
My 9th year at SXSW. So I thought it was a good time to name my favorite performances since 2016 and go a little deeper into 2026.
· 2016: Tickle Torture @ The Iron Bear with a lubed up set more erotic than Prince.
· 2017: Duckwrth @ Banger’s playing a most vibrant day-party set.
· 2018: Joey Dosik @ Zilker Park. A pop up in the park was picnic perfect.
· 2019: Celeste @ St David’s Church. One of the greatest voices of our time, performing at a church.
· 2022: Annabelle Chairlegs @ The Creek and The Cave. What fun energy, always.
· 2023: Thee Sacred Souls & Hermanos Gutiérrez @ Radio Day Stage. Best back-to-back set I’ve seen since.
· 2024: Estevie @ Mohawk was the last set of the week, in the rain. Grade A atmosphere.
· 2025: Edgar Alejandro @ Mala Fama. See him live. So much potential.
I’ve seen a lot of Americana at SXSW, it is in the soul of Texas, but none that have been my #1 pick of the year until 2026.
Haylie Davis, like Estevie in 2024, was my last performance of the week, and also like Estevie, the best.
I don’t usually care about lyrics until long down the road with a musician, but it was the first thing I notice with Haylie. It doesn’t speak to my experience, but something much deeper.
Her sound is something I dabble in when I’m in Texas, but Haylie may be the first I’ll be listening to for decades.
Billboard On The Record, my favorite podcast at the moment, had a discussion with the founders of Chaotic Good, a company that creates fake hype around musicians on TikTok and other social platforms. They flood networks with content and comments that drown out negative sentiment and manufacture artificial hype. It’s completely fucked.
We’ve had forms of payola across entertainment, especially music, since the start, but at least Chaotic Good is upfront about it. I can’t imagine platforms like TikTok think this is healthy for their system.
The remedy is creating more demand for organic discovery over promotion. How? Clip armies and similar collectives for gamification need to be paid better through editorializing platforms rather than gaming the system for the people who can pay for it.