With the exception of Willie Nelson, who both hosted a party on his ranch in Luck two days before helping to close out the iTunes Festival at ACL Live at the Moody Theater on Saturday, it’s tough to think of a local band who mixed the comforts of home with the chaos of SXSW quite like White Denim.

“I wish you guys could see the stage. It’s a fucking mess,” said Stones Throw founder Peanut Butter Wolf at the end of a magical Saturday night at Eastside haven the North Door. “There are records everywhere.”

Like the new documentary that inspired it, Saturday afternoon’s all-star Take Me to the River revue at Butler Park as part of SXSW’s free concert series celebrated the musical traditions of Memphis by teaming veteran R&B and blues performers and players with young rappers and singers.

Oh, the white anklets and crew socks, the feathered and poodle-permed hair, the pre-washed and pastel-everything… You couldn't pay many of us who lived through the 1980s the first time to live through them again. But, somehow that damn decade manages to trigger nostalgia gyrations like so many skanking Molly Ringwalds.

Cognitive dissonance is a terrible affliction, especially this deep into a festival. So after a SXSW that saw Julian Assange and Edward Snowden Skyping in to talk about freedom, it was a 540 spin when Homeland Security Committee Chair Mike McCaul turned up to talk music.

You may not recognize the name Dave Bartholomew, but you surely know his music. The song “Blueberry Hill,” which he produced for Fats Domino in 1956, continues to sell today. And sell, and sell, and sell. “Fifty million copies and counting,” his son Don B pointed out.

Laura Jane Grace, frontwoman of Against Me!, wears a lot of hats these days. Already a punk rock stalwart, her journey as a trans woman has put her firmly on the frontlines of LGBTQ rights, awareness, and education.

Few people have contributed more to the indie-rock songbook than Stuart Murdoch. Belle & Sebastian’s entire career, beginning in the mid Nineties, couldn’t be more celebrated, but he’s never been especially public.

“It’s been more than a job,” CeeLo said of his music career in conversation with NPR Music’s Frannie Kelley on Saturday morning. “It’s been such a civil service and a matter of of missionary work. It’s been an adventure.”