Author: Lily Angelle

Powerhouse singer/songwriter Brittany Howard took the Austin City Limits stage for her fourth outing Monday night with an electric hour, showcasing latest album What Now, along with highlights from her acclaimed 2019 solo debut Jaime mixed into a dazzling set. Having formerly taped two episodes with her band Alabama Shakes, followed by a phenomenal solo Austin City Limits debut in 2021 for Season 47, the studio audience was buzzing with anticipation to experience new solo work from the ACL favorite. 

“We’re so happy to be here,” smiled Howard, who emerged from backstage wearing a sparkling floor-length caftan dress that shone just as bright as her onstage presence.

Brittany and band enraptured the audience right out of the gate with What Now opening tracks “Earth Sign,” and “I Don’t.” Recorded during the pandemic, What Now is an affirming genre experimentation with existential lyrics that at times take a heady psychedelic turn. Mixing in some selects off Jaime, by the time Howard pulled out crowd favorite “Stay High,” the audience was ready to sing along. Howard let out a friendly laugh mid-song at the audience’s enthusiastic recognition of the hit.

Following new tunes “Red Flags” and “Samson,” the unstoppable frontwoman forayed into playing a suite of songs from Jaime, including “Baby,” “History Repeats,” “Georgia,” and a very moody “Goat Head,” with her stellar band and longtime backing  vocalists Shanay Johnson and Karita Law fading in the meditative groove from a skillfully controlled almost-silence. Songs faded into each other, with trippy segues into meditative guitar by Alex Chakour and Brad Allan Williams piggybacked by a keys solo from Paul Horton to bookend “Georgia.” Howard let out an energetic scream in “History Repeats,” followed by a killer drum break in “13th Century Metal,” courtesy of drummer Nate Smith that inspired an audience clap-along.  

The latter portion of the set became introspective and vulnerable, with new track “To Be Still” performed with just her ace backing  vocalists and guitarist Brad Allan Williams accompanying Howard’s vocals. Her soaring voice in “Every Color in Blue,” further confirmed her status as one of music’s greatest vocalists.

“Live music is such an important thing, you know,” offered Howard as her remaining band members left her alone centerstage. Switching to an acoustic guitar, she shared, “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 launched into a heartfelt “Short and Sweet,” ending the performance and walking offstage.

The audience rhythmically clapped Brittany and band back onstage for an encore featuring a trio of songs from What Now: “Interlude,” “Another Day” and the title track, a perfect end to a transformative set. We can’t wait for you to see it when it airs this fall on PBS as part of our golden anniversary Season 50.

Brittany Howard performs on Austin City Limits, April 29, 2024. Photos by Scott Newton.

Listen to the full set list from the Austin City Limits taping below:

BAND: 

Brittany Howard – Lead guitar, vocals 

Lloyd Buchanan – Keys, Background vocals 

Alex Chakour – Guitar

Zac Cockrell – Bass

Paul Horton – Keys 

Shanay Johnson – Background Vocals 

Karita Law – Background Vocals 

Nate Smith – Drums 

Brad Allan Williams – Guitar

Fresh off the high of this weekend’s CMTs, where Jelly Roll swept the Awards with a trio of wins, and newly-nominated for four ACM Awards, including top honor of Entertainer of the Year, country music’s newest superstar took the stage for his debut ACL TV performance in high spirits, grabbing the microphone and shouting, “50 years of Austin City Limits!” The high energy audience was here for it, on their feet from start to finish, cheering along the Nashville singer/songwriter and band as they performed a blazing set which included unreleased new material that’s never been performed live… until now. 

Kicking off the hour with “Halfway to Hell” and “The Lost” from his record-breaking Whitsitt Chapel, Jelly Roll took time in between songs to acknowledge the adoring crowd, responding to intermittent “I love yous” and waving thankfully. He waxed poetic about his love of Austin City Limits – “I’ve been watching this since I was a child.” Jelly was quick to cite many of the country greats and ACL forebears that have influenced him from a young age, from Willie Nelson to Merle Haggard to George Jones: “I’ve got [ACL] posters on my walls from shows I never went to.” 

Jelly Roll gave a disclaimer to the audience, saying they were going to debut some new songs live for the first time, and might have to restart, before thrilling the crowd with a pair of unreleased tracks, “Liar” and “Winning Streak,” from his forthcoming album. He went on to say no one outside of his wife and close friends had heard these (we also learned the band had only first heard the songs earlier that day), asking the audience for grace as they delivered the new songs flawlessly. 

Next, Jelly Roll performed a cover of Toby Keith’s “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” introducing the song with the sentiment, “country music lost a legend this year.” From there, he dove right into a monologue about musical influences and how he and his siblings were into massively varying genres – he was raised on country, while his sister was into rock and his older brother into hip hop and rap music. This segued into a medley of bangers, from Eazy-E’s “Boyz-in-the-Hood,” to DMX’s “Ruff Ryder’s Anthem.” Jelly capped it off  with Biz Markie’s anthem “Just a Friend,” inciting an ecstatic, audience-wide singalong. 

Jelly Roll and his 7-piece band, including longtime guitarist Casey Jarvis, went on to deliver back to back favorites from his hit albums, A Beautiful Disaster and Whitsitt Chapel, while also finding opportunity to sprinkle in a new tune, “I’m Not OK,” alongside “Smoking Section” from Therapeutic Music Collection. 

Jelly Roll left the stage for a quick break toward the end of “Bottle and Mary Jane,” as Casey Jarvis and Jack Fowler ripped wailing guitar solos back-and-forth. 

Jelly Roll closed his set with “She” and “Save Me,” taking a moment to reference his recent appearance before Congress to urge lawmakers to pass legislation combating the distribution of fentanyl. As the audience applauded, Jelly flashed the “hook ‘em horns” gesture, saying after the CMT Awards at the Moody Center Sunday night, the longhorn culture has started to rub off on him. One thing is certain after carving his name in ACL history, Austin would be happy to welcome Jelly Roll back any day. 

Jelly Roll performs on Austin City Limits, April 9, 2024. Photos by Scott Newton.

SETLIST:

Halfway to Hell – Whitsitt Chapel

The Lost – Whitsitt Chapel

Son of a Sinner – Ballads of the Broken

Liar – new song

Winning Streak – new song

Cover of Toby Keith “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” 

Covers of DMX, “Ruff Ryder’s Anthem,” Eminem – “Lose Yourself,” Outkast, “Ms. Jackson,” Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend,” Eazy-E’s “Boyz-in-the-Hood”

Creature – A Beautiful Disaster

Bottle and Mary Jane – A Beautiful Disaster

Need a Favor – Whitsitt Chapel

I’m Not OK – new song

Smoking Section – Therapeutic Music Collection

She – Whitsitt Chapel

Save Me – Whitsitt Chapel

MUSICIANS:

Jelly Roll – vocals

Cody Ash – drums

DJ Chill – DJ

Casey Jarvis – guitar

Roosevelt Collier – pedal steel (note: he’s a Sacred Steel player)

Joe Andrews – keyboards, guitar

Alex Howard – bass

Jack Fowler – guitar