KEXP Live Performances Podcast

Veteran country rocker Steve Earle plays tribute to one of America’s late-great songwriters Townes Van Zandt with his covers record “Townes.” He stops by KEXP for a candid interview about Mr. Van Zandt and an acoustic live set featuring three songs fro...

Alabama native Jason Isbell (Drive-By Truckers) and his current band The 400 Unit play a heartfelt set of alt-county roots rock songs from their eponymous 2009 release. Recorded on 4/6/09 - 4 songs: The Last Song I Will Write, Seven-Mile Island, Soldie...

This local seven-piece plays smart and swinging folk-pop that hints at places afar. Accordions, strings, horns, and chants all urge you to dance and sing along. Hey Marseilles recorded live on KEXP on 4/29/2009 - 4 songs: Rio, From A Terrace, Cigarette...

This team of producers from Lisbon seems to be the world ambassador of kuduro, the Angolan dance music that’s blowing up the clubs in both Angola and Portugal. And rightly so, as Buraka Som Sistema’s debut LP “Black Diamond” is an incredible mix of kud...

With the album "Now We Can See," The Thermals lyrically tone-down the overt politics and turn up the power-pop, exposing their great songwriting and allowing for more sing-a-long-abilty. The Portland group plays tracks from the record live on KEXP. Rec...

Telekinesis is local singer/multi-instrumentalist Michael Lerner and while he probably can’t move things with his mind, his urgent, heartfelt indie-pop sure does. He's joined by a full band for this KEXP live set. Recorded on 4/13/09 - 4 songs: Great...

Justin Townes Earle's got more than a songwriter's name (Steve Earle's son, named after Townes Van Zandt), he's got the songs too. Whether he’s covering folk or country classics or doing originals this Nashville musician's sure enough a rising American...

Amps abuzz, ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead (trudging over decades from Hawaii via Olympia to Austin and now with branches reaching into New York) roar through the KEXP studio with a blisteringly melodic set of titantic epic-rockers from t...

M. Ward’s sepia-toned indie-folk shines like the knobs on a vintage radio with his rugged, dreamy voice and deft guitar picking. The Portland-based singer-songwriter joins KEXP for a live performance at 2009’s SXSW Music Festival. Recorded in Austin, T...

Check out Oakland hip-hop duo Zion I (joined here by singer Courtney Holiday) doing a hot live set on KEXP. Zumbi’s a smooth, talented MC who touches on a variety of topics and DJ/producer AmpLive uses an array of different brushes for his top-shelf be...

Swedish singer-songwriter/multi instrumentalist Emil Svanängen and his band, collectively know as Loney Dear, return to KEXP with a dynamic and sweeping set of mature synth-pop featuring songs from their 2009 release "Dear John." Recorded on 2/23/09 - ...

The funky Bay Area microphone acrobat Lyrics Born joins KEXP on his home turf during our live broadcast from Berkeley, California. He's joined by singer (and his wife) Joyo Velarde, and DJ D-Sharp for some tight renditions of tracks from "Everywhere At...

New York band The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart performs a set of darkly melodic pop live on KEXP in NYC. Recorded on 2/9/09 - 4 songs: Doing All The Things That Wouldn't Make Your Parents Proud, Come Saturday, Kurt Cobain's Cardigan, The Tenure Itch

KEXP favorites Peter Bjorn and John play an exclusive live set for KEXP at SXSW Music Festival 2009 from ME Television Studio in Austin, TX. Recorded on 3/20/09 - 6 songs: Blue Period Picasso, It Don't Move Me, Just the Past, Nothing to Worry About, Li...

UK band Gomez plays an exclusive live set for KEXP at SXSW Music Festival from ME Television Studio in Austin 2009. Recorded on 3/19/09 - 3 songs: Mix, Airstream Driver, Hamoa Beach,