OCTOBER 2024 – Austin City Limits® (ACL) celebrates fifty years as the longest-running music program in American television, a cultural institution recognized with the National Medal of Arts, a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Landmark designation, and a 2011 Peabody Institutional Award. Time magazine named ACL one of the most influential music programs of all time, and its archive now stands as one of the most significant collections of live performance in media history.
Since its early years documenting the Austin music scene, ACL has become a national ambassador for artistic integrity, live performance, and public service broadcasting. The inaugural 1974 Willie Nelson pilot taping became the foundation for a half-century of excellence that helped establish Austin as the Live Music Capital of the World and directly inspired the ACL Music Festival, now a global destination drawing hundreds of thousands annually since 2002.
The 50th Anniversary marked a transformative year of innovation and cultural engagement. Austin PBS launched the ACL Turns 50 campaign at the ACL Festival with a custom-built traveling activation featuring vintage TVs playing performances from the past five decades and a piece of the original ACL stage that created a tangible link to the show’s roots. A photo booth allowed attendees to capture and share their own ACL moment, and a live music trivia game highlighted legendary performers. The activation was recognized by BizBash as one of the Top 13 Brand Activations of the festival.
ACL expanded its educational and industry impact through programming at the 2024 SXSW and SXSW EDU festival, including the panel Backstage with Austin City Limits: Five Decades of Music, featuring Executive Producer Terry Lickona, longtime producers, and educators who are integrating ACL episodes into classroom curriculum. Austin City Limits also partnered with longtime collaborators Americana Music Festival on a panel discussion at the Country Music Hall of Fame featuring ACL EP Terry Lickona and artists Ray Benson, Robert Earl Keen, Sarah Jarosz and Ruthie Foster.
Across Austin, billboards celebrated ACL’s legacy, while the 50 Reasons We Love Austin City Limits testimonial campaign collected stories from artists, fans, staff, and cultural leaders, showcased across broadcast and digital platforms. Austin PBS and ACL also launched an immersive Austin City Limits Tour in partnership with ACL Live and Opry Entertainment Group, deepening public engagement with the program’s history and creative process.
Austin City Limits produced and released Screen to Screen: The Poster Art of Austin City Limits in March 2025, a coffee table book published by University of Texas Press showcasing more than 300 original artworks commissioned over the past 20 years. The book features concert photographs and essays by ACL luminaries including Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Leon Bridges, Neko Case, and more. Several prominent graphic artists contributed essays as well.
Austin City Limits produced thirteen new episodes for its landmark 50th Season featuring Kacey Musgraves, Gracie Abrams, Maggie Rogers, Jacob Collier, Brittany Howard, Jelly Roll, Wynonna, Juanes, Norah Jones, Carín León, Avett Brothers, Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson and more.
In addition to the regular season episodes, ACL produced three national broadcast specials for PBS. ACL inducted Garth Brooks into its Hall of Fame, capturing an electrifying live performance from Garth himself for the broadcast special Austin City Limits 10th Annual Hall of Fame Honors Garth Brooks.
A new two-hour broadcast special, Austin City Limits Celebrates 50 Years, showcased gems from the ACL archives, heartfelt memories and interviews with iconic artists, and brand new performances by Chris Stapleton, Leon Bridges, Indigo Girls, Billy Strings, Brandy Clark, Ángela Aguilar, Lyle Lovett, Gary Clark Jr., The Mavericks, Cam, and more, with hosts Jared and Genevieve Padalecki guiding the way.
On October 17, 2024, exactly fifty years after the pilot episode, the City of Austin proclaimed Austin City Limits Day, culminating in a historic Willie Nelson and Family performance that honored the program’s origins and enduring spirit. This event was featured as a dedicated hour-long television special, ACL Presents: Willie Nelson & Family, which premiered nationwide on PBS.
Today, Austin City Limits remains a signature achievement in American media, a program that has shaped culture, elevated artists, strengthened public broadcasting, inspired global music events, and documented the evolving sound of modern music for five decades. Its 50th Anniversary represents not only a celebration of past excellence, but a powerful demonstration of ACL’s continued vitality and lasting cultural impact for decades to come.