Author: Lily Angelle

The trailblazing live music series Austin City Limits (ACL) announces Austin City Limits Celebrates 50 Years, a night that’s a half-century in the making.  Music luminaries and some of the brightest stars in the show’s five-decade history will return to the fabled ACL stage on Thursday, November 21st for this milestone anniversary. The celebration will feature one-of-a-kind music performances with a stellar line-up featuring Leon Bridges, Gary Clark Jr. joined by Eve Monsees, Billy Strings featuring Sierra Hull and Zach Top, Indigo Girls, Lyle Lovett, Shawn Colvin, Brandy Clark, Rufus Wainwright, The Mavericks, Ángela Aguilar, Cam and Lloyd Maines & the ACL All-Stars, with appearances by Trio Los Panchos and Austin’s Tosca String Quartet. Longtime Austin City Limits supporters and Austin-based actors Jared and Genevieve Padalecki (Walker, Supernatural, Gilmore Girls) will co-host the celebratory evening. The music-filled night commemorates the series’ legacy as an American music institution for a remarkable half-century.

Join Austin City Limits in downtown Austin on November 21, 2024; the all-star event will take place at ACL’s studio home, ACL Live at The Moody Theater. Performances will be taped as part of a two-hour PBS primetime special saluting the program’s historic milestone, Austin City Limits Celebrates 50 Years, set to air on April 4, 2025. A fundraiser for Austin PBS, the program’s producing station, tickets for the concert event will be onsale to the public on Friday, November 1 @10am at ACL Turns 50. Support for Austin City Limits Celebrates 50 Years is made possible in part by PBS, Tejemos Foundation, Central Texas Chevy Dealers, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Visit Austin, AXS Events, Brane Audio and Dell Technologies. 

“Austin City Limits Celebrates 50 Years represents what the program stands for, has always, and will continue to—a broad, diverse, inclusive spectrum of music from all genres, showcasing legends and emerging artists alike,” says ACL executive producer Terry Lickona.

The music-filled night will feature choice collaborations: Four-time Grammy-winning Gary Clark Jr. will salute fellow Texan six-string great Stevie Ray Vaughan’s 1983 and 1989 pair of iconic Austin City Limits performances in a tribute joined by Austin blues guitar standout Eve Monsees; Grammy Award-winning bluegrass superstar Billy Strings, one of music’s most popular live acts, will perform joined by celebrated bluegrass mandolin player Sierra Hull and country breakout Zach Top. 

A hallmark of the celebration will be a throwback to the renowned songwriter circles that became an ACL signature in the ‘80s and ‘90s and contributed to the pioneering show’s influential legacy. A trio of storyteller songwriting greats, folk-rock duo Indigo Girls, celebrated singer-songwriter Brandy Clark and Grammy-nominated artist and songwriter Cam, will take the ACL stage together in the round to trade songs and stories in the setting that showcased unforgettable moments with many ACL forebears, including Willie Nelson, John Prine, Townes Van Zandt, Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings and Rosanne Cash. 

ACL Hall of Fame legends with longtime ties to Austin City Limits will return for the occasion: Acclaimed singer-songwriters Lyle Lovett and Shawn Colvin, both inducted into the ACL Hall of Fame in 2019, will perform. Lovett has appeared on Austin City Limits more times than any performer second to Willie Nelson. American original and longtime Austinite Shawn Colvin will reach into her catalog for a classic gem. Texas country music institution and pedal steel ace Lloyd Maines, inducted into the original ACL Hall of Fame class in 2014, will lead the ACL All-Stars house band.

Contemporary artists who have carved their name in ACL history will return for the occasion: A Lone Star original, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Leon Bridges, who has a pair of fan-favorite ACL appearances under his belt, returns for this celebratory night; Rufus Wainwright, an artist who made history on the ACL stage in Season 46 in 2020 with the show’s first taping minus a live audience due to the pandemic, returns this time for the communal ACL experience that is the series’ trademark. Rock and country trailblazers The Mavericks, who brought their first-ever all-Spanish language album to the ACL stage in Season 46, return for this special occasion.

Música Mexicana star Ángela Aguilar, a 2024 Latin Grammy nominee for the top honor of Album of the Year (alongside heavy-hitters including Karol G and Shakira), will make her ACL debut accompanied by her music producer, music director and pianist Cheche Alara, and Tosca String Quartet, Austin’s award-winning all-female string group, and Trio Los Panchos, the traditional bolero guitar-based legends.

Ready to write the next chapter in its storied history, ACL continues its mission of producing great television with landmark Season 50 currently airing on PBS. The anniversary broadcast season premiered on September 28, 2024 with a golden hour featuring Kacey Musgraves, and upcoming episodes feature an all-star slate of returning favorites and highly-anticipated debuts including Jelly Roll, Wynonna, Brittany Howard, Juanes, Chris Stapleton, Norah Jones, The Avett Brothers, Carin León, Johnny Blue Skies and more. The iconic live music television series was born on October 17, 1974, when Willie Nelson taped the pilot episode. That now legendary debut became the cornerstone for 50 years of groundbreaking, award-winning music television. Willie Nelson returned on the 50th anniversary of the pilot taping to commemorate Austin City Limits’ remarkable half-century milestone with a historic Texas-sized outdoor concert on October 17, 2024, on Austin’s Long Center lawn with the authentic Austin city skyline as the backdrop. Highlights from the performance will air February 15, 2025, on PBS, as a season highlight of ACL’s anniversary Season 50.

The trailblazing live music series Austin City Limits (ACL) kicks off its 50th celebrations with a week of highlights leading up to the October 17th anniversary of Willie Nelson’s landmark 1974 pilot episode taping. Iconic Austin institutions and music venues will tip their hat to the fabled music program with salutes on their signs and marquees to celebrate the series’ half-century mark. El Arroyo, Austin Motel, Paramount Theatre, Hole in the Wall, Saxon Pub, Q2 Arena, Moody Center and more will participate throughout the celebratory week to show their appreciation and toast the longest-running music series in TV history, which helped secure Austin’s reputation as “the live music capital of the world.”

Austin City Limits will receive a Texas-sized salute with proclamations from both the state and the Austin City Council to officially declare October 17th “Austin City Limits Day” state and citywide in recognition of the music institution’s contributions to Austin’s live music culture and identity, and for broadcasting legendary performances into homes across America and beyond for a remarkable five decades. The proclamations will be announced from the stage at the Austin City Limits 50th Birthday Bash celebration. Adriana Cruz, Executive Director of Texas Economic Development & Tourism for the state of Texas, along with Chip Adams, Director of the Texas Music Office, will announce the Lone Star State’s proclamation; Austin Mayor Kirk Watson will declare “Austin City Limits Day” on behalf of the city of Austin.

Austin City Limits will livestream the golden anniversary concert performances by Willie Nelson & Family, along with an opening set from Austin’s own Asleep at the Wheel, live from Austin City Limits’ 50th Birthday Bash. Fans worldwide can join in the celebrations with a free livestream of the event, which will stream live in its entirety on aclturns50.com and Austin City Limits TV’s YouTube channel beginning at 7pm CT on Thursday, October 17, 2024—exactly 50 years to the day that Willie Nelson taped the show’s pilot debut. The outdoor concert, on the lawn of Austin’s Long Center, will feature Willie and Asleep at the Wheel performing in front of the city skyline that has inspired the show’s trademark set for decades. The stream will only be available live; the performance will be taped, and musical highlights will air early next year on PBS as a season highlight of the program’s anniversary Season 50.  

ACL is proud to partner with Armadillo World Headquarters (AWHQ) as the official Watch Party partner for the event. The legendary live music venue recently relaunched as a purpose-driven brand supporting Austin musicians. AWHQ will livestream the show at multiple venues across Austin, including the newly opened Armadillo Forever space at the South Congress Hotel, Pershing and Deep Eddy Cabaret.