A music geek's guide to pubradio SXSW coverage

NPR Music's live coverage of the South by Southwest Music and Media Conference in Austin begins with tonight's showcase headlined by Spoon, a hometown favorite kicking off their U.S. tour with this SXSW performance. Tune in at 9 p.m. ET to catch the full line-up including Visqueen, the Walkmen, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, and Broken Bells. Tomorrow at 1:30 pm ET, NPR Music presents a daytime showcase of six acts headlined by the Sleigh Bells. Five public radio stations--The Current, KEXP, KUT, WFUV, and WXPN--are presenting SXSW coverage in partnership with NPR; most plan to broadcast and webcast their own live shows. In fact, this afternoon at 4 Austin's KUT offers a showcase featuring Nashville rocker Bobby Bare Jr., Jason Collett of Broken Social Scene and Nigerian soul songstress Nneka. The biggest pubradio-sponsored showcase of all appears to be WFMU's "massive, 14 band, two-stage" event on Friday from 8 pm-3 am. KCRW will bring SXSW to its listeners on Morning Becomes Eclectic and during a Saturday showcase featuring Rogue Wave. And this year, for the very first time, Radio Milwaukee sent a team to produce on-air and online SXSW coverage. Many pubradio personalities are tweeting from SXSW; for the refreshing perspectives of two bonafied rock chicks, follow Rita Houston of WFUV and Carrie Brownstein of NPR Music's Monitor Mix.