NIVA Live List Finalists From 2023: Where Are They Now?

In 2023, the National Independent Venue Association unveiled its inaugural Live List, honoring and elevating must-see artists from around the globe who have had their careers nurtured and catalyzed through the efforts of independent concert venues across the United States. The Live List is done in partnership with the Black List, a crucial platform established in 2005 by Franklin Leonard to ensure that screenwriters, editors, directors, showrunners, and others would have access to resources that would further their potential and talents as much as possible. Initially, the Black List was founded with an annual survey of Hollywood’s most-liked but unproduced screenplays—though it has become a global-scale networking aid that helps get writers and filmmakers connected with industry figures.

The Live List acts similarly, with the mission of serving as a platform to help musicians build sustainable careers and connect with fans. NIVA membership consists of independent music and comedy venues, promoters, and festivals throughout the United States. “NIVA members book, promote and attend countless shows a year,” Jordan Anderson, Troubadour Talent Booker and Live List task force co-chair, says. “We see acts that really have the ability to go the distance and, with that, we believe the Live List is a way for us to continue to help develop and foster these artists as they move forward in their careers.” Jake Diamond, the Marketing Director for Union Stage Presents and Live List task force co-chair, echoes a similar hope. “We are very excited for the 2024 Live List,” he says. “The artists included on the list were handpicked by the folks who see hundreds of shows a year, so the authenticity is real. We hope both NIVA members and fans are excited to dive in and check out the acts they aren’t familiar with, and ultimately see them live. The Live List has endless possibilities when it comes to helping promote these acts!”

The 2023 Live List featured many up-and-coming artists, including Bartees Strange, Dijon, Haley Heynderickx, Lowertown, Orville Peck, Sudan Archives, Wet Leg, and more. As we gear up for the 2024 Live List that will be dropping next week, let’s take a look at where 10 of our favorites are now and what kind of year they just had. —Matt Mitchell & Olivia Abercrombie, Paste Music Editors

Bartees Strange

In the spring of 2023, D.C. native Bartees Strange released “Daily News,” a single that initially was a bonus track from the physical release of his 2022 LP Farm to Table. It was a fury of immense, mythical proportions, from the shining guitars that ramble beneath Strange’s soulful vocals to the cascading breakdown of octaves and horns that round out the song. It’s magical, heavy and perfect, proof that few musicians in the world are as breathtaking, poised and magnetic as Strange. In 2023, he went out on tour with The National, boygenius and Clairo, including five performances at SXSW. His final Austin gig in particular, at Cheer Up Charlie’s, showed just how marvelous a live talent he’s become. He roared through a stripped down performance of “Hennessy,” “Heavy Heart” and “Boomer,” among other catalog favorites. “I feel really lucky to be recognized for performing,” Strange said of his inclusion on the 2023 Live List. “I think about it a lot and we work hard to put on a great show. I love playing shows, it’s one of the greatest gifts I can ever have and share. Thanks to NIVA, and all of the venues and promoters behind the scenes of our shows.” [Read our 2022 profile on Bartees Strange here]

Ethel Cain

Since her making waves with her monumental 2022 Southern gothic masterpiece Preacher’s Daughter, Ethel Cain—the moniker of singer/songwriter Hayden Anhedönia—has been touring extensively around the world and even joined the stages of massive music festivals like Coachella, Reading and Leeds, Austin City Limits, All Things Go and Outside Lands. While on the road, Anhedönia kept the Daughters of Cain well fed by consistently dropping songs on SoundCloud like “homecoming (demo)” and “two children in a motel (demo)”—both of which have since removed potentially in anticipation for the promised prequel EP to Preacher’s Daughter. As far as formally released new music, Anhedönia dropped “Famous Last Words (An Ode To Eaters),” a track inspired by Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All—a film with similar themes to Anhedönia’s own work. The 25-year-old also collaborated with alt-rap artist Ashnikko on “Dying Star” and slowcore artist Vyva Melinkolya on her recent album Unbecoming. Throughout the year, the rumblings about the highly anticipated follow-up to Preacher’s Daughter had Anhedönia promise we’ll see Ethel Cain finally laid to rest. What comes next, we imagine, will be just as tragically beautiful, but for now, we can’t wait to learn more about our dearly departed Ethel. To kick it off, she’ll be opening several gigs for Mitski this year.

Fontaines D.C.

2023 saw Dublin quintet Fontaines D.C. put an end cap on the cycle for their 2022 breakthrough LP Skinty Fia. They kicked off January touring with Wunderhorse and Body Type before taking on festivals like Laneway and BBC 6Music. But what remains the defining moment for the band’s year is their long stint opening for the Arctic Monkeys in America. From Minneapolis to Atlanta to Brooklyn, Grian Chatten, Carlos O’Donnell, Conor Curley, Conor Deegan III and Tom Coll got to put their music in front of more people than ever before. Fontaines D.C. are, to put it plainly, one of the most important bands in the world right now, and their live energy is a crucial component in what makes them so great. My prediction is that, when the band’s fourth record comes out in the next year or so, they will simply be too big to be relegated to opener status for anyone, except maybe for the Rolling Stones. Them leveling up from the pubs and DIY spaces to 4,000 or 5,000-cap venues doesn’t feel so much like a mythical prophecy fulfilled as it does a destiny these five guys worked endlessly to get to. I ask Chatten if he and the band had ever dreamt up the possibility of making the leap to stadiums after years rattling the floorboards of thumb-sized rooms—to which he barbs back with a swift decree: “Yeah, sure, why not?” he laughs. “We always have faith in ourselves, and we do all right at some points.” [Read our 2023 profile on Fontaines D.C. here]

Genesis Owusu

When Genesis Owusu took the Opera House stage in March, he did so in such an elaborate get-up that descriptions just will never do full justice. He donned a full black gown with red hands perched atop his shoulders and biceps; a bright red stripe stretches from his forehead to the back of his neck. Futuristic, bug-eyed glasses shield away his face. This is the world he’s built, one of theatrical unpredictability and finesse. One moment, he’s 10-feet-tall. Next, he’s alone on stage crooning “Gold Chains” in a red, cropped two-piece suit. Immediately, as Owusu began rapping “The Other Black Dog” in front of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, it was clear that a new era was on the horizon.

While touring with Paramore and Bloc Party, Owusu had to leave most of his theatrics at home. It’s no surprise, given that he was first on the bill and could only play eight songs a night. Being an opening act can be a difficult role to maneuver; anyone who’s gone to a gig this century has likely seen just how enthusiastic crowds are to talk and socialize during the sets of musicians they’re unfamiliar with. But, it’s a challenge that Owusu is eager to face head-on every night. I ask Owusu where his Opera House performance ranks in his career thus far. At the top, he tells me. “I’ve been playing shows for a long time, to the point where, sometimes, I can be on autopilot,” he adds. “I can be rapping ‘The Other Black Dog,’ which is quite spitfire, but, in my head, I can also be like ‘What am I going to have for dinner today? Oh, shit, what did I forget off the grocery list?’ During that performance—backed by the 40-piece symphony orchestra, sold out, with all of these people looking at me—I was rapping and, in my head, I was like, ‘Damn, I’m really doing this. This is surreal.’ And in that thought, I was like, ‘Damn, where do I go from here? What’s next after this?’” [Read our 2023 profile on Genesis Owusu here]

Lowertown

Since Lowertown’s third album I Love To Lie was released last year, Avsha Weinberg and Olivia Osby have been working on more music that will allow them to find themselves now—along with what they feel still resonates after all these years of making music together. Today, it’s electronic. Tomorrow, it might be something totally different. The duo feel as though they’ve failed as artists if they make music that sounds exactly like something they’ve already released before. On their 2023 EP Skin of My Teeth, and specifically within the song “Bline,” they are honing in on an unaddressed lack of belonging somewhere—all while constructing the track with a sonic happiness, and therefore, a hopefulness. Lowertown’s performative stylings have a natural theatrical aspect to them that they aren’t always able to embody in front of the younger crowds they’ve opened for in the past—largely in fear of scaring audiences they had to fight tooth and nail to win over. On top of touring with Wednesday, Catcher and Slow Fiction, the fun and upbeat transcendence of Skin of My Teeth paints a completely new direction for Lowertown, who’ve vaulted into a mature, earned sound and undeniable, larger-than-life live prowess that’s primed them for an explosive 2024 and beyond. [Read our 2023 profile on Lowertown here]

“The Black List exists to identify and celebrate incredible creative work and its makers and provide them with the visibility that their talent demands,” says Franklin Leonard, The Black List Founder. “We’re incredibly excited to partner with NIVA to do exactly that in music and live performance. NIVA President Dayna Frank and I were assistants together in the early days of our careers, so this is a particularly fulfilling full circle moment for me personally.”

MJ Lenderman

In 2023, Wednesday guitarist Jake “MJ” Lenderman dropped the best live album of the decade thus far. The album, And the Wind (Live and Loose!), captures performances from Lenderman’s summer show at the Lodge Room in Los Angeles and his Pitchfork Music Festival afterparty in Chicago, two monumental gigs smack-dab in the middle of an equator-sized tour itinerary for Wednesday. He’s the only Live List finalist to put his on-stage talents on such vivid display last year. At any moment, Lenderman and his bandmates can turn each song inside-out with extended melodies, differently paced lyrics and impromptu sonic economics you might find on a Fillmore East recording from half-a-century ago. Now, I’ve long maintained that “TLC Cagematch” is the best song of the last five years, and I’m likely responsible for it being Lenderman’s most-streamed song on Apple Music. It’s one of those tracks that I find precious and, ultimately, fear it not sounding as cosmic in any non-album setting. But doubting Lenderman’s ability to transpose its surreal intimacy into an on-stage format would be a foolish errand to run. What Jake does as MJ cannot be overlooked; it’s some kind of Asheville punk sorcery. That’s my only explanation for how a record like Boat Songs and a track like “TLC Cagematch” could have hit such a shot of stardom. But, then again, you could just chalk it up to Lenderman being one of the best in the biz. That’s probably the real truth.

Momma

Brooklyn indie rockers Momma have been living their rockstar dreams following the release of their breakthrough alt-revival record Household Name in 2022. They spent the better part of 2023 touring their album, and they made sure to not leave their fans hanging without any new music. Momma came out swinging with “Bang Bang,” a fuzzed-out single written during a drunken night of recording that is as catchy as it is raunchy (and a track that landed on our Best Songs of 2023 list). The fun doesn’t stop there, though. Momma also got in the studio with Texas alt-metal band Narrow Head to swap songs in a dual single featuring “Sunday” and “Medicine.” Channeling their infectious ‘90s energy, they also teamed up with Weezer and Modest Mouse on their Indie Rock Roadtrip summer tour, where they got the opportunity to join the former onstage for “I Just Threw Out The Love Of My Dreams.” From touring with legends to invoking the ‘90s’ essence in their music, Momma had a killer 2023. [Read our 2022 Best of What’s Next feature on Momma here]

Sierra Ferrell

West Virginia singer/songwriter Sierra Ferrell continues to prove that she is, without a doubt, one the most exciting country musicians in all of America. Banking on the momentous stardom she found in her song “In Dreams,” which went viral on YouTube via a candidly beautiful rendition for GemsOnVHS in 2018—and then again on TikTok. The track was fully worth the hype, as Ferrell’s voice is singular and continues to beckon greatness—as it conjures the jangles of pre-code Western shows and the Loretta Lynn of crooning twang and empowerment. When her debut album Long Time Coming came out in 2021, I’d felt like the recordings didn’t properly capture Ferrell’s on-stage magnetism and improvisational brilliance (though it was still an incredible record); if a song like “Fox Hunt” is any look into what is set to come in 2024, it seems that she and her team have finally captured what it is about her live prowess that captivates every audience she plays for. Ferrell’s rustic vocals and the balm of her enchanting hymnal fiddle make for a vivid, moving and poignantly energetic synergy on-stage, and she spent the last year touring the festival circuit and sharing bills with Willi Carlisle, Tyler Childers and Jaime Wyatt.

Sudan Archives

The multi-talented Brittney Parks, best known as Sudan Archives, had a major year in 2023. The R&B musician kicked it off with a performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, showcasing her violin talents on national television with tracks from her 2022 album Natural Brown Prom Queen. The Cincinnati-born, LA-based musician took over SXSW by headlining FLOODfest, as well as being featured on Rolling Stone’s Future of Music Showcase. She also performed on the longest-running music series on television, Austin City Limits—an honor shared by some of the biggest names in music. Parks didn’t stop at just touring her new album; she collaborated with ODESZA and The Egyptian Lover, remixing “Selfish Soul” and “Freakalizer,” respectively. That ODESZA collaboration led to Parks making a surprise appearance at the electronic duo’s Bonnaroo set. And, with performances at Coachella and Lollapalooza under her belt as well, Parks was all over the biggest stages in the U.S., showing off her unique and mesmerizing talents.

The Heavy Heavy

I’m still waiting for that debut full-length from Brighton rockers The Heavy Heavy, who put on one incredible show when I caught a set of theirs at SXSW in 2023. Georgie Fuller and Will Turner are making some of the best psychedelic, Laurel Canyon and blues-inspired rock ‘n’ roll. Not only are they one of the best new UK acts on the circuit right now; they’re taking the festival world by storm and opening for groups like The Revivalists and Band of Horses. Their 2022 EP Life and Life Only has proven that, despite only having a handful of songs to their name right now, the Heavy Heavy are gearing up to become the one group you can’t avoid. “Miles and Miles,” “Go Down River” and “All My Dreams” are heat-seeking missiles that’ll get you right up on your feet. “We were so excited to be included on the inaugural Live List,” The Heavy Heavy said. “Playing their SXSW showcase was a huge honor. Independent venues are the lifeblood of the music industry, and without them, and the support they give new artists, artists wouldn’t get off the ground. They helped us get our start, and almost any artist with fans and a career would be lost without them.”

Stay tuned for the unveiling of the 2024 Live List from NIVA next week.