Inside the kaleidoscope of Red River bar Cheer-up Charlies, a few two-steppers dance cheek-to-cheek. A few fluffy pink cowgirl hats bob through the crowd. A drag king lit by neon is belting Alan Jackson’s “Chattahoochee.” Country music isn’t the default for this vibrant, queer-friendly downtown club, but it’s exactly what you’ll find at Neon Rainbows, a regular occurrence since 2012.

“I hope [attendees] feel joy and acceptance right away,” says Ed West, best known as Boi Orbison, the DJ and producer behind the Austin network of queer country events collectively referred to as Neon Rainbows. “Whenever we do an event, it goes back to playing the familiar music, the nostalgic music, because everyone enjoys ‘Neon Moon.’ Everyone. It doesn’t matter who you voted for. Everyone enjoys ‘Boot Scootin’ Boogie.’ And nine times out of ten, they know the line dance. It’s a real opportunity for everyone to shed their identities for this shared identity.”

The parties started when West envisioned a dance night celebrating the classic country hits he’d grown up with. Since then, the Neon Rainbows universe has expanded across the city to include line dance lessons and parties, two-step nights, movie screenings, pool parties, fundraisers, and drag shows like “Hunky Tonk.” Attendees can learn a classic line dance from West’s collaborator Nico Steel of Country Friend Dance or catch a screening of “Brokeback Mountain.” In all its forms, at its heart, Neon Rainbows has always been a place where nostalgia meets the freedom to show up as your truest self.

“My original vision was just to have a dance party with 90s country, specifically because that’s the genre of music that I grew up on and loved the most,” he explains. “There wasn’t anyone in town doing that at the time, and there certainly wasn’t a space for people who are queer who love country music.” Those were years when mainstream culture regarded country as seriously uncool. Bro country dominated in Nashville. The White Horse had opened just months before, and hipster Millennials had not yet embraced a revival of two-stepping.

To West, Neon Rainbows is not so much about making something new as it is about creating more space to celebrate identity and culture that has long existed without proper representation. Queer country spaces aren’t an original idea, and West was inspired to pay tribute to the gay country western bars of the 80s and 90s, iconic institutions like the Round-up Saloon in Dallas.

“I grew up with a rural upbringing,” says West. “But when I turned 21, one of the first places I went was Rainbow Cattle Company here in Austin. It doesn’t exist anymore, but it always had an impact on me that there could be a queer space for people who wear Wranglers and cowboy boots.”

Today, Neon Rainbows creates space for anyone who feels torn between escaping rural roots and celebrating the music, style, and memories tied to them. For West, the art of reconciling these ideas lies in assembling a balance of familiar and new songs.

“I definitely steer away from artists who are vocal about their conservative views, and give more playtime to artists who are most inclusive,” says West, who can be counted on to bump high-profile stars like Kacey Musgraves, Lil Nas X, Beyoncé, and Dolly Parton. But part of the joy lies in giving airtime to queer artists that attendees might be less familiar with, including classic country artists like k.d. lang and newer outlaw country artists like Jamie Wyatt. “There are a lot of newer queer artists. I try to sneak in artists that I know people don’t know. Because, ultimately, that’s the real point of a DJ is to introduce new music as well as play familiar music.”

With that approach, Neon Rainbows has become a staple of Austin nightlife and drawn out-of-state marquee names. Orville Peck—masked, of course—made an unscheduled appearance once that surprised even West, underscoring how the events have become a magnet for country talent and queer community.

About five years after launching Neon Rainbows, West debuted the Gay Ole Opry, a country drag show hosted by Austin drag performer and activist, Brigette Bandit. Despite its reputation as a bastion of straight white heteronormativity, the country genre is a delightfully intuitive fit for drag. It is, after all, the genre of dramatic gender performance, from leather and oversized trucks to rhinestones and teased hair.

“That’s part of the joy of Neon Rainbows—reclaiming that country music identity so it doesn’t just belong to straight conservative people,” says West.

Roughly fifty years after Austinite Willie Nelson reclaimed country for hippies who loved long hair and marijuana, West is doing something similar. It’s an important Austin tradition.

“Queer cowgirls and boys have always existed, and that is not an existence that can be extinguished or hidden away,” says Callie Slipher, a long-time fan of Neon Rainbow’s events.

On September 6, Neon Rainbows continues the project of reclaiming small-town nostalgia for the queer community with the Third Annual Neon Rainbows Homocoming at Cheer Up Charlies, complete with a performance by Cheer Austin, a marching band to perform country classics, and a homecoming mums contest hosted by Bandit. True to form, the night promises boots scuffing the floor, drag kings and cowgirls shoulder to shoulder, and the crowd singing along to ‘Neon Moon’ until the lights come on.