Chance Peña: “Blackbird” (KUTX Pop-Up at ACL Fest)

Michael Minasi

For a lot of major artists, ACL Fest is just another tour stop. For up-and-comers, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. But for those who overlap the brackets, the experience falls somewhere in between: somewhat routine, somewhat sentimental.

And we’re guessing Chance Peña lands in that final category. Depending on your age demographic, chances are you’ve already heard of Peña through one avenue or another. Nearly a decade back, Chance Peña caught widespread attention at the tender age of fifteen as a contestant on The Voice. These days, Peña pulls an impressive social media presence and colossal streaming numbers for someone in their mid-twenties.

Yeah, in between the release of his debut full-length Ever-Shifting, Continual Blossoming last month and his current headliner tour that’ll take him across Western Europe and Scandinavia, Chance Peña is pretty much on top of the world. However, we do feel like playing Austin City Limits the first Friday must have been a pretty big deal for a Tyler native, so kudos to the ACL coordinators for showing strong home state support for a young Texan on the up and up. And shoutout to Peña as well for paying that Lone Star love forward with a passionate pop-up performance of his ES,CB standout, “Blackbird”, recorded that same day.

Chance Peña – vocals, guitar; Nate Sander – keys; Aaron John Hicks – guitar

Producer: Deidre Gott; Audio Engineer: Rene Chavez; Audio Mix Engineer: Jake Perlman; Cameras: Michael Minasi, Issak Koteki, Livia Blackburn, Deborah Cannon; Edit: Deborah Cannon

Blackbird (KUTX Pop-Up at ACL Fest)

Chance Peña


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