My KUTX: Austin Kleon

Photo by Gabriel C. Pérez/KUTX

Austin Kleon is an Austin-based New York Times-bestselling author who draws as much as he writes. His books Steal Like An Artist and Show Your Work! are zine-like in appearance, jumbling together comics, poetry, and artistic advice. The homemade aesthetic and Kleon’s sense of humor help these books transcend the self-help genre that they’re nominally filed under. Kleon’s new book, Keep Going, is especially potent, the kind of book that desperately needed to be written right now. Its starting point is the dilemma that a lot of people are facing: how do we keep making art in a world that just keeps getting messier, and what role does creativity play during anxious times?

This week on My KUTX, Kleon returns as our guest DJ. This set is built specifically around Keep Going, spinning the songs and artists that inspired Kleon to write the book and keep going himself. Hear My KUTX on Saturday, April 6 at 6 p.m. or listen anytime at the bottom of the page.

–Art Levy // producer, My KUTX

Playlist:

1. Otis Clay – “Trying To Live My Life Without You”

2. Aretha Franklin – “Rock Steady”

3. X – “The New World”

4. The White Stripes – “Little Room”

5. Wire – “Outdoor Miner”

6. Jonathan Richman – “A Higher Power”

7. Kraftwerk – “Antenna”

8. Prince – “17 Days”

9. Scott Walker – “On Your Own Again”

10. Bill Withers – “Can We Pretend”

11. Gladys Knight & The Pips – “On And On”

12. Grimes – “REALiTi” (Demo)

13. Sam & Dave – “Soothe Me”

14. Rod Stewart – “(I Know) I’m Losing You”

15. The Impressions – “Keep On Pushing”

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