AUSTIN, Texas -- The 24th South by Southwest ended in the early morning Sunday at a jam-packed Antone's, the legendary blues club on 5th Street, with a poignant, powerful reminder of how music can redeem even the most tragic events.

The late-night, conference-closing slot was originally set for Big Star, the Memphis band that made three albums in the '70s, then faded into obscurity, only to endure as a guiding light for countless guitar-based pop and rock bands in subsequent decades. The performance turned into a wake and a tribute when one of the band's cofounders, singer-guitarist Alex Chilton, died Wednesday at 59 of a heart attack in his New Orleans home.

The remaining members of Big Star -- founding drummer Jody Stephens and bassist Andy Hummel, and  Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer, who joined in the band's '90s comeback incarnation -- carried on in Chilton's name with a host of guest stars. The show became an 18-song tribute to Chilton's Big Star legacy, a procession of music that veered from harrowing meditations to ebullient rockers. Stephens, Auer and Stringfellow were the three constants, holding down the stage as the likes of M. Ward, Evan Dando, R.E.M.'s Mike Mills, and Chris Stamey took turns on lead vocals.

Smokey Robinson speaks at a music workshop for high school at the White House on February 9. (Saul Loeb, Getty Images)

AUSTIN, Texas -- Smokey Robinson had a few words of advice for the aspiring musical stars in the audience: "I would encourage you not to take yourself so seriously."

Robinson was as articulate in his South by Southwest keynote address Thursday as he is in song.

He cautioned against a false sense of entitlement that he sees corrupting the entertainment industry. A lot of performers, he said, think "the world knows me now, they cannot possibly do without me. ... Don't kid yourself."

Robinson's career, he said, was a testament to working hard and staying humble, and listening and learning from the best, whether it was studying what made a hit song work or taking advice from a master songwriter only a few years his senior, a man named Berry Gordy, in the days before he ran Motown Records.

The centerpiece of the 24th annual conference began with a eulogy of sorts from creative director Brent Grulke, who dedicated the festival to the late Alex Chilton. The singer, 59, died Wednesday. He was scheduled to hop on a plane Friday from his New Orleans home to participate in a panel Saturday dedicated to his band, Big Star, and to play a festival showcase later that night.

Alex Chilton performs at the SXSW festival in 2004. (Jack Plunkett, AP)

Paul Westerberg and the Replacements spoke for countless artists and diehard fans when they wrote a song called "Alex Chilton" in 1987.

"Children by the millions sing for Alex Chilton when he comes 'round/They sing, 'I'm in love, what's that song?/ I'm in love with that song.' "

Chilton, who died Wednesday in New Orleans of a heart attack at age 59, was a cult artist for most of his career, better known for the bands and artists he inspired, including R.E.M., Wilco, Jeff Buckley and the Replacements, than his own music. Yet his legacy endures, most especially the three studio albums he recorded with his group Big Star in Memphis during the '70s. Big Star was a group ahead of its time, its merger of British Invasion-style guitar melody and Southern soul a template for what would become known as "power pop." But it was virtually unheard in its time; the third Big Star album, "Sister Lovers," was released long after Chilton had walked away from the group utterly discouraged by its lack of success.