It’s hard to believe, but before last night, Waxahatchee had never performed on late night TV. Nearly a decade into her catalog, after five uniformly stellar albums that rendered her an indie rock living legend, Katie Crutchfield finally debuted in that context on last night’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live. Naturally, it was a great performance.

Backed by members of the Grand Rapids band Major Murphy, who are in the process of rolling out their own new album Access, and members of Bonny Doon, who she recorded Saint Cloud with, Crutchfield sang “Lilacs,” one of the singles from her rootsy and unburdened 2020 masterpiece Saint Cloud. (You may recall that we named Saint Cloud the second best album of last year, behind only Fiona Apple’s Fetch The Bolt Cutters.)

The performance was remote, as late night performances tend to be in pandemic times. They filmed it in what looked like a church — not sure if it was in Crutchfield’s adopted hometown of Kansas City, or Grand Rapids, or somewhere else entirely. Crutchfield did not play guitar as she usually does at Waxahatchee shows, instead moving with purpose as she leaned all the way into the role of lead singer. It was just delightful all around, and you should watch it below.