Waxahatchee on KEXP

Waxahatchee performing at the AJ Fletcher Opera Theatre during the Hopscotch Music Festival in Raleigh, NC on September 7, 2018.

I’m not sure exactly when Waxahatchee first appeared on my radar but I do know my interest was piqued enough to catch her during Hopscotch in 2018. At the time she had just released her Great Thunder EP. While I certainly enjoyed her set, I mainly picked up her EP on the strength of it being produced by Brad Cook. Even so, I was not overly taken with it.

Poster for the private, invitation only show at the Pinhook in Durham. NC on January 3, 2023 where Waxahatchee debuted songs from the album that would become Tigers Blood.

Fast forward to 2022 and I was all in with the Plains album she made with Jess Williamson. On the recommendation of a friend, I backtracked to her St. Cloud album which I also enjoyed. 

In early 2023 I received a text from a friend alerting me to an upcoming private, invitation only show at the Pinhook in Durham where she would be debuting a set of new songs backed by a stellar lineup of mostly local musicians. Thankfully, I didn’t sleep on that and purchased a ticket the next day. These songs are the ones that would become Tigers Blood, which came out the following year.

The next time Waxahatchee came to the area she played the DPAC, a considerably larger venue just a few blocks away from the Pinhook. It’s almost the same story for MJ Lenderman, who plays on the record and was a member of her band that night at the Pinhook. In early 2025 he played two sold out shows at Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro. By this summer he also found himself headlining the DPAC.

In a musical landscape where so many of my favorite artists fly just beneath the radar I find it remarkable when they’re somehow able to achieve that next level of success that eludes so many.

Back in August Waxahatchee stopped by KEXP’s studios in Seattle, WA to record her fifth live performance for the station. It debuted on YouTube just a few days ago.