During the pandemic, Jim Eno–drummer for Spoon and producer/owner of one of Austin’s best recording studios, Public Hi-Fi–read a disturbing statistic: less than 10% of producers and recording engineers in the U.S. are women or non-binary. “I was pretty floored by that,” says Eno. “I work with a ton of talented, badass female and non-binary artists, [so] how can this number be so low?” Eno decided to launch Project Traction, a mentorship program aimed at increasing female and non-binary representation in the recording field. Six participants were handpicked to work alongside Eno at Public Hi-Fi. There, the participants produced a track by an artist of their choosing while being guided and encouraged by Eno.
The first class includes a lot of Austin (and Texas) talent: Kam Franklin (The Suffers), MC Glaeser (Heartwing, KVN), Emilie Basez (Ley Line), Lucille Garner, Megz Kelli (Magna Carda), and Sara Houser (Löwin, S.L. Houser). This week on My KUTX, Jim Eno, Kam Franklin, and MC Glaeser dig into the empowering experience of Project Traction. They play a few of their Project Traction creations–including “Sacrifice” by Vapor Caves, produced by Franklin and out March 3–alongside the songs and artists that inspired them. Hear My KUTX on Saturday, January 21 at 6 p.m. or listen anytime at the top of the page.
Playlist:
- Vapor Caves – “Sacrifice”
- Nite-Funk – “Let Me Be Me”
- O’Flynn – “Mesablanca”
- Choices – “Less Is More”
- Bronx Cheer – “Westcoast Boogie”
- Roosevelt – “Strangers”
- Cannons – “Fire For You”
- Spoon – “Rainy Taxi”
- Project Traction & Nolina – “(Woke Up) Loving You”
- Heartwing – “Out From Under”
