Austin City Limits brings out the big guns for Season 50 with a highly-anticipated hour spotlighting one of music’s finest: Chris Stapleton. The ten-time Grammy-winning powerhouse delivers a scorching set of country-rock classics and gems from his 2025 Grammy-nominated LP Higher. The new episode premieres Saturday, February 1 @8pm ET/7pm CT as part of Austin City Limits anniversary Season 50. ACL airs weekly on PBS stations nationwide (check local listings) and full episodes are made available to stream online at pbs.org/austincitylimits immediately following the initial broadcast. 2025 continues the yearlong 50th Anniversary of the revered music institution, which celebrates its extraordinary run as the longest-running music series in television history, providing viewers a front-row seat to the best in live performance for an incredible half-century.
Kentucky-born Chris Stapleton is a 10x GRAMMY, 19x CMA and 19x ACM Award-winner; he is the CMA Awards reigning Male Vocalist of the Year for a record-extending eighth consecutive year. In this long-awaited return to ACL since his debut in Season 43, the country hitmaker has become a bonafide superstar and one of the genre’s most celebrated artists. He delivers a career-wide set in an electric performance featuring hits and highlights including numbers from his latest album, Higher, which earned the 2024 Album of the Year honor at the ACM Awards and is nominated for Best Country Album at the upcoming 2025 Grammy Awards. In an intimate performance joined by wife Morgane Stapleton on harmony vocals and backed by an ace six-piece band, Stapleton flexes his outlaw soul and blazing guitar licks, powering through songs of desperation and desire including “South Dakota,” “Think I’m In Love With You,” “You Should Probably Leave,” and the current Grammy-nominated song for Best Country Solo Performance, “It Takes a Woman.” Stapleton thrills with knockout vocals on the slowburn gut punch “Cold” from 2020’s chart-topping Starting Over and the can’t-get-enough crowd is on its feet. He pays tribute to a pair of his influences: “We are in Texas so we should probably play a shuffle,” says Stapleton, “this one’s from one of my dear friends that I miss very much…” before launching into the late Texas music legend Guy Clark’s weed boogie “Worry B Gone;” Stapleton then tips his hat to another hero, Tom Petty, with a rousing rendition of the late rock icon’s “I Should Have Known It.” The hour closes with the fan-favorite “Millionaire,” as Stapleton is joined in close harmony with his partner and collaborator Morgane for a stellar close.
“Everybody loves Chris Stapleton!” says ACL executive producer. “He brings attitude, heart and grit to Country music but in a way that appeals to fans of authentic music everywhere.”
Chris Stapleton setlist:
South Dakota
Arkansas
Cold
Worry B Gone
Think I’m In Love With You
It Takes A Woman
Joy Of My Life
I Should Have Known It
Starting Over
You Should Probably Leave
Mountains Of My Mind
Millionaire
Season 50 Broadcast Schedule (Second Half):
January 11 Norah Jones | Hurray for the Riff Raff
January 18 The Avett Brothers
January 25 Mickey Guyton | Carín León
February 1 Chris Stapleton
February 8 Sturgill Simpson Presents Johnny Blue Skies
February 15 ACL Presents: Willie Nelson & Family
Watch new episodes live, stream online, or download the PBS App. Viewers can visit acltv.com for news regarding the Season 50 second half broadcast line-up and episode schedules or follow ACL on Facebook, Twitter, IG and TikTok. Fans can also browse the ACL YouTube channel for exclusive songs, behind-the-scenes videos and full-length artist interviews.