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Encore Broadcast Episode Recap Featured News

Encore: Raphael Saadiq and Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears

WARNING:  This Saturday’s encore episode may induce the following behavior: dancing/booty shaking, laughter, uncontrollable smiling, clapping, soulful singing, and bass throwing (if you have one nearby).

What are we talking about? This week’s episode featuring multi-instrumentalist and R&B veteran Raphael Saadiq and Austin’s own Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, of course.

Referring to journalists as “lazy” when they try to fit his musical style under genre specific labels (such as neo-soul), it’s clear from this performance and his albums that Raphael Saadiq draws inspiration from a wide array of artists. Featuring special guest Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Saadiq covers hits from his 2011 album Stone Rollin’. Watch when Saadiq performs the title track, a song he initially wrote when he was 11 about a “full-figured, bluesy woman,” as his background vocalists show as much energy as Saadiq himself.

Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears have been such an Austin favorite and “must-see” over the years that it wasn’t a shock when the group starting gaining national attention. In this performance you see the group at its finest, performing a mix of songs from its 2009 debut Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is! and their 2011 release Scandalous. This performance is brimming with energy, soul and flying instruments, and hits its peak at the end, when the group is joined by Dallas gospel group the Relatives for the fervid hit and crowd favorite “You Been Lyin’.”

photo by Scott Newton

Check your local listings for showtimes to see this episode and be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter, or hook up with our newsletter to keep up with updates on tapings and airings! Oh, and please watch out for the bass. Austin City Limits does not condone anyone throwing instruments in the living room, but if you do, let us know because that would be an awesome story worth sharing. Next week: Wilco with special guest Nick Lowe.

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Taping Recap

Ed Sheeran’s incredible synergy with his ACL fans

Part of the whole pop music experience is the synergy with the fans. That’s a big “duh,” right? All artists experience it – we experience it ourselves here at Austin City Limits. For all the great fan interaction we see at every taping, however, nothing compares to an Ed Sheeran show. The Suffolk native appeared on the eve of the release of x, his highly anticipated second album, with a setlist full of new tunes and favorites. From the evidence of the British sensation’s first ACL taping, he may very well have the most loyal, enthusiastic fans in recent memory.

The chart-topping, Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter began with “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You,” from his landmark debut LP +. He started by using his foot-controlled loop station to create a groove, using his guitar as a percussion instrument as much as a melodic one. Adding mouth and breath-generated percussion and a barrage of rapped and sung lyrics, he generated a near-perfectly balanced meld of folk and hip-hop, appropriately enough for a tunesmith deeply influenced by Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP. Once the groove was established, Sheeran put his guitar down to exhort the crowd to clap and sing along. The audience needed little encouragement, eager for call and response before he even arrived at that point in the song. By the time he had the house lights brought up so he could snap a cell phone pic of his congregation, the energy in the room had shot into the stratosphere. And this was only the first song!

From then on, whether he was building more grooving loops on “Don’t,” “Give Me Love” or a fiery take on Nina Simone’s “Be My Husband” or breaking hearts and inducing tears with the stripped-down balladry of “Lego House,” “Thinking Out Loud” and the moving “All of the Stars,” from the soundtrack to the hit film The Fault of Our Stars, Sheeran and the crowd were in it together. The energy bounced back and forth, from performer to audience and back again, never faltering. Even when Sheeran sang the traditional folk tune “The Parting Glass” and led it into the dark “The A Team,” a cautionary tale of addiction, the fans were right there with him, singing along, hanging on his every gesture.

Sheeran ended with, of course, “Sing,” the relentlessly upbeat single from x that required, even demanded, audience participation. At his request the crowd kept up the wordless chorus even after he left the stage. That the audience’s energy never dissipated during this vocal coda proved their dedication to Sheeran’s vision. It’s going to make a great episode, and we can’t wait for you to see it when it airs this fall on PBS.

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Encore Broadcast Episode Recap Featured News

Encore: Tim McGraw

“This is a special night for us. We’re very excited!” ” proclaims Tim McGraw during his debut ACL performance. So are we to welcome one of contemporary country’s biggest stars. In a dynamic performance, McGraw takes the ACL stage armed with both his greatest hits and brand new songs. Performing tracks from his record Two Lanes of Freedom, McGraw blazes through an hour-long set of his distinctive brand of rockin’ country music.

Launching into a set that has the audience on its feet from the first note, the country kingpin has his engines revving and thrills the crowd in a visceral, moving performance. From his hard-driving new single “One of Those Nights” to the feel-good hangover of “Mexicoma,” the energy level is at 11 when McGraw sings his massive career-defining anthem “Live Like You Were Dying.” He brings the show to a close and a smile to every face with the good-natured hillbilly humor of his recent huge hit “Truck Yeah,” a singalong anthem if there ever was one.

“Country Music has plenty of superstars to go around, but Tim has that special ability to make an emotional connection with his audience that is rare in any genre,” says ACL Executive Producer Terry Lickona. “His first ACL appearance meant a lot to him – he told me it made him feel ‘like a real musician – not just sort of smoke and mirrors.’”

photo by Scott Newton

Check out the episode page for more info on this exciting show. Keep up with other ACL goings-on through our Facebook and Twitter pages and our newsletter. Next week: The Lumineers and Shovels & Rope.

 

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Encore Broadcast Episode Recap Featured News

Encore: Miranda Lambert and Jeff Bridges

This weekend Austin City Limits is bringing you some southern twang, pink guitars, shotgun mic stands and serious country with this encore episode featuring Miranda Lambert and Jeff Bridges.

Miranda Lambert has become a household name since her appearance on Nashville Star back in 2003 and is now, undoubtedly, one of country music’s biggest names. Miranda, whose father is a singer/songwriter, admits that she wasn’t always keen on singing growing up, but once she turned 17 she realized that music was the most natural way for her to express herself. Since then Miranda has released five studio albums, won a Grammy for her song “The House That Built Me” and now has a side project with Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley called Pistol Annies, who join Lambert to sing “Hell On Heels,”  their biggest hit of their album by the same name.

The highly acclaimed actor/singer Jeff Bridges also appears in this episode, singing hits from the Grammy-winning Crazy Heart soundtrack as well as songs from his 2011 self-titled debut. Known for his prolific acting career, the Oscar-winning Bridges shows fans a different side, displaying his singing and songwriting ability. While shooting Crazy Heart, Bridges realized that he was a bit tired of the “acting thing” and wanted to go back to his original interest: music. Highlights of the performance include the songs, “Somebody Else” and “What a Little Bit of Love Can Do,” written by beloved Austin musician Stephen Bruton.

photo by Scott Newton

So sit back and relax this Saturday with two of country music’s most famous and talented names. Be sure to check your local listings for showtimes to see this episode and be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or through our newsletter to keep up with updates on tapings and airings. Next week: Tim McGraw.

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Featured News Taping Announcement

New taping: Jeff Tweedy

Austin City Limits is thrilled to announce the return of one of our favorite sons, Jeff Tweedy, on June 20 as part of the upcoming milestone 40th season.  After two decades leading his main outfit Wilco, the Grammy-winning singer/songwriter’s ACL appearance sets the stage for the release of a highly-anticipated solo album later this year.  Backed by a newly-formed band including his 18-year old son Spencer Tweedy on drums, expect new material in addition to a solo acoustic set of Wilco and pioneering alt.country band Uncle Tupelo favorites.  ACL veteran Tweedy has made four memorable appearances with Wilco, so welcoming him once again to our stage is like welcoming an old friend.

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

 

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Taping Recap

Valerie June brings organic moonshine to ACL

“I’ll try not to cry tonight,” said Valerie June directly after taking the stage for her ACL debut. “It means the world to me to be here.” With an intro like that, it would be impossible not to be on the side of this fast-rising Memphis singer/songwriter. The talent bursting from her seams, however, justified the empathy. With one foot in country blues, the other in mountain folk music and her head in the stars, June and her band conjured a distinctive brand of genre-blending songs that she calls organic moonshine roots music.

June opened with the Carter Family chestnut “Happy or Lonesome,” her unique voice working the midpoint between those emotional extremes. Then she and her band – which includes guitarist Binky Griptite, last seen on the ACL stage as part of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings – ranged all over the Americana map, from the twanging folk of “Twined & Twisted” and sprightly country of “Rain Dance” to the waltzing honky-tonk of “Keep the Bar Open” and the heartfelt gospel of Jim Reeves’ “This World is Not My Home,” which earned especially vocal approval from the crowd. But whether June was strumming her custom-made “baby” (a banjo/ukulele hybrid) for “Somebody to Love,” crooning through the R&B balladry of “The Hour” or philosophizing the slow blues of “Pushin’ Against a Stone,” June put her own stamp on every note. Once you hear “Goodnight Irene,” her show-closer, you’ll never want to hear it any other way.

This was one of those special first-time shows that will be talked about for years to come. We can’t wait for you to see it when it airs this fall on PBS.