Austin City Limits (ACL) presents an electric hour with one of music’s finest live acts, five-time Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Brittany Howard. The powerhouse vocalist and ACL favorite returns for Austin City Limits’ anniversary Season 50 to showcase new numbers from her latest album What Now alongside career highlights. The hourlong episode premieres Saturday, October 26 @8pm ET/7pm CT. 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.
2024 kicks off the yearlong 50th Anniversary of the revered music institution, which continues 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.
“Let’s have us a good time,” smiles Howard, taking the stage in a celestial, sparkling caftan. The Nashville-based musician (and frontwoman for four-time Grammy Award-winning Alabama Shakes) brings her singular musicality to a shapeshifting sound encompassing everything from psychedelia and dance music to dream-pop and avant-jazz in a 13-song set, with songs from her powerful second solo LP What Now as the centerpiece. Opening with a trio from the album, the songs are anchored in Howard’s inimitable and infinitely commanding voice—a supreme vessel for channeling raw emotional truth. Howard is backed by her stellar eight-piece band, amplified by longtime backing vocalists Shanay Johnson and Karita Law. Howard throws it back to her 2019 solo debut Jaime for the radiant Grammy-winning radio hit “Stay High,” as the ecstatic crowd joins in on the soaring chorus.
“Live music is such an important thing, you know,” shares Howard from the stage. “I saw my first live band play when I was eleven years old, and it was from that moment that I decided that this was what I wanted to do. And I studied hard and I worked real hard, taught myself how to play, and I taught myself how to write songs, and now I get to be here with all of ya’ll.” With that, she dons an acoustic guitar and renders a mesmerizing, stripped-down “Short and Sweet,” before being rejoined by her full band with Howard on explosive guitar for the hard-funk title track “What Now” in a cathartic close.
“When Brittany Howard sets foot on a stage, she doesn’t really need a microphone,” said longtime ACL executive producer Terry Lickona. “She owns that stage, and she owns the room. Her voice is the voice of power, and truth. We gave her the full hour, because she deserves it! See and hear for yourself.”
Brittany Howard setlist:
Earth Sign
I Don’t
Patience
Stay High
Red Flags
Samson
Prove It to You
To Be Still
Every Color in Blue
Power to Undo
Short and Sweet
Another Day
What Now
Season 50 Broadcast Line-Up (second half of season to be announced separately):
September 28 Kacey Musgraves
October 5 Gary Clark Jr. | Black Pumas
October 12 Maggie Rogers | Gracie Abrams
October 19 Jacob Collier | Nickel Creek
October 26 Brittany Howard
November 2 Jelly Roll | The War And Treaty
November 9 Wynonna
November 16 Juanes
2024 kicks off the 50th Anniversary of Austin City Limits, which taped its debut pilot episode with Willie Nelson on October 17, 1974; the pioneering series then premiered on PBS in 1975. That now legendary debut became the cornerstone for 50 years of groundbreaking, award-winning music television. ACL is proud to have Willie Nelson return on the 50th anniversary of the pilot taping to commemorate Austin City Limits’ remarkable half-century milestone with a Texas-sized outdoor concert that took place on October 17, 2024, at Austin’s Long Center. Musical highlights from the performance will air as a special hourlong broadcast of Austin City Limits scheduled for early 2025 as a season highlight of the program’s golden anniversary Season 50.
Watch new episodes live, stream online, or download the PBS App. Viewers can visit acltv.com for news regarding upcoming Season 50 tapings, live streams and episode schedules or by following 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.