Author: Lily Angelle

Austin, TX—September 20, 2024—Iconic live music television series Austin City Limits (ACL) 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. Now Willie returns on the 50th anniversary of that taping to commemorate Austin City Limits’ remarkable half-century milestone with a Texas-sized outdoor concert on October 17, 2024, at Austin’s Long Center for the Performing Arts.

Austin originals Asleep at the Wheel get the party started Lone Star style with an opening set for the occasion. The western swing legends appeared in the very first official episode of Austin City Limits Season 1. Austin City Limits 50th Birthday Bash presented by Tito’s Handmade Vodka is open to the public and free; fans must register with Fair AXS for a chance to attend. Registration opens at 8AM CT Friday, September 20th through 10PM CT Monday, September 23. Those selected to attend will be notified between September 26 and September 27 and will be required to opt in. Full details are available here. The performance will be taped; musical highlights will air as a special hourlong broadcast of Austin City Limits to air in early 2025 as a season highlight of the program’s golden anniversary Season 50.

There’s a good reason why a bronze statue of Willie Nelson stands at the entrance to ACL’s studio home on the Austin street that bears his name: in the 50-year history of Austin City Limits, no artist has personified the music series’ eclectic, freewheeling spirit more fully than the man with the braids, the beard and the guitar named Trigger. His pivotal 1974 full-set performance served as a dispatch to the world declaring Austin’s place as a pioneering music city; the trailblazing live music program was then given the green light, premiering on PBS in 1975. “The house that Willie built” is now an institution that has become the longest-running music series in television history. 

“There would be no Austin City Limits without Willie Nelson – simple as that,” says longtime ACL executive producer Terry Lickona. “He launched ACL into the television universe in 1974, and has helped keep us going for 50 years.”

Willie Nelson has longstanding ties to Austin City Limits with eighteen appearances on the series, more than any other performer; he last appeared in 2018 for Season 44. He was the inaugural inductee into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame in 2014. Asleep at the Wheel, led by founder Ray Benson, and celebrating a 50-plus year run, also have a shared history with Austin City Limits, appearing eleven times over five decades, including a pair of appearances joined by Willie. Asleep at the Wheel was inducted into the ACL Hall of Fame in 2015, and honored in a 50-year career retrospective broadcast in 2020 as a special episode of Austin City Limits.

The anniversary concert also celebrates the city and community that plays a starring role in the series. The Austin skyline is the famous backdrop for the weekly show and Austin music fans comprise the audiences featured in each episode’s trademark crowd shots.

Austin’s Long Center concert lawn, situated on the banks of Lady Bird Lake and offering stunning views of the Austin skyline, will be the setting for this one-of-a-kind concert event. Austin City Limits 50th Birthday Bash featuring Willie Nelson & Family is produced by Austin PBS, the producing station of Austin City Limits and made possible by the generous support of Tejemos Foundation, Central Texas Chevy Dealers, Tito’s Handmade Vodka and Visit Austin.

As ACL turns 50, the series extends its legacy providing viewers a front-row seat to the best in live performance. Austin City Limits continues its extraordinary five-decade broadcast run with its landmark Season 50 premiering September 28, 2024 on PBS featuring an hour with Kacey Musgraves. The upcoming season features an all-star slate of returning favorites and highly-anticipated debuts. ACL has earned its place in history.

About Austin City Limits: 

A monument to music, Austin City Limits has showcased iconic performances from legends and innovators in every genre of popular song for a remarkable five decades. The series is the flagship of the popular Austin City Limits Music Festival and has earned countless accolades for its quality presentation of live music performances, including a Peabody Award, a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame designation and it remains the only TV series awarded the National Medal of Arts. In May 2024, the show’s longtime executive producer Terry Lickona was awarded public television’s highest honor, The Beacon Award, presented by Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl. The esteemed award pays tribute to individuals whose work inspires Americans and enriches our nation, in keeping with the mission of PBS. 

About Austin PBS:

Since 1962, Austin PBS has been a part of Central Texas, delivering programs that educate, entertain and inspire. As the only locally owned and operated nonprofit public television station in Central Texas, Austin PBS uses its unique position to serve as a bridge to the community and provide essential services to 3 million potential viewers in more than 20 counties across the region.

Willie Nelson:

With a seven-decade career, Willie Nelson has earned every conceivable award as a musician and amassed reputable credentials as an author, actor, and activist. He continues to thrive as a relevant and progressive musical and cultural force. In recent years, he has delivered more than a dozen new albums, released a Top 10 New York Times’ bestsellers book, again headlined Farm Aid (an event he co-founded in 1985), his annual Willie Nelson’s 4th of July Picnic, been honored by the Library of Congress with their Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, received his 5th degree black belt in Gong Kwon Yu Sul, headlined the annual Luck Reunion food and music festival during SXSW as well as the annual Outlaw Music Festival Tour, launched his cannabis companies Willie’s Reserve and Willie’s Remedy, and graced the covers of Rolling Stone and AARP The Magazine. Nelson started this decade by releasing four albums of newly recorded music—First Rose of Spring (2020), That’s Life (2021), The Willie Nelson Family (2021), and A Beautiful Time (2022, GRAMMY Award winner for Best Country Album)—and three books—Me and Sister Bobbie: True Tales of The Family Band (2020), Willie Nelson’s Letters to America (2021), and Me and Paul: Untold Tale of a Fabled Friendship (2022). Throughout 2023, Willie celebrates his 90th birthday with multiple projects and events including a two-night star-studded concert at the famed Hollywood Bowl, Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90, that was released as a feature film and a televised broadcast special. The year began with the debut of “Wille Nelson & Family,” a new five-part film documentary series directed by Thom Zimny and Oren Moverman that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival as well as the release of a new album, I Don’t Know a Thing About Love, which features 10 performances that pay tribute to American songwriter Harlan Howard. Last year also welcomed two new releases: the GRAMMY nominated album, Bluegrass (with newly recorded studio performances of 12 Willie Nelson-penned classics showcasing Willie with a bluegrass ensemble), and a new book, Energy Follows Thought (with stories behind the lyrics of 160 of his favorite songs, along with never-before-seen photos and ephemera). To cap the momentous year, Nelson was inducted into The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In 2024, Nelson expands his depth of work with the release of two new albums and a new book. May saw the arrival of the studio album The Border (which includes Willie’s versions of 10 contemporary country songs, and four new compositions with Buddy Cannon). And this November a cookbook co-authored with his wife, Willie and Annie Nelson’s Cannabis Cookbook: Mouthwatering Recipes and the High-Flying Stories Behind Them, will debut (on 11/12), as well as another studio album (releasing on 11/1), Last Leaf on the Tree, which features close collaborations with Nelson’s son Micah. These creative endeavors as well as new songs and performances that add to his classic catalog, find Willie Nelson rolling at an artistic peak, writing and singing and playing with the seasoned wit and wisdom that comes from the road.

Asleep at the Wheel:

For over fifty years, Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson has been traversing the globe as an ambassador of Western swing music and introducing its irresistible sound to generation after generation. More than 100 musicians have passed through the Wheel, but Benson remains the front man and the keeper of the vision, in the process racking up more than 30 albums, ten Grammy awards and literally millions of miles on the road.