Watch Black Buttafly perform live at WXPN Studios

One of the Philadelphia region’s most spirited and soulful performers joins us on the WXPN Local Show this week. Keyboardist, singer-songwriter, and band leader Kayla Childs has been making a mark on the scene over the past decade. She’s a versatile collaborator who developed her chops in the improvisatory neo-soul outfit Omar’s Hat. More recently, she spearheaded a jazz-oriented group called Nu School Collective that brings together tight players from Philly, New York, and D.C. She’s been a touring musician with national names like KeiyaA and Son Little, as well as a bandmate of local peers Ryan Gilfillian and Ivy Sole.

But for the New Jersey-born Childs, her project Black Buttafly is her most personal. Alongside a rotating cast of players, she uses it to create genre-fluid songs about love, life, and self-discovery. Her 2024 EP Fly Free packages these impressively into a dreamy set that recalls Herbie Hancock as much as Lauryn Hill. This week, Black Buttafly joins us in the studio for a breathtaking showcase of two songs from Fly Free — its title track, which begins mellow and progressed into a fired-up jam, and its barnstorming single “Everybody Needs Love,” which is pure Stevie in the best possible way.

The session also includes three alums of Philly brass band stars SNACKTIME in her lineup: Austin Marlow on drums, Eric Sherman, and Yesseh Furaha-Ali on sax, and on the eight-minute unreleased cut “More Lovin’,” the horn section rips the roof off the studio as Childs’ vocal positively soars. Watch the full performance below.

Black Buttafly joins us on the lineup of this year’s XPoNential Music Festival, where she will bring some Funky Friday energy to the River Stage at 5:40 p.m. Tickets are still available and can be found at XPNFest.org, along with other information on the festival like set times and travel options.