Faye Webster — KEXP at Home (Athens), 2021

Recorded at Tweed Studios in Athens, Georgia for the KEXP at Home series and released in 2021, this filmed live session spotlights Faye Webster, the Atlanta singer-songwriter whose indie folk—shaded with soul, country and gentle pop—has won a wide audience. Backed by a full band of pedal steel, bass, drums and keyboards, she performs five songs, “Better Distractions,” “Kingston,” “In A Good Way,” “I Know I’m Funny haha” and “Cheers,” drawn in part from the album “I Know I’m Funny haha.” Matt Stoessel’s pedal steel, a signature of her world, wraps around melancholy songs full of deadpan humor, carried by a hushed voice. Far from any showiness, the performance reveals the delicate writing and sense of space of a major figure in the new American folk scene. A filmed live concert ideal for discovering indie folk of the 2020s in an intimate, carefully crafted capture of one of the genre’s most quietly compelling voices.