At a passing glance, country music and emo might seem strange bedfellows. But Ruston Kelly’s self-described “dirt emo” makes a compelling case for a union; after all, how many torch songs and tear-in-my-beer weepers have hit the Nashville airwaves? Born in South Carolina in 1988 and raised on Taking Back Sunday and Dashboard Confessional alongside classic folk, Kelly ups the sensitivity dial with his intimate Americana. His 2018 studio debut, Dying Star, and songs like “Mockingbird” recalled ‘90s alt-rock; 2019’s Dirt Emo Vol. 1 found him covering emo standbys like Wheatus’ “Teenage Dirtbag.” In 2020, he unpacked his journey to sobriety on Shape & Destroy, written mostly at Johnny and June Carter Cash’s former home, and he addressed his divorce from country star Kacey Musgraves on 2023’s more modern-sounding The Weakness, keeping true to perennial emo—and country—topics: self-destruction and heartbreak.