SXSW
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On the brick wall facing the Pittsburg Hot Links parking lot, a mural memorializes the small East Texas town’s most famous citizens, including Mean Gene the Hot Link King and Homer Jones, the New York Giants receiver who invented spiking the football after a touchdown.
Soon enough, Pittsburg native Koe Wetzel could be right up there with them. “Maybe [after] a couple more No. 1s,” Wetzel muses as he looks up at those faces. He sounds dubious that he has earned his spot quite yet, but the 32-year-old singer-songwriter is well on his way. His breakthrough hit about a volatile relationship, “High Road” with Jessie Murph, spent five weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart in December and January. “I know the folks who own the place,” he adds with a laugh. “I might go buy some watercolors and paint it myself.”
Koe Wetzel performs at Billboard Presents THE STAGE at SXSW at Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park in Austin on March 13. Get your tickets here.
Wetzel may not believe he’s a local legend yet, but it’s clear that here in his hometown, his star status is confirmed. As he strides across the crosswalk Abbey Road-style in historic Downtown Pittsburg at 8:30 a.m., a fan sticks his head out of a store door and yells “My hero!” his way. Wetzel left Pittsburg (population: 4,335) when he was 18 to attend Tarleton State University in Stephensville, Texas, on a football scholarship as a linebacker. He now lives outside Fort Worth, but his roots run through his gritty brand of country rock, which he delivers in a powerful twang that draws on the long tradition of Texas outlaw country and confessional storytellers like Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark.
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“Koe is the epitome of an artist that is writing his own narrative,” Jelly Roll tells Billboard of Wetzel, whom he toured with in 2022 on the wryly titled Role Models outing. “He’s not writing what everyone else writes. He’s not trying to write another person’s narrative; he’s writing the way he naturally feels. I’ve been a fan of his for a long time — since his first project.”
Whatever he’s singing about — turbulent romances, getting busted for drunk driving or popping pills to get to sleep after a show — in song and conversation, Wetzel is unashamedly himself, with no apologies and no regrets, just like his namesake, country rabble-rouser David Allan Coe. “I was probably conceived to a David Allan Coe song,” he speculates. (His full name is Ropyr Madison Koe Wetzel; “My mom was pretty indecisive,” he says with a playful shake of his head at the multiple names.)
By the time he got kicked out of college his sophomore year for “having too good a time,” Wetzel was already playing shows and focused more on music than books. “Being a Texas artist, you can tour year-round here in Texas. A lot of people do and make a damn good living at it,” he says. “Coming up, that was kind of my main goal and pretty much my only goal.”
Koe Wetzel photographed January 22, 2025 in Pittsburg, Texas.
Eric Ryan Anderson
Jeb Hurt, who has managed Wetzel since 2019, recalls seeing him at a 300-capacity venue in San Marcos, Texas, in 2016. “If there were 200 there, 125 of them were college girls, and they were crammed against the stage screaming every word back to the band,” he says. Hurt, then a booking agent, quickly signed Wetzel, whose audiences grew exponentially through word-of-mouth. “If it was 200 people, the next time there were 400, then 800,” Hurt says. “Next thing you know, we’re in 5,000-cap venues in 24 months.”
Now, Wetzel — who signed with Columbia Records in 2020 — is building his audience around the rest of the country and the world. He toured in Europe last year and will play Australia in March. “It used to be about having a good time, making rent, making gas money to get to the next show,” Wetzel reflects. “And now it’s completely different. It’s wild to see where it’s come from and where we’re at.”
While his act is still built around raising hell onstage, Wetzel has realized that by sharing his own often unsettling stories, he’s helping others feel less alone. “Whenever I see those people sing the songs back or I’m meeting them and [they’re] telling me that what I told them saved their life — they were going to off themselves — that is really special,” Wetzel says, his voice growing thick with emotion. “I didn’t know that it was going to be that way, but now that it is, it’s opened up my mind and my eyes … This isn’t about just taking care of the family anymore and setting everybody up. It’s more about helping these folks live life. But they’re helping me as well. Without them, I’d be out pouring concrete.”
When Wetzel began working on his current album, 2024’s 9 Lives, with Columbia senior vp of A&R Ben Maddahi, his relationship with the label was bruised. “We’d had a bumpy road in our first few album cycles with Columbia,” Hurt says. “Some people left pretty consistently, and so by the time we got to Ben, there was kind of a sense of exhaustion on our [part] of just another A&R person being thrown our way.”
That’s not to say he hadn’t achieved some level of success. After releasing three albums independently, Wetzel had put out two more through the label, including his cheekily titled Columbia debut, Sellout. That and his second album, 2022’s Hell Paso, had together registered eight songs in the top 40 of Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart, and the latter set reached No. 3 on Top Country Albums.
Columbia Records chairman/CEO Ron Perry asked Maddahi, who had worked with pop forces like Sia, Flo Rida and Charlie Puth, to meet with Wetzel. “Ron said something to the effect of, ‘He sells tons of tickets and has a die-hard fan base … We have really high hopes for him, but for some reason this hasn’t worked so far,’ ” Maddahi says.
In June 2023, Maddahi flew to Fort Worth to see Wetzel perform a sold-out show at the 14,000-capacity Dickies Arena. “He had an entire arena of people shouting out every word from the nosebleeds to the front row,” Maddahi recalls. “I came back [to the office] saying, ‘This guy’s a superstar.’ ”
Eric Ryan Anderson
Maddahi next flew to a show in Modesto, Calif., after which he and Wetzel had a heart-to-heart about the next album. “I wanted to slow things down,” says Wetzel, who was listening to acts like ambient pop band Cigarettes After Sex. “I didn’t want the super-edgy guitars, really loud drums.”
Maddahi paired him with Gabe Simon, best known for co-producing Noah Kahan’s Stick Season, and brought in several new co-writers, including Amy Allen, who won the 2024 Grammy Award for songwriter of the year and has written hits for Sabrina Carpenter and Harry Styles. It was during a writers camp with Allen and several other songwriters that the midtempo “High Road,” about a tempestuous, dysfunctional relationship, was born.
He and Maddahi immediately thought of Jessie Murph, whom Wetzel had co-written with before, to join him on “High Road,” and when she sent over a verse, “she killed it,” Wetzel recalls. Columbia partnered with RECORDS Nashville to work the song to country radio, and its ascent began.
“He’s very true to himself, and the songs he writes are exactly how he is, which is something I respect a lot,” Murph says of Wetzel. “When I first heard ‘High Road,’ it felt very nostalgic to me. It felt like a song I could’ve heard when I was a kid, which I loved.” To thank Murph, Wetzel bought her a pistol engraved with their names and the song’s title that took three months to make. “I felt it was really Texas of me,” he says proudly.
9 Lives’ cover is a photograph of the double-wide trailer Wetzel lived in with his parents until he was 12. It’s abandoned now and has fallen into disrepair, with broken slats on the wood steps and prickly bushes growing over the front porch. But inside, it’s still full of books, video tapes, pots and pans, photos of his maternal and paternal great-grandparents and a CD of Miranda Lambert’s 2007 album, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Long gone are the posters that hung on Wetzel’s bedroom walls of his first crush, teen pop star JoJo, and legendary slugger Mark McGwire. The last inhabitant he remembers was his uncle, who died several years ago. He’s not sure who’s living there now, if anyone. Standing inside, he surmises, “I think it’s just a big ol’ family of raccoons.”
His father was a truck driver who shifted into construction when Wetzel was around 11, enabling the family to build a house on the land and move out of the trailer. His mother was a bank teller and a singer who often took Wetzel along to her gigs. He remembers, at age 5, grabbing his dad’s old Hummingbird guitar that was down to two or three strings, “being in my Spider-Man underwear and feeling like I was playing to a million people. Looking back now, it’s like a dream come true.”
Koe Wetzel photographed January 22, 2025 in Pittsburg, Texas.
Eric Ryan Anderson
As a teen, he loved ’90s country, especially acts like the rough-hewn Kentucky Headhunters. But he also loved Nirvana, so much so that at 12 he asked for tickets to see the band for Christmas — and his parents had to break the news that not only was the band not together, but Kurt Cobain had been dead for a decade. “Nirvana had a huge impact,” he says. “I think that resonates with the way I play music — the big guitars, the catchy melodic hooks.”
The trailer sits on 100 acres of land that his great-grandfather bought in the 1930s. Wetzel’s family had gotten behind on the taxes and risked losing it until he bought and paid off the property in 2021. “This land means so much to me and my family. I never wanted anyone else to have it,” he says. While he doesn’t see living on it again himself, he plans to add some cows and, “hopefully, raising a family and having them come out here.”
That family is expanding soon: Wetzel and his girlfriend, Bailey Fisher, are expecting a baby girl in June, news they would announce on social media a few weeks after our interview. “We dated in college, and the last two years resparked everything,” Wetzel explains, then adds with typical candor, “It’s not some random chick I knocked up. I mean, we’re excited as hell. I’m scared as f–k … I’m getting older, I’m growing out of the college party lifestyle I’ve been on the last 10 years … They say there’s always a time to grow up and get your s–t together, and my stuff is not together by no means at all, [but] it’s a lot different than what it was.”
In a corner of Koe Wetzel’s Riot Room stands Dirty Sancho. The nonworking mechanical bull, named for the first Professional Bull Riders bull Wetzel bought (he now owns eight) is just one piece of his personal memorabilia decorating the 7,000-square-foot bar and nightclub Wetzel opened in Fort Worth’s Cultural District in 2023. “We’ve had to sew his head back on a couple of times,” he says of Dirty Sancho. “He’s seen some s–t.”
Wetzel opened the Fort Worth bar, in part, so he would have a place to “drink and party and not worry about people putting me in jail at night,” he says, sitting on a stool in the Riot Room sipping tequila over ice. (A second Riot Room will open in Houston later this year, with hopes of more locations to follow.)
He’s not kidding around. His boisterous “February 28, 2016” from 2016’s Noise Complaint chronicles the night he was arrested for drunk driving, describing how in his inebriated state he just wants to find someone “sober enough to take me to Taco Bell.” The song has become an anthem for his fans, so much so that they’ve made Feb. 28 unofficial Koe Wetzel Day. On that day this year, he released a live album culled from 2024’s Damn Near Normal tour to thank his fans and dropped by the bar to play a few songs live, but he winces a little when he talks about the tune.
“Whenever we play it, I’m very grateful for what it’s done for us, but I’m kind of like, ‘F–k,’ ” he says. He doesn’t hate the song, exactly — it’s just that he’s in a very different place at 32 than he was when he wrote it at 24. “I’m not that person as an artist anymore,” he says. “I’m not that person just having a good time.”
Eric Ryan Anderson
He has different regrets about “Drunk Driving” from 2020’s Sellout. In a catalog of dark songs, it’s one of Wetzel’s darkest: The narrator is driving drunk and trying to outrun his sins as he sings, “Everybody’s got to die somehow/Why not me right now.” It was Wetzel’s attempt to put himself in the mindset of some friends who had died in drunk driving accidents, and, looking back, he wishes he had named it something else. “The song’s not about condoning drunk driving or anything like that,” he says. “It’s a very emotional song.”
Then there’s Hell Paso track “Cabo,” which he swears is a true story about spending money on hookers and blow in the Mexican resort town. The crowd goes crazy when he plays it, he says, but he admits, “Me and Mama haven’t really talked about that one. I know it’s not her favorite by far.” (His mother and father do have plenty of other favorites and frequently come to his gigs: “I think they cry every damn show, her and my pops,” he says. “They’re crying, singing all the words. They’re proud of their baby boy.”)
The connection his fans have to some of Wetzel’s older, often brutally honest lyrics can lead to the misperception that he’s “some f–king hellion,” says Wetzel, who quit counting his number of tattoos at 36. “I feel like most of my music came from whenever I was going balls to the wall, and it’s just kind of not who I am anymore. I can still run it with the best of them, but I feel like they make their opinion of me before they get to meet me, and sometimes that sucks.”
Still, he admits that 1 p.m. Koe and 4 a.m. Koe are two different people. “That’s rock star Koe. He’s kind of a d–k,” he says of the late-night version. “He’s a lot of fun, but he can get out of hand really f–king fast.”
Eric Ryan Anderson
He has somewhat curbed his drinking, including switching from whiskey to tequila. On his Damn Near Normal tour last year, he and some of his bandmates had a ritual: “An hour before the show, we’ll drink a bottle of tequila. If I start earlier, then the show will be s–t, but if I start just after 5 p.m. and kind of drink a couple beers, bottle of tequila, then it’s like the right amount. You get onstage, everything’s smooth sailing, and it feels good.”
He has also changed his after-show routine, hopping straight on the bus as soon as the concert is over. “They took the after-parties away from me. I go shower on the bus, put my comfy clothes on, drink a couple beers, watch a movie, and I was in bed by midnight, 1 o’clock,” he says before admitting: “Honestly, I kind of enjoyed it. I sounded better than I ever had because I was taking care of myself a little bit more.”
Koe Wetzel’s lake house is haunted by a ghost his two younger sisters have named Irene. There’s an underwater cemetery about 100 yards away in the lake, but no one knows if there’s any connection. Irene causes all kinds of mischief, Wetzel says, including throwing bottles off the bar and turning on the TV. “You’ll see her walking the balcony up here every now and then,” he says, describing an opaque apparition. “She kind of f–ks with new people who stay here.” As if on cue, the closed front door suddenly swings wide open on its own.
Irene’s presence notwithstanding, “it’s a safe haven for me,” Wetzel says of this place on Pittsburg’s outskirts. With its spotty cell service, he can unplug, write and relax. “I bought it for us to make more memories,” he says of his friends and family, who come to grill and hang out on his five boats.
The walls on one side are lined with RIAA plaques — 12 of his songs have been certified gold or platinum — while the rest are covered with fish, bird and deer mounts, including deer killed by three generations of Wetzel men. But pride of place goes to an alligator skull on a sideboard; Wetzel killed the reptile with a buck knife during COVID-19 isolation in Matagorda Bay, Texas. “I got in the water, Steve Irwin’d him a little bit,” he says, sipping a Busch Light and pointing to a photo of him sitting astride the alligator. “Cool story to tell but my mom hates that story. She don’t like it when I do dumb s–t. She worries about her baby way too much.”
Eric Ryan Anderson
There’s also a photo of him with a giant catfish he caught with his bare hands — known as noodling — in the lake. His biggest catch has been 62 pounds, which he and his buddies tagged and tossed back. Asked whether killing a bear with a bow and arrow or having a five-week No. 1 is more satisfying, Wetzel pauses to give the question considerable thought, then decides: “Adrenaline-wise, killing a bear with a bow. Accomplishment-wise, a five-week No. 1.”
For all his love of hunting and fishing, those subjects haven’t found their way into Wetzel’s music. “I feel like I was put here to write about relationships gone bad or going good. Real-world stuff, I guess,” he says. “Not saying that hunting is not. It’s a huge part of my life and I love it to death, but I just guess I haven’t figured out what I wanted to say about it yet.”
Yet as he begins working on new music, Wetzel, who will tour this year with HARDY and Morgan Wallen, as well as play Stagecoach and other festivals, says he’s increasingly finding that all his passions are intertwined.
“I feel like every time I’m [writing], it peels back a layer of who I am. I find something that I didn’t know was there,” he says. “Whenever you get the song completed, there’s no more holes in it. There’s nothing else you could do for that song. It’s like, ‘Man, this is insane. This is really cool.’ It’s almost like the noodling and the hunting for me: It’s something that I feel like I’ll never master, but it’s what keeps me coming back and back. It’s a cool deal.”
This story appears in the March 8, 2025, issue of Billboard.
The South by Southwest Music Festival has announced that Chinese singer-songwriter Tia Ray will take the stage on March 11 as part of International Nights at Rivian Park. As the only invited artist from mainland China, she will headline the festival and deliver a grand finale performance for music enthusiasts worldwide, alongside international talents such […]
Billboard announced the opening acts for its The Stage at SXSW concert series during this year’s annual gathering in Austin, TX on Friday (Feb. 21). Joining previously announced headliners Koe Wetzel, Grupo Frontera and John Summit at the concert series at the iconic Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park from March 13-15 are a group of […]
The Penske Media Corporation (PMC) announced its expansive slate of experiences and concerts at this year’s SXSW festival on Thursday (Feb. 13). The lineup of activations from PMC’s iconic brands — Billboard, Rolling Stone, Deadline, Variety, SHE Media, Sportico and The American Pavilion — will include panel discussion, concerts, fireside chats and must-see experiences during the annual conference and festival that will take place in Austin, TX this year from March 7-15.
The festivities will kick off on March 7-9 with Deadline‘s Deadline Studio and the On the Go with Deadline social activation at the Thompson Hotel, with to-be-announced talent stopping by for on-camera interviews and solo and group portraits.
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SHE Media will also set up house from March 7-9 for its Co-Lab event at 304 E. 3rd Street for a series of conversations about women’s holistic health featuring women’s health advocates, actors, comedians and specialists including: Chelsea Handler, Naomi Watts, Christy Turlington Burns, Dr. Jennifer Ashton, Tamsen Fadal, Scott Galloway, Stacy London, Emma Lovewell and Sophia Bush, among others.
Variety will host a live podcast taping with partner YouTube on March 8 with Hot Ones host Sean Evans and Variety Awards Editor Clayton Davis, followed by a March 9 screening and cocktail reception for the documentary Reef Builders: The Unlikely Partnership Restoring Coral and a panel discussion with actor Auli’i Cravalho, director/producer Stephen Shearman and others.
Sportico will host the two-day Sportico House (March 11-12) at Wanderlust Wine Co., which will feature top industry professionals dropping in for panels and live podcast tapings exploring the intersection of sports, media and business along with networking opportunities.
Rolling Stone will be back at SXSW for its third-annual Future of Music showcase presented by JBL, for a four-night (March 11-14) concert series featuring an as-yet-unannounced group of artists performing at ACL Live at the Moody Theater.
In addition, Billboard‘s THE STAGE at SXSW will return as well for three nights (March 13-15) of live performances at the Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park, with each night highlighting a different musical genre. The party will kick off with county singer Koe Wetzel on night one, followed by Música Mexicana stars Grupo Frontera on March 14 and a closing-night set from dance star John Summit.
The American Pavilion will return for year two of its Worldwide Student Program — which last year gave 12 students access to some influential industry events — expanding its scope in 2025 to six days of “thought leadership programming and expert discussions” from creators in the worlds of film and TV.
Billboard’s parent company PMC is the largest shareholder of SXSW and its brands are official media partners of SXSW.
South by Southwest has announced new keynotes and its latest round of featured speakers for its 39th edition, taking place March 7-15 across Austin.
Newly announced keynotes include Issa Rae, the creative force behind HBO’s Insecure; Meredith Whittaker, president of Signal; and Ben Lamm, CEO of Colossal Biosciences, who’ll be joined by actor Joe Manganiello to discuss advancements in… cloning. They join previously announced keynotes such as Creedence Clearwater Revival icon John Fogerty, Bluesky CEO Jay Graber, and IBM chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna.
The featured speakers lineup includes the cast and creators of HBO’s The Last of Us, game designer Hideo Kojima, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe, comedian and podcaster Conan O’Brien, actor and musician Kevin Bacon, and Something Corporate singer-songwriter Andrew McMahon. Additional speakers include comedian Taylor Tomlinson food critic Keith Lee and social health expert Kasley Killam.
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This new slate of speakers complements SXSW’s rounds of announcements, which included Donald Passman, Ghazi, Dr. Peter Attia, Johanna Faries, Douglas Rushkoff, and more.
Highlighted sessions include “Colossal: Technology Company Turning Science Fiction to Science Fact,” where Lamm and Manganiello will explore advancements in gene editing and cloning. “A Conversation with Issa Rae” will cover her career and media company, HOORAE, while “A Conversation About Online Security and Confidentiality” will see Whittaker discussing privacy with Guy Kawasaki. Other panels include “Balloonerism – A Film Based on the Album by Mac Miller,” a discussion on a new film inspired by the late artist’s work, and “Breaking Barriers by Turning Prisoners into Firefighters,” focusing on rehabilitation through firefighting programs.
Entertainment-focused chats will include “Fans Over Fees,” where McMahon will address ticket scalping and fair access to live events; “Claiming the Future of Entertainment,” where O’Brien and gaming exec Johanna Faries will discuss gaming’s influence on media; and “DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH,” where Kojima will reveal details about the video game.
Other notable discussions include “Fireside with Arm CEO Rene Haas,” covering AI’s impact on technology, and “Funny AF Comedy Showrunners,” where Universal Television’s top creators will share insights into comedy production. Business-oriented panels include “How America’s 33M Small Businesses Can Grow and Prosper,” featuring Mark Cuban; and “How Technology Is Transforming Urban Spaces,” examining AI’s role in city infrastructure.
Additional sessions will feature discussions on AI in media with Paramount CTO Phil Wiser, immersive storytelling with ILM Immersive, and influencer entrepreneurship with Keith Lee and Jennifer Quigley-Jones.
“Every year, SXSW assembles a group of speakers who are doing extraordinary and often surprising things, such as breaking boundaries in storytelling and representation, advocating for secure communication, and bringing back the woolly mammoth,” said Hugh Forrest, president and chief programming officer of SXSW. “Issa Rae, Meredith Whittaker, Ben Lamm, and Joe Manganiello make up a stellar group of changemakers who are a perfect fit for the SXSW community.”
SXSW will take place from March 7-15 in Austin, Texas, with full details regarding their newly-announced speakers and sessions available via their website.
Billboard is making its way across the pond for an expansion of our THE STAGE at SXSW concert series, this time at SXSW London. The show will feature a performance by two-time Grammy-winning superstar Tems. The event will take place June 5 at the iconic Troxy in Shoreditch, London. “We’re excited to bring one of Billboard’s […]
Billboard is making its way back to South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, for three star-studded concerts from March 13 to 15.
Billboard THE STAGE at SXSW will take place at the the iconic Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park, and will kick off Thursday (March 13) with a performance by Texas native and country superstar Koe Wetzel. The fun continues Friday (March 14) when Música Mexicana stars Grupo Frontera — also Texas born and raised — take the stage. The final evening, Saturday (March 15), is presented by Carnival Cruise and will feature a high-energy performance from dance music artist John Summit.
More performers will be announced in the coming weeks.
Carnival Cruise Line will provide pedicabs to transport guests to and from THE STAGE, and will also host a one-of-a-kind Celebration Key experience in The Paradise Zone that features a tropical-themed bar, a snack cart and custom photo opportunities. Additionally, Azzaro Parfums is hosting an immersive fragrance sampling station.
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“Billboard has always been at the forefront of celebrating the artists and moments that shape the global music landscape, and this year at SXSW, we’re continuing that tradition with a unique concert series that highlights the diversity of today’s music scene,” Hannah Karp, Billboard’s editorial director, said in a press statement. “From country to Música Mexicana and electronic dance music, Billboard THE STAGE will bring unforgettable live performances to Austin to enhance the SXSW experience and connect music fans with the artists they love.”
Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park will host a ticket pre-sale for all three days of the event starting on Thursday (Jan. 30) at 9 a.m. CT using an exclusive venue code. General admission tickets go on sale the next day via Ticketmaster here at 9 a.m. CT, with a number of tickets reserved for existing SXSW Platinum and Music Badge holders, as well as SXSW Music Festival wristband holders.
Billboard is also partnering with REVERB again to provide a lucky music fan with the chance to win an all-expense-paid VIP trip to SXSW. Participants can enter to win by making a donation to REVERB through Prizeo, which will support REVERB’s Music Decarbonization Project, which works to reduce carbon emissions within the music industry. The prize also includes a meet-and-greet with Koe Wetzel, side-stage viewing, round-trip airfare for two, three nights of hotel accommodations and a signed merch pack. To enter the contest, visit prizeo.com/Koe.
Billboard will report live throughout SXSW. Be sure to follow along on billboard.com and on social media (@billboard) for the latest news and announcements.
Billboard’s parent company PMC is the largest shareholder of SXSW and its brands are official media partners of SXSW.
The South by Southwest Music Festival has announced the third round of Showcasing Artists invited to perform at the 39th annual event, March 10-15, 2025, in Austin.
The third announcement includes several powerhouse SXSW alumni like Sunflower Bean, Holy Fuck, and Jack’s Mannequin. The diverse lineup includes from chart-topping alt-reggaeton act NSQK from Mexico and energetic J-Pop boy band PSYCHIC FEVER. Everything from Latin favorites like Sofía Reyes, Amantes Del Futuro, La Cendejas and st. Pedro to acclaimed Taiwanese artists including Andr, TRASH, Amazing Show, and Enno Cheng.
Other highlights include rising hip-hop star Samara Cyn, ethereal songstress Quiet Light, award-winning musician-activist Madame Gandhi, rebel psych-rock band Frankie and the Witch Fingers, and the new project from Núria Graham and Aoife Nessa Frances called Red Stamp. Also on the lineup are multi-sensory experimental artist BLACK FONDU, ambient Thai collaborators NISATIWA X NOTEP, funk-soul seven piece brass band SNACKTIME, and Muri, a magnetic force redefining Filipino music. Japanese artists include neo-soul, city pop ensemble Luv, high energy punk-rock band ENTH, and metal band with heavy sound and light lyrics, GOKUMON (UchikubiGokumonDoukoukai).
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“The momentum continues to build with our third reveal,” said James Minor, VP of Music Festival. “Each act lends a unique and dynamic voice to the lineup, with both new and established artists from around the world creating a real sense of anticipation for the March event.”
Many of SXSW’s showcases are curated by SXSW programmers in collaboration with record labels, booking agencies, export offices, music publishers, media outlets, lifestyle brands and more. These showcases give attendees the opportunity to experience sets in exclusive, small-stage performances. A sortable airtable that contains information on each artist’s genre, publicist contact information, and social media pages can be found here.
Starting January 30th, SXSW staff will be sharing weekly artist round-ups on the official SXSW Spotify and YouTube Music Video playlists. Yesterday, SXSW announced Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Grammy Award-winning lead singer for Creedence Clearwater Revival John Fogerty and Bluesky CEO Jay Graber as Keynote Speakers, in addition to the third round of Featured Speakers.
Hugh Forrest has been promoted to president of South by Southwest, where he will continue to oversee programming and assume full leadership of an organization he’s worked at for 36 years. Previously co-president and chief programming officer, Forrest takes on this new role as Jann Baskett, the current co-president and chief brand officer, prepares to step down on Dec. 31. Baskett will transition into an advisory and project-based role.
As president, Forrest will focus on driving business growth and work closely with the board of directors, which includes co-founder Roland Swenson, Jay Penske (CEO of Penske Media, SXSW’s largest shareholder), and Amy Webb (CEO of the Future Today Institute). Forrest expressed his enthusiasm for leading SXSW into its next phase, emphasizing “the experience of connection, inspiration and discovery that we provide for so many different industries each March” and its role in fostering community globally.
Founded in 1987 by Swenson, Nick Barbaro, Louis Black and Louis Jay Meyers, SXSW has evolved into a globally renowned event in Austin. Swenson, who led SXSW for 36 years, became executive chairman in 2022. Over the past two years, Forrest and Baskett successfully navigated SXSW’s post-COVID recovery, including expanding the festival to Sydney and London.
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Baskett reflected on her time leading SXSW, sharing pride in her contributions alongside Forrest and the team. She praised the event’s mission of supporting creative individuals — “Never has that purpose been more necessary” — and expressed excitement about her ongoing involvement as an advisor. “SXSW continues to be a beacon of light for artists and change makers,” she said.
“I want to extend my gratitude to Jann Baskett for her leadership, commitment, and creative vision as Co-President of SXSW over the past few years,” said Jay Penske. “Her contributions have been key in evolving the festival. Looking ahead, we are confident that Hugh Forrest will continue SXSW’s long tradition of supporting innovators and artists, expanding our global footprint, and building upon the incredible foundation of the world’s premier gathering of creative minds.”
The Executive Leadership Team supporting Forrest includes co-founders Swenson and Barbaro, as well as chief culture & people officer Autumn Amescua, chief technology officer Justin Bankston, chief logistics officer Michele Flores, chiefpartnerships officer Peter Lewis, chief financial officer Leanna Rossman, general counsel Stevie Fitzgerald and executive vice president Darin Klein
Note: Billboard’s parent company PMC is the largest shareholder of SXSW and its brands are official media partners of SXSW.
South by Southwest will be returning to Austin, Texas, in the spring, and the event announced its next lineup of showcasing artists on Wednesday (Dec. 11).
Big Freedia, Tamanaramen, Heal, Jasmine.4.t, Steve Wynn, Aiko, Freak Slug, Steam Down, Master Peace, Sweet Spine and Total F—ing Darkness will all be performing at SXSW.
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“The SXSW Music Festival lineup provides a unique opportunity to discover artists from around the world,” said James Minor, VP of Music Festival. “The magic comes from a diverse and carefully-curated program that’s designed to help you find your next favorite act. For our second reveal, we continue down that path with an abundance of inspiring musicians who will be heading to Austin next March.”
The second round of acts hail from countries including Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Czechia, Denmark, Ecuador, England, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Paraguay, Scotland, Spain, Ukraine, and Wales.
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Founded in 1987 in Austin, SXSW has grown to encompass tech, film and TV, music, education and culture. The entirety of the 2025 conference and festival will run from March 10-15.