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October 15, 2024

Chance Peña: “Blackbird” (KUTX Pop-Up at ACL Fest)

By: Jack Anderson

For a lot of major artists, ACL Fest is just another tour stop. For up-and-comers, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. But for those who overlap the brackets, the experience falls somewhere in between: somewhat routine, somewhat sentimental.

And we’re guessing Chance Peña lands in that final category. Depending on your age demographic, chances are you’ve already heard of Peña through one avenue or another. Nearly a decade back, Chance Peña caught widespread attention at the tender age of fifteen as a contestant on The Voice. These days, Peña pulls an impressive social media presence and colossal streaming numbers for someone in their mid-twenties.

Yeah, in between the release of his debut full-length Ever-Shifting, Continual Blossoming last month and his current headliner tour that’ll take him across Western Europe and Scandinavia, Chance Peña is pretty much on top of the world. However, we do feel like playing Austin City Limits the first Friday must have been a pretty big deal for a Tyler native, so kudos to the ACL coordinators for showing strong home state support for a young Texan on the up and up. And shoutout to Peña as well for paying that Lone Star love forward with a passionate pop-up performance of his ES,CB standout, “Blackbird”, recorded that same day.


Episodes

December 12, 2025

Half Dream: “Fly” [Recorded Live at the Hole In the Wall]

For over a decade, the windows in the KUTX booth and the front of the Hole In the Wall have gazed at each other from across the street. Generations of musicians and music lovers have storied memories of the 51-year-old venue, whether you were there to see Townes Van Zandt’s regular performances or Lucinda Williams […]

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December 11, 2025

Jay Som: “What You Need” [Live In Studio 1A]

It’s been six years since we’ve had a full Jay Som album, but Melanie Duterte has remained ambient. She kicked-off the early 2020’s as one half of the side project Bachelor alongside Palehound (El Kempner); produced music for Lucy Dacus, Jeff Tweedy, and Hatchie; and worked as both a producer and live band member of […]

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December 10, 2025

J’cuuzi: Fame by Death [Live in Studio 1A]

Today, we’re thrilled to highlight our July Artist of the Month, J’cuuzi. The Austin-by-way-of Atlanta punk duo, made up of Gorge Bones and Trey Razeldazl, have an insatiable appetite for the stage and pushing the boundaries of how they use it. They released their debut EP, SLUDGEcontent, in July, with their style that they’ve dubbed “pop-vantgarde.” […]

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December 9, 2025

Variety: “Subtropical” [Live In Studio 1A]

Rhys Woodruff has been a sterling songwriter throughout his adult life, with the single caveat that he has had very little interest in singing his own songs. Sure, his oscillations between art punk and post punk have led to some of the coolest songs heard in Austin clubs for years, but it took more than […]

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December 5, 2025

Anastasia Hera: “Ambitions” [Live In Studio 1A]

Austin R&B and hip-hop artist Anastasia Hera is busy lady. This year alone, she released her album Way Outside; played our Scholz Garten show during SXSW; and her deft lyrics, sultry vocals, and smooth, earwormy beats led her to become our February Artist of the Month. All while running her non-profit CAKE (Creativity, Abundance, Knowledge, […]

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December 4, 2025

Grocery Bag: “Watching TV”

Austin quartet Grocery Bag had a banger year, being handpicked to open for Osees and Frankie & the Witch Fingers and a stellar, dare I say breakout set at Levitation. That show put them in the crosshairs of Australian psych-rock group Psychedlic Porn Crumpets, who they will be supporting for a whopping 22 dates on […]

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December 2, 2025

Next of Kin: “Jekyll & Hyde” [Live in Studio 1A]

To say Next of Kin have had a successful year would be an understatement. After almost two years of anticipation, our April Artist of the Month released their debut Ep Homemaker in May, punctuated by two sold-out shows at the Continental Club. Since then, they’ve made their ACL Fest debut, modeled for Austin FC’s Live […]

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December 1, 2025

Gus Baldwin & The Sketch: “Itch” (Live in Studio 1A)

Every December, we celebrate the year’s class of 11 Artists of the Month by filling your airwaves, throwing back to Studio 1A’s and My KUTX DJ sets, and giving the year a proper Austin music sendoff. We’ll also be revisiting some of the Studio 1A songs here on Song of the Day, which means you […]

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