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Featured New Broadcast News

ACL Announces Season 40 Broadcast TV Schedule

Today Austin City Limits is proud to unveil our milestone 40th season, celebrating a four-decade run with more legendary artists, innovators and highly anticipated debuts. Providing viewers with a front-row seat to the best in music performance for 40 years, we’ll return on Saturday, October 4th with an unforgettable hour-long set from an American original, musician/songwriter Beck. Prior to the season premiere, a primetime special honoring the program’s anniversary, Austin City Limits Celebrates 40 Years, airs Friday, October 3rd, 9-11pm ET on PBS Arts Fall Festival.

Beck kicks off the celebratory season with an epic, career-spanning full-hour performance. One of the most creative artists of his generation, Beck shines in an exceptionally entertaining hour, showcasing a mix of vintage fan favorites and more recent gems. On the next installment, British sensation Ed Sheeran makes his ACL debut in a must-see episode that features the breakout star performing his entire set solo acoustic. Sheeran exudes the raw talent that propelled him to the top of the charts, with charged versions of hits from his landmark debut and new songs from the chart-topping follow-up release. Acclaimed Memphis singer-songwriter Valerie June shares the bill, making a captivating ACL debut with her starry-eyed roots music. Legendary industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails make a rare television appearance in an arena-worthy hour-long presentation that previewed in the spring to become one of ACL’s most talked about episodes. A season highlight is the return of ACL veteran Jeff Tweedy for a special hour. The Wilco leader showcases his first-ever solo project Tweedy, performing a mix of new songs and Wilco classics joined by his son and special guests.  Noir-rock outfit Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds make their ACL debut in a full-hour episode offering a memorable career-wide set powered by dark songs about love, death, God and fate.  Music legends Los Lobos return to the ACL stage for their fifth appearance, with the influential and enduring East L.A. band celebrating their recent 40th anniversary alongside ACL’s.

The new season boasts a number of highly anticipated debuts from music innovators: Breakout country star Eric Church, folk-rock wonders Thao & The Get Down Stay Down and acclaimed southern rock band J. Roddy Walston & The Business.

ACL executive producer Terry Lickona says, “Anniversaries can seem trite and predictable, but this season is very special for me in so many ways. It represents 40 years of musical adventure and discovery. ACL fans have come to expect the unexpected, and we love it all. We celebrate our past, but we’re more excited about the future!”

For the fourth consecutive year, the producers of Austin City Limits, in conjunction with High 5 Productions, and the Americana Music Association, are proud to present a special ACL Presents—featuring the best music performances from this year’s Americana Music Association Honors and Awards Ceremony held September 17th at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN.

Season 40 Fall Broadcast Schedule (additional episodes to be announced):

October 4            Beck

October 11          Ed Sheeran | Valerie June

October 18          Nine Inch Nails

October 25          Tweedy

November 1         Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

November 8         Los Lobos | Thao & The Get Down Stay Down

November 15       Eric Church | J. Roddy Walston & The Business

November 22       ACL Presents: Americana Music Festival 2014

The complete line-up for the full 13-week season, including new episodes to air beginning January 2015, will be announced at a later date. Check our news section for additional episode updates.

 

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Encore Broadcast Featured News

Encore: Emeli Sandé and Michael Kiwanuka

Austin City Limits showcases British soul with a brand new episode featuring two uniquely original singer-songwriters—chart-topping Scottish songstress Emeli Sandé and UK sensation Michael Kiwanuka making their ACL debuts. Sandé performs hits from her breakthrough album Our Version of Events, while Kiwanuka plays tunes from his debut Home Again. Check with your local station for showtimes.

Sandé has achieved breakout success in her native UK and stateside with the striking debut, Our Version of Events, which was the biggest-selling album in 2012 in the UK and toppled The Beatles’ long-standing album chart record for the most consecutive weeks spent in the top 10 (an astounding 66 weeks). Sandé emerged as the big winner at the 2013 Brit Awards, winning a pair of awards, including the coveted Album of the Year prize. The Los Angeles Times raves, “Emeli’s folk-inflected soul/pop is Nina Simone and Bob Dylan all in one.” The New York Times calls her “a redemptive singer,” saying “Ms. Sandé has a perspective-altering voice, clear and brassy and weapons-grade.” Originally starting her music career as a songwriter, Sandé had many stellar credits for other artists (Alicia Keys, Rihanna) to her name when she traded it in for the spotlight. A dynamic performer, Sandé opens her soulful ACL debut with the upbeat anthem “Heaven,” a huge UK hit. She engages the Austin crowd as her backing choir on her current single “My Kind of Love”, and closes out a stunning set with the massive hit “Next to Me”.

“Emeli Sandé should be one of the brightest stars in the musical firmament, but despite her UK success, she’s one of the best-kept secrets here in the U.S.,” says executive producer Terry Lickona. “Hopefully her ACL performance will change all that. The best word to describe her many talents is ‘astounding!’”

photo by Scott Newton

London native Michael Kiwanuka has been making waves with his debut album, the lush, acoustic-driven Home Again, which reached No. 4 on the British charts, spawned four singles, and went Top 10 around the world, earning the 24-year-old singer, songwriter and musician opening spots for superstar artists including Adele and Mumford & Sons, and a slot at the 2012 ACL Festival. Kiwanuka was announced the winner of the prestigious BBC Sound of 2012 poll, which has also been won by Jessie J, Florence + the Machine, and Ellie Goulding. Kiwanuka connects with the Austin audience with his blues-folk sound and timeless, soulful voice, which has led to comparisons to such artists as Bill Withers, Terry Callier, and John Martyn.

“Sometimes Michael’s singing comes across as very old-school, retro soul,” said Terry Lickona. “But he has a very contemporary sensibility. With Michael, it’s all about the voice, and that’s timeless!”

Check out the episode page for more details on this great show. Be sure to hit up our Facebook and Twitter pages and our newsletter for more ACL-related information. Next week: Portugal. The Man and Local Natives.

 

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Featured News Taping Announcement

New taping: Nickel Creek

Austin City Limits is happy to announce a new taping with Grammy Award-winning and multi-platinum Nickel Creek on August 25. The recently reunited Americana trio return with their first new music in nine years and for their third appearance on the show. Mandolinist Chris Thile (who also visited us with his band Punch Brothers), guitarist Sean Watkins and violinist Sara Watkins (who recently appeared with the Decemberists) came together as Nickel Creek in the late 80s when they were pre-teens, becoming a bluegrass sensation with a pair of albums released just a few years later. But the band truly came into its own with its Alison Krauss–produced third and fourth records, Nickel Creek and This Side, which helped forge its distinctive bluegrass/roots/pop identity.

Following 2005’s Why Should the Fire Die? and 2007’s Farewell (For Now) tour, the trio took a few years off to work on individual solo careers and side projects. 2014 brought the surprise announcement of a reunion and a new album, with A Dotted Line and its subsequent tour coinciding with the band’s 25th anniversary. And since we’re celebrating our 40th anniversary, who better than Nickel Creek to return for their third ACL appearance as part of our milestone season?

Want to be part of our audience? We will post information on how to get free passes about a week before the 8/25 taping. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for notice of postings.

 

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Taping Recap

White Denim’s thrilling evolution

“It’s always a thrill to introduce one of our own,” said ACL’s Terry Lickona as he set the stage for White Denim’s debut taping. While Austin City Limits casts its net far and wide around the world, we’re always happy to showcase homegrown talent. So we were thrilled to welcome White Denim to our fair studio. The Austin band has firmly established itself as an international draw on the club and festival circuits, and with the release of its latest acclaimed, Jeff Tweedy-produced LP Corsicana Lemonade, the time was right, and the Moody was packed with fans cheering them on.

Having evolved far beyond their garage rock origins, the band presented clusters of songs, layering together tunes from Corsicana Lemonade and D into jazzy suites that drew equally from prog rock, psychedelia and the jam band tradition. “Pretty Green,” “Corsicana Lemonade” and “River to Consider” illustrated the quartet’s evolution well, seguing from pounding, riff-oriented verses and choruses to jazzy bridges and long solo passages, sprinkled liberally with compressed wah-wah guitar. The tightly-knit duo of “Comeback” and “At the Farm” continued the trend with heavier riffs, busier rhythms and even proggier interplay, featuring singer James Petralli’s scatting and kazoo solo.The suite of  “Anvil Everything/Sometimes I Don’t Wanna Shake/I Start to Run” threw in everything except the kitchen sink: psychedelic grunge, heavy rock riffs, fast-talking vocals, airy arrangements and even a mutated Bo Diddley beat – the band’s current approach in a (large) nutshell.

Not everything involved extended jams – “Distant Relative Salute” essayed a frisky, jazzy rocker, “A Place to Start” evinced soulful pop and “Street Joy” ran its power ballad atmosphere on the fuel of Petralli’s powerful vocal chords. The set ended back in jamland with “At Night in Dreams,” a song that reveled in both the melodics and the expressive musicianship. A quick redo of the choogling “Dreams” and a frenzied meltdown of “Mess Your Hair Up” brought the set to a howling close, the fans going wild. We couldn’t be prouder of hometown heroes White Denim, and we can’t wait for you to see this episode when it airs later this year as part of our 40th season. Stay tuned.

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Encore Broadcast Episode Recap Featured News

Encore: Jim James and The Black Angels

Austin City Limits explores new sonic directions in a double bill with Jim James and Austin’s own Black Angels.  My Morning Jacket leader Jim James plays songs from his acclaimed debut solo album Regions of Light and Sound of God while Texas psych-rockers The Black Angels highlight songs from their latest release Indigo Meadow.

The versatile Jim James commands a spellbinding set in his first-ever solo outing on ACL, marking his sixth appearance on the program—having performed twice with his main outfit My Morning Jacket, in addition to appearances with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Bright Eyes and Monsters of Folk.  Declaring his solo project a “new adventure”, James invites the Austin audience to come on the journey with him, and they are more than happy to oblige.  He reaches into new territory in an intimate and hypnotic performance that combines hints of old school R&B, flickers of hip hop, operatic pop and delicate instrumentation.  James and his four-piece band open with the 70s soul of “State of the Art” and “Know Til Now” and segue into the spiritual love song “A New Life” and the atmospheric “Actress”.  It’s a captivating and completely danceable set, with James himself getting in the groove while holding a bronze panda up and adding his own sliding dance steps.

“Jim James has found many ways to pursue his musical muse, and it’s amazing that this is his very first solo album,” notes ACL executive producer Terry Lickona. “What better way to bring it to his legions of fans than ACL?”

photo by Scott Newton

Carrying on the long Texas tradition of psychedelia, Austin’s Black Angels round out the episode, making their long-awaited ACL debut with their unique brand of psychedelic music for the 21st century.  It’s a fitting showcase for ACL, as the psych rock movement has its roots in the Lone Star State thanks to 60s acid-rock heroes the 13th Floor Elevators, who were the first band to apply the term psychedelic to rock & roll.  Named in tribute to the Velvet Underground number “The Black Angel’s Death Song,” The Black Angels found themselves the spearhead of a new psychedelic revival soon after their formation in 2004.  The band’s carefully crafted blend of melody and noise won over fans of both modern indie rock and old school acid rock, and established it as a major force in underground rock & roll, even starting its own festival in 2008, the still-running Austin Psych Fest.  Opening with the heavy duty headbanger “Evil Things”, the Angels create a dark, brooding mood with their trademark vocal reverb and fuzzy, distorted guitars on a stage complete with fun-house optic, psychedelic images swirling on projection screens.  The Black Angels take the Austin crowd into the psychedelic heart of darkness and back out into the light, proving why they have become one of the foremost acts in the psych and garage rock revival.

“Whether you remember 60’s acid-rock first-hand or this is your first ‘psych’ experience, The Black Angels have taken a classic rock form and turned it into their own,” Lickona says. “It’s got an other-worldly vibe but at the same time it’s totally accessible.”

Check out the episode page here and tune in this Saturday to see the show for yourself. Click over to our Facebook and Twitter pages or our newsletter for the latest ACL skinny. Next week: Emeli Sande and Michael Kiwanuka.

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Encore Broadcast Episode Recap Featured News

Encore: Phoenix

French band Phoenix celebrates their ACL debut with an epic, career-spanning full-hour episode that showcases their impeccably crafted rock. “We are Phoenix from Paris, France,” announces frontman Thomas Mars as they open a stellar performance, although no introduction is necessary for the rapturous Austin crowd.  French alternative rockers whose music resonates around the world, Phoenix kick off with a blistering rendition of “Entertainment” from their latest release Bankrupt! The band segue into the massive hit “Lisztomania” off their 2009 breakthrough Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, which won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album. Called “one of the most influential post-millennial acts” by the NY Times, Phoenix earned headlining spots at 2013’s Coachella and Lollapalooza festivals. As the group connects the dots of its decade-plus career in their ACL outing, they pair older tunes with newer material: “Too Young” from their 2000 debut is woven into a seamless melody with the more recent “Girlfriend.” The opening synth notes of the intro to their smash “1901” draws raves from the audience as Phoenix cap a glorious set, with Mars calling the ACL appearance “a pinnacle moment” for the band.

“Phoenix has been on my hit list since they won their Best Alternative Album Grammy three years ago, but it’s been well worth the wait,” says ACL executive producer Terry Lickona. “Their new music shows remarkable growth, and their live shows are always electrifying. Their songs transcend geographical and musical borders.”

photo by Scott Newton

Check out the episode details here and tune in this Saturday to see the show for yourself. Click over to our Facebook and Twitter pages or our newsletter for the latest ACL skinny. Next week: Jim James and The Black Angels.

photo by Scott Newton