Watch Waxahatchee’s Late Night TV Debut On Kimmel
NEWS FEBRUARY 10, 2021 9:25 AM BY CHRIS DEVILLE
It’s hard to believe, but before last night, Waxahatchee had never performed on late night TV. Nearly a decade into her catalog, after five uniformly stellar albums that rendered her an indie rock living legend, Katie Crutchfield finally debuted in that context on last night’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live. Naturally, it was a great performance.
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/ MY TAKE – Cypress Butane:
I first heard of Waxahatchee from an NPR story that told the origins of the music and Katie Crutchfield’s first recordings:
Waxahatchee: A Lonesome Voice, Raised In Basements
June 23, 20138:50 AM ETHeard on Weekend Edition Sunday
LISTEN TO THIS STORY HERE
Will Figg for NPR
“I kind of came to everyone and was like, ‘Guys. What if we call it … Blue.’ “
Katie Crutchfield’s eyes light up as she says this last word, but her smile turns sheepish as she recounts what her bandmates, on hearing the pitch, gently reminded her: There’s already a very famous album by that name.
“I was like, ‘Oh yeah,’ ” says the 24-year-old songwriter, laughing and noting she’s a fan of the Joni Mitchell classic. “I completely forgot about that. She got there first. She got there way before I was born.”
SXSW: LIVE FROM AUSTIN
Waxahatchee, Live In Concert: SXSW 2013
We’re sitting on the back porch of Katie’s home, a three-story row house in west Philadelphia. Down the stairs, behind us, is the basement room where Cerulean Salt, her second album as Waxahatchee, was recorded last fall. Katie shares the house with seven musician friends, one of whom — her twin sister, Allison — is also her oldest collaborator. The two of them grew up in Birmingham, Ala., with a basement of their own.
“We hit this point when we were, like, 14, where we kind of didn’t hang out with anyone else,” Allison says. “Every day we got home from school, would eat a snack and then go downstairs and practice until my mom was like, ‘OK, no more!’ “
The twins started their first rock band, The Ackleys, in high school.Katie sang lead and played guitar; Allison started on drums and switched to keyboard. They booked their first shows at a Birmingham venue called Cave 9, run by a local tattoo artist named Aaron Hamilton. He says the group’s early gigs were shaky, but the music showed potential — especially Katie’s lyrics.
READ AND LISTEN TO THE FULL STORY AT NPR
ANOTHER GREAT TRACK:
The Haunted Typewriter 