Dolly Parton Bash, benefitting Front Steps, January 2019. Photo by Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon/KUTX

One cubicle over from my desk sits Deidre Gott, KUTX’s live music booker and the world’s biggest Dolly Parton fan. Parton’s career-spanning box set is permanently enshrined on her desk. Deidre even once worked at Dollywood; she never got to meet the woman herself, but she did pick up Dolly’s can-do attitude and irrepressible need to spread joy.

For the past few years, Deidre has organized a Dolly Parton Birthday Bash in January as a benefit for Front Steps, an Austin non-profit that runs the ARCH and provides resources for our neighbors experiencing homelessness. A January bash wasn’t possible due to the pandemic, but it’s now returning on Sunday, July 25 as Hot Dolly. Over thirty Austin artists will help out Front Steps by singing Dolly’s songs on Stubb’s outdoor stage. Catch performances by Sabrina Ellis (Sweet Spirit, A Giant Dog), Mélat, Jake Lloyd, Leslie Sisson and Cara Tillman (Moving Panoramas), Stephanie Bergara (Bidi Bidi Banda), and many more, all backed by the Steep Cats. Plus, in between sets of music, the Queens of Extragram will perform a Dolly drag show.

This week on My KUTX, Deidre fulfills her greatest DJ wish: playing nothing but Dolly on the air, plus a few songs Dolly wrote and others sang. Hear a Dolly-themed My KUTX on Saturday, July 24, and find tickets and more information on Hot Dolly here.

–Art Levy // producer, My KUTX

Playlist:

1. Dolly Parton – “Puppy Love”

2. Dolly Parton – “Dumb Blonde”

3. Johnny Russell – “Act Naturally”

4. Dolly Parton – “Gettin’ Happy”

5. Merle Haggard & The Strangers – “Kentucky Gambler”

6. Dolly Parton – “Sweet Summer Lovin'”

7. Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers – “Islands In The Stream”

8. Tina Turner – “There’ll Always Be Music”

9. Emmylou Harris – “To Daddy”

10. Dolly Parton – “Why, Why, Why”

11. Jean Shepard – “Slippin’ Away”

12. Porter Wagoner & Dolly Parton – “Two Sides To Every Story”

13. Dolly Parton & Willie Nelson – “Everything Is Beautiful (In Its Own Way)”

14. Dolly Parton – “I Will Always Love You”

Photo by Gabriel C. Pérez/KUTX. Erick Bohorquez (seated, front row, center), Jaime Ospina (seated, second row), and Nico Sanchez (seated, front row, right) are the guest DJs.

Superfónicos is an eight-piece Austin band formed around a love of Colombian and African music, mixed with funk and psychedelic rock. In their hands, all these sounds collide with the force of a runaway train, and that’s exactly what the band’s My KUTX episode from 2018 feels like. Bassist Nico Sanchez, guitarist Erick Bohorquez, and gaitero and singer Jaime Ospina put together a mix that’s dizzying and highly danceable.

Listening to this guest DJ set is a great way to get acquainted with Superfónicos ahead of the band’s July 30 show at the Mohawk, where they perform alongside fellow psychedelic/Latin music explorers Money Chicha. Hear Superfónicos’ My KUTX on Saturday, July 17 at 6 p.m. or listen anytime in the player above.

–Art Levy // producer, My KUTX

Playlist:

1. Paito y Los Gaiteros de Punta Brava – “El Gusto de las Mujeres”

2. Carmelo Torres – “Tierra de Poetas”

3. Abelardo Carbonó – “Palenque”

4. Wganda Kenya – “Shakalaodé”

5. Bloque – “Daño en el Baño”

6. Carlos Vives – “Ella”

7. The Meters – “Cissy Strut”

8. Jimi Hendrix – “Bold As Love”

9. Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson – “The Bottle”

10. Lee Perry/Seke Molenga & Kalo Kawongolo – “Bad Food”

11. Son Palenque – “ La Zorrononona”

12. Petrona Martínez – “La Vida Vale La Pena”

Matthew Logan Vasquez (+ Thor) from 2017. Gabriel C. Pérez/KUTX

Matthew Logan Vasquez helped form the rootsy indie rockers Delta Spirit in Long Beach, California in 2005. A few years ago, Vasquez returned to his former hometown of Austin and plunged deep into the scene here, releasing a handful of great solo albums and collaborating with Austin’s David Ramirez, Kelsey Wilson, Adrian Quesada, and more in Glorietta.

On Saturday, July 10, Vasquez celebrates his birthday with a big show at Hotel Vegas, featuring Austin fixtures Israel Nash, Kelsey Wilson (Wild Child, Sir Woman), Magic Rockers Of Texas, Kam Franklin (The Suffers), and more. This week on My KUTX, we’re rebroadcasting his 2015 guest DJ set, which is something of a love letter to his Austin youth: headbanging to Nirvana and Metallica, jamming Sublime while rollerblading across South Austin, shoutouts to Janis Joplin and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and more. Hear Matthew Logan Vasquez’s My KUTX on Saturday, July 10 at 6 p.m. or listen anytime in the player above.

–Art Levy // My KUTX

Playlist:

[intro music: Matthew Logan Vasquez – “Same”]

1. Nirvana – “School”

2. Metallica – “For Whom The Bell Tolls”

3. Sublime – “Badfish”

4. Neil Young – “Harvest Moon”

5. Janis Joplin & Big Brother & The Holding Company – “Summertime”

6. Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble – “Life By The Drop”

7. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – “Into My Arms”

8. Tom Waits – “Just The Right Bullets”

9. Bob Dylan – “To Ramona”

10. Led Zeppelin – “Dancing Days”

11. Bonnie Raitt – “Not Cause I Wanted To”

12. Can – “Little Star Of Bethlehem”

Photo by Martin do Nascimento/KUTX

Valerie June titled her excellent latest album The Moon And Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers for a reason. She counts herself as a dreamer–if you’re a musician, you have to be. This record is intended to give everyone else the same permission to dream.

June started out in tiny Humboldt, Tennessee with a love of blues and gospel music and an inviting voice that sounds centuries old. Her early blues-based work has bloomed into the expansive, orchestral music found on The Moon And Stars, while still keeping that R&B-inspired pulse at its core.

This week on My KUTX, we’re thrilled to have June as our guest DJ. She curates a mix of songs for all the dreamers out there, including David Bowie, Mazzy Star, Bob Marley, Roy Orbison, and more. Hear Valerie June’s My KUTX on Saturday, July 3 at 6 p.m. or listen anytime in the player above.

–Art Levy // producer, My KUTX

Playlist:

1. Bob Marley & The Wailers – “High Tide Or Low Tide”

2. John Lennon – “Imagine”

3. Fleetwood Mac – “Dreams”

4. Roy Orbison – “Beautiful Dreamer”

5. Mazzy Star – “Fade Into You”

6. David Bowie – “Space Oddity”

7. Bill Frisell – “When You Wish Upon A Star”

8. Billie Holiday – “Blue Moon”

9. Bobby Charles – “I Must Be In A Good Place Now”

10. Nina Simone – “I Shall Be Released”

11. Charley Pride – “Standing In My Way”

12. Jackson Browne – “These Days”

13. Clarence Carter – “Patches”

14. Patsy Cline – “Leavin’ On Your Mind”

15. Lou Reed – “Perfect Day”

Swimmers in ‘Bartholomew Swims,’ 2017. Photo by Amitava Sarkar.

This year, one of the more innovative arts organizations in Austin turns 20 years old. Through expressive and engaging choreography, Forklift Danceworks partners with a variety of the city’s behind-the-scenes communities: Austin’s sanitation workers, pool maintenence crews, Austin Energy, and more. The dances help shine a light on the less-noticed everyday choreography, like the odd grace of a trash truck or the delicate work of maintaining Austin’s dozens of public pools. “We make dances with people who don’t always think of themselves as dancers,” says Allison Orr, Forklift’s Artistic Director.

To celebrate its 20th anniversary, Forklift presents an outdoor screening of Trash Dance on July 10, followed by more programming this summer and fall, including a celebration at Umlauf Sculpture Garden on October 28th. And recently, frequent collaborator Graham Reynolds released a collection of music he composed for Forklift productions. This week on My KUTX, Orr is our guest DJ, taking you through Forklift’s two decades via the music that has inspired her and the dancers. Hear My KUTX on Saturday, June 26 at 6 p.m. or listen anytime in the player at the top of the page.

–Art Levy // producer, My KUTX

Playlist:

1. Graham Reynolds – “Trash Trucks”

2. Irma Serrano – “Flor del Rio”

3. NOOK Turner – “The A” (feat. Dok Holiday)

4. Glen Campbell – “Wichita Lineman”

5. Journey – “Don’t Stop Believin'”

6. Graham Reynolds – “Aquatics Maintenance”

7. Earth, Wind & Fire – “September”

8. Dolly Parton – “Here You Come Again”

9. Graham Reynolds – “Jerry In The Bake Shop”

10. Vicente Fernández – “Volver Volver”

11. Leonard Cohen – “Traveling Light”

12. Graham Reynolds – “Dance For A Crane, Pt. 2”