(KCRW) - A couple of years ago, Nic Harcourt, 89.9 KCRW's
Music Director and trendsetting host of the
Santa Monica, California public radio station's tastemaker program, Morning Becomes Eclectic, visited a Boulder, Colorado music club, where he was handed a CD of an as-yet unknown and unsigned band, DeVotchKa.
He listened, liked what he heard, and soon the band was receiving airplay on KCRW and developing a fan base among its listeners. After building a Southern California audience, doing extensive touring and appearing at many regional music festivals, DeVotchKa was dubbed "the best band in America you've never heard of" by Filter magazine.
Flash forward to Park City, Utah and the Sundance Festival 2006. When credits rolled on the highly praised audience film favorite "Little Miss Sunshine," it featured two things: DeVotchKa's music as the backbone to its soundtrack and the name Anne Litt, host of KCRW's The A-Track as Co-Music Supervisor. The film has been nominated for five Independent Spirit Awards, and is generating major Oscar buzz.
Next, cut to Steffie Nelson's Wednesday, November 29 Variety article:
"Thanks to L.A. radio station KCRW, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, directors of "Little Miss Sunshine," were introduced to the music of a Denver quartet called DeVotchKa. In the band's spacious, sunbaked songs and unusual instrumentation featuring, among other things, tuba and glockenspiel, the directors "heard the sound of the movie," as vocalist Nick Urata recalls it. It was a very perceptive observation, for DeVotchKa members had in fact recorded their album in a studio in the Arizona desert, which is where most of the comic road movie takes place."
And today, Thursday, December 7, NARAS -the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences - announced the nominees for the 2006 Grammy Awards. In the running for Best Soundtrack was none other than "Little Miss Sunshine."
It's just another example of how the musical passions of KCRW's DJs - who play what and who they love - help influence popular culture, inspiring the creative industry listeners in its audience to discover and embrace new artists that enrich their entertainment projects.
