Creek roots, Asheville twang
New chapter on a shared stage
Waxahatchee is Katie Crutchfield from Alabama, whose project grew from lo-fi home tapes into clear-eyed, country-leaning indie rock. After sobriety and the pivot on
Saint Cloud, she leaned into warm guitars and plainspoken hooks, and the 2024 set
Tigers Blood pushed that sound further with guest parts from
MJ Lenderman. This co-bill pairs her cutting voice with his ragged drawl, likely splitting the night between their bands and a few shared moments. Expect
Waxahatchee to lean on
Right Back to It,
Lilacs, and
Fire, while
MJ Lenderman might rip through
You Have Bought Yourself a Boat and
Tastes Just Like It Costs. The crowd skews mixed-age indie and alt-country fans, with guitar heads clocking tones and couples swaying to the quieter cuts. Trivia: the name Waxahatchee comes from a creek near her childhood home, and her debut
American Weekend was tracked quickly at home with minimal gear. Another deep-cut detail:
MJ Lenderman also plays guitar in
Wednesday, which colors his solos with fuzzy, loping lines. These notes on songs and staging reflect informed guesses from recent shows, so details can shift night to night.
Scene & fan culture: soft sing-alongs, inked posters
Denim, boots, and band tees
Shared quiet, shared chorus
You will likely see lots of faded denim, scuffed boots, simple dresses, and vintage tees from indie labels or radio stations. Trucker caps and tote bags show up near the rail, while handwritten setlist notes and zines trade hands between songs. People tend to sing the hook of
Right Back to It and the ooohs in
Lilacs, then hush for a pin-drop moment on
Fire. Merch leans tasteful: risograph posters with creek or highway art, a small run of vinyl, and shirts with clean fonts instead of loud graphics. A pocket of
MJ Lenderman fans gravitates toward the front for the noisier tunes, nodding along to the solos and swapping guitar pedal talk.
Waxahatchee regulars often bring friends who drifted from punk into folk, and the chat before the encore is about songs, not spectacle. After the show, folks compare favorite lines rather than favorite riffs, and a few make low-key plans to check out
Brennan Wedl next time. The overall energy is attentive and warm, shaped by listeners who respect quiet dynamics and still crave the cathartic swell.
Under the hood: songs breathe, guitars glow
Clear voices, patient tempos
Small choices, big feel
Waxahatchee keeps the center with a bright, steady voice that sits on top of the mix, letting consonants snap while vowels bloom. Her band favors chiming rhythm guitar, spare keys, and light-on-the-cymbals drumming that gives her melodies space to ring.
MJ Lenderman leans into ragged edges, stacking overdriven leads over a shuffle that feels loose but lands right on time. When they share the stage, the arrangement sweet spot is two guitars and a soft organ pad, with bass playing simple roots that make the choruses feel bigger without getting louder. Tempos hover in the midrange, yet endings often open into short, wordless codas where guitar lines answer the vocal like echoes. A subtle trick they both use live is dropping older songs into slightly lower keys and adding harmony parts, which warms the tone and smooths the phrasing. On quieter numbers, brushes or bundle sticks replace sticks, and the band lets the kick drum thump like a heartbeat rather than a click track. Lights tend to be warm whites and ambers with slow fades, supporting the music-first flow instead of chasing every hit.
Kindred echoes for Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman
If you like twang with teeth
Indie quiet that still cuts
Fans of
Waxahatchee often also land with
Big Thief for hushed storytelling, elastic dynamics, and a band that can turn on a dime.
Angel Olsen matches the ache and vintage-tinted tones, trading between intimate hush and full-band bite in ways that feel kin.
Hurray for the Riff Raff brings folk-rooted writing and social pulse that sits near
Waxahatchee's grounded Americana. For
MJ Lenderman partisans,
Wednesday deliver fuzzy slide guitar and a slack-in-the-shoulders stomp, with hooks that sneak up. The overlap is about tone and temperament: lived-in lyrics, roomy mixes where guitars talk, and singers who favor clarity over vocal gymnastics. If those lanes feel right, this bill likely scratches the itch across the indie-to-country border.
