the course of the subsequent year started to gain attention locally for a sound that seemingly channeled Linda Ronstadt, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Townes Van Zandt and the Laurel Canyon sound — but with a contemporary feel. 

The Los Angeles-based outfit’s Glenn Brigman-produced full-length studio debut album Honky Tonk Queen is slated for a June 26, 2026 release. Recorded at Crestline, CA-based Skyforest Sound, the group tracked the album’s material on tape with a Tascam 388 and then mixed digitally, offering that old-timey/classic grit while being remarkably modern. “The recording sessions for Honky Tonk Queen had such a family vibe to them,” Brigman says. “The band would leave the city behind and trek up to my cabin in the mountains where we recorded on tape, built fires, listened to Grateful Dead records, drank wine… I even made some homemade country biscuits for breakfast just to make sure we had all the vibes dialed in properly. And of course we celebrated after the last session with a night out at the local mountain saloon.”

Brigman is also heavily featured on every song playing a variety of vintage Rhoes, Wurlitzer, piano, Mellotron, organ and some lead guitar, making Brigman the unofficial fifth member of the band.

Honky Tonk Queen reportedly sees the Los Angeles-based quartet summoning the spirt of 1970s Sunset Strip and Laurel Canyon, weaving vintage-era country storytelling with shimmering, reverb-kissed pedal steel and gorgeous harmonies and melodies. While their sound openly and lovingly draws from the likes of The Flying Burrito Brothers, Exile from Main Street-era Stones, Harvest-era Neil Young and Townes Van Zandt, the album’s material never feels imitative; in fact, the band reinterprets those influences through a distinctly contemporary lens in which dreamy and cosmic textures meet down-to-earth, lived-in storytelling.

Fittingly, the album is the product of Dominique Gomez’s comfortably poised footing as a California-based country artist. “I’m a vocalist first. But I grew up singing all kinds of genres, country being one of them. In my younger days, I couldn’t really decide on which one I wanted to pursue more because I just loved it all,” Gomez says. As a working songwriter, who has worked in the worlds of sync and music libraries since 2020, the Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter found strength and reassurance in country. “I’ve always written different types of songs; soul, pop, rock, country, R&B, blues, etc. But I kept getting hired to write more and more country songs,” she recalls. This helped pushed Gomez to dive deeper within country, and the release of the band’s debut will mark one of many milestones in her career.

Representation is central to the album. The Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter is proudly Latina and she carries that identity into every performance. Her visibility and leadership are deeply intentional: to create a space where her community feels safe, seen and accepted in a genre that admittedly has a troubled history and is still evolving — albeit sometimes, slower than it should. ““I had my hesitations of getting involved in country music for many reasons, but being a daughter of Colombian immigrants was by far the biggest reason why I didn’t think I would fit in. I’m half white and half Colombian but very Latina presenting.”

But as the band progressed and began to build a fanbase, she quickly realized how important her role was, “Connecting with our fans on tour is what really did it for me. In Sacramento, I had a girl come up to me after the show and tell me, ‘I love country music but I don’t feel safe in those spaces being Latina. Because of you, I feel safe to love it now,'” Gomez recalls. “Representation matters and I hope to continue to deliver safety and inclusion to everyone who comes to our shows or listens to our music.” Though the band sounds nostalgic, they’re also a promise — that classic country can expand its circle, embrace new voices and still honor the soulful and gritty roots that inspired it.

Honky Tonk Queen‘s latest single, album title track “I Don’t Mind” is a classic country-styled ballad that showcases some gorgeous, shimmering pedal steel, Gomez’s mesmerizing delivery and her lived-in, story-as-song driven songwriting rooted in a mix of heartache, uncertainty, hope and gratitude.

“I moved to LA in 2021 for music, but the entire reason I ended up in southern CA in the first place was from fleeing a dangerous relationship in the Bay Area,” Gomez recalls. “I didn’t want to leave West Marin. I was heartbroken over that, not so much the relationship itself. I had plans of making it back to that small coastal town I lived in, but when I found out my ex had planted roots there, I knew it wouldn’t be safe for me to go back.” Though Gomez’s heart will always live in that small town, she also knew that Los Angeles had much bigger plans for her

“Moving to LA was the best decision of my life. Yes, what I had experienced was terrible, but unfortunately, I don’t think I would have ended up here if I hadn’t gone through it all. There would be no Dominique and the Diamonds, no songwriting opportunities, no touring. This incredible, dream-like life that I live now because of this project would have never existed. So in the end, I don’t mind that my ex took that old dream away from me. This is exactly where I’ve always wanted to be all along.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Dominique and the Diamonds Share Playful and Buoyant “Lovely Dream”

Led by Colombian-American frontwoman Dominque Gomez, Los Angeles-based country band Dominique and the Diamonds can trace their origins back to last year: the band came together on a whim, after Gomez was asked to perform a country set at the local summertime concert series, The Grand Ole Echo. 

Friends from cosmic country outfit Caravan 222 and rock band Triptides were asked to perform as a backing band for Gomez and over the course of the year gained buzz locally for a sound that seemingly channels Linda Ronstadt, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Townes Van Zandt and the Laurel Canyon sound — but with a contemporary feel. 

The Los Angeles-based country outfit’s Glenn Brigman-produced debut EP, For a Fool is slated for a June 13, 2025 release. Recorded using a mix of analog and digital equipment in Brigman’s Crestline, CA-based studio, For a Fool EP channels the golden age of classic country with the material touching upon tried-and-true themes of romance, lonesomeness, revenge, drunken playfulness while anchored around the old school song-as-story. And the material sees the band weaving the experiences of the contemporary world, too. 

“I write country music and love to sing country songs, but I’ve always associated myself with the Colombian half of my identity more than the white side. My Dad and his immediate family immigrated to the US from Colombia in 1966 and they’d endured so much struggle in the process,” Dominique and the Diamonds’ Dominque Gomez says. “Then, you have my Mom’s side who were small town farmers in Minnesota and Southern trailer park girls. When you look at me, you see a brown girl, and I fucking love that. And when I was younger, I felt like I was forced to fit into a category, but I was too white to be Latina and too Latina to be white. It’s a beautiful thing to have the wisdom now to embrace both and just be me.”

Last month, I wrote about “For a Fool,” a Patsy Cline-styled ballad of heartbreak, despair and uneasy acceptance anchored around some gorgeous pedal steel and Gomez’s Linda Ronstadt-like vocal. Inspired by the modern “situationship” phenomenon and Gomez’s experiences dating in Los Angeles, the song describes a bitterly common scenario: dealing with a love interest you really dig, who’s an unserious time waster that’s playing with your heart and emotions. And while the song’s narrator is heartbroken, she clearly recognizes her time and her worth, offering a bit of wisdom for anyone who encounters this sort of lover — leave that fool alone before you get played for a fool. 

For a Fool‘s second and latest single “Lovely Dream” is a playful, Hank WIlliams-like bit of honky tonk, anchored around an oompah-like groove and a gorgeous and expressive pedal steel solo that’s simultaneously lush and spacious enough for Gomez’s big, Linda Ronstadt-like delivery.

The song’s buoyant nature is deceptive, because at its core, is a narrator waxing nostalgically on the honeymoon phase of a relationship from the perspective of a heartbroken narrator looking back at the whole experience with some bittersweet — and perhaps just bitter — retrospect.

Sometimes the end of a relationship can make you feel as though you had been walking around with a mix of rose colored glasses, wool, blind hope and naiveté. The retrospect at the core of the song gives that heartache and the feeling of being a made a fool a proper sense of perspective, and hopefully the understanding that you won’t be fooled again.

“’Lovely Dream’ is a silly little love song that I had written for an ex back in 2018, so it’s been sitting in the archives for awhile [sic]. The words ‘lovely dream’ were just the best way to describe the beginning of that relationship,” Dominque and the Diamond’s Dominque Gomez explains. “Emphasis on the beginning… Ha! I was in my early to mid twenties at that time; young, naive and only saw through rose colored glasses. I tie nature into my songwriting at any chance I can get. The relationship to me, at the time, was as harmonious as a budding meadow in the springtime— full of new life, color and energy just waiting to be embraced by the sun.”

Directed by Hamilton Boyce, the accompanying video for “Lovely Dream” features Dominque Gomez in the brush and foothills, before sitting down for a makeup session to make her done up like an old-fashioned rodeo clown.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Dominque and the Diamonds Share a Patsy Cline-Styled Ballad

Led by Colombian-American frontwoman Dominque Gomez, Los Angeles-based country band Dominique and the Diamonds can trace their origins to back to last year, when the band came together on a whim after Gomez was asked to perform a country set local summertime series, The Grand Ole Echo.

Friends from cosmic country outfit Caravan 222 and rock band Triptides were asked to perform as a backing band for Gomez and over the course of the year gained buzz locally for a sound that channels Linda Ronstadt, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Townes Van Zandt and the Laurel Canyon sound — but with a contemporary feel.

The Los Angeles-based country outfit’s Glenn Brigman-produced debut EP, For a Fool is slated for a June 13, 2025 release. Recorded using a mix of analog and digital equipment in Brigman’s Crestline, CA-based studio, For a Fool EP channels the golden age of classic country with the material touching upon tried-and-true themes of romance, lonesomeness, revenge, drunken playfulness while anchored around the old school song-as-story. And the material sees the band weaving the experiences of the contemporary world, too.

“I write country music and love to sing country songs, but I’ve always associated myself with the Colombian half of my identity more than the white side. My Dad and his immediate family immigrated to the US from Colombia in 1966 and they’d endured so much struggle in the process,” Dominique and the Diamonds’ Dominque Gomez says. “Then, you have my Mom’s side who were small town farmers in Minnesota and Southern trailer park girls. When you look at me, you see a brown girl, and I fucking love that. And when I was younger, I felt like I was forced to fit into a category, but I was too white to be Latina and too Latina to be white. It’s a beautiful thing to have the wisdom now to embrace both and just be me.”

The EP’s first single, EP title track “For a Fool,” is a Patsy Cline-styled ballad of heartbreak, despair and uneasy acceptance anchored around some gorgeous pedal steel and Gomez’s Linda Ronstadt-like vocal. Inspired by the modern “situationship” phenomenon and Gomez’s experiences dating in Los Angeles, the song describes a bitterly common scenario: dealing with a love interest you really dig, who’s an unserious time waster that’s playing with your heart and emotions. And while the song’s narrator is heartbroken, she clearly recognizes her time and her worth, offering a bit of wisdom for anyone who encounters this sort of lover — leave that fool alone before you get played for a fool.

“I was 28, single, and could finally see through these types of guys so clearly,” Gomez says. “I actually started to feel bad for them at a certain point. You’ve got to be real sad deep down to just use a person to satisfy your own loneliness and boredom.”

Directed by the band’s Hamilton Boyce (bass), the accompanying video for “For a Fool” was shot at Bar Flores, a Latina-owned tequila/mezcal bar in Los Angeles’ Echo Park section, known for having predominantly female bartenders of color behind the bar, including them and’s Gomez. And throughout we see Gomez in a series of flashbacks, presumably falling in love — and then in the present, proudly telling off an off-screen love interest.