Author: michael

“We’ve wanted to do this for so long!” declared Chris Thile before launching into the first number of the Punch Brothers’ Austin City Limits taping. While it was the band’s first time on ACL, it was not the first for Thile, who has graced our stage three times before with his former group Nickel Creek and as part of Dolly Parton’s backing ensemble. So the Punch Brothers show was a debut by an ACL veteran.

Paradoxes aside, the quintet killed it with their unique take on acoustic music. Set up with bluegrass instrumentation but just as influenced by jazz, classical music and pop as anything old-timey, the Punch Brothers performed a stunning array of tunes that slipped through the fingers of specific genres like hyperactive toddlers. From the stop-start rhythms of “Who’s Feeling Young Now?” and “Hundred Dollars” to the straight pop melodies of “New York City” and “Don’t Get Married Without Me,” the band delivered a restless, intensely creative set of songs.

Tradition didn’t get short shrift, either – the instrumental “Watch’at Breakdown” and a cover of Jimmie Rodgers’ “Brakeman’s Blues” delivered plenty of old-fashioned bluegrass thrills. The band combined their experimental and traditional sides midshow by seguing a judiciously dissonant cover of Radiohead’s “Kid A” into a blazing take on Gillian Welch’s “Wayside/Back in Time” .

The band returned to the stage for an encore with heartfelt and fun tributes to recently fallen heroes – Earl Scruggs with the banjo master’s “Groundspeed” and Levon Helm with the Band’s “Ophelia.” Throughout the show the band used their instrumental virtuosity only for good, never soloing to the point of tedium – their taste was as impeccable as their musicianship. The Punch Brothers’ set was as fine an example of unclassifiable contemporary acoustic music as anyone could hope for.

“When you start a band, this is all you really want to be able to do – play Austin City Limits,” noted  Thile halfway through the show, as he cited the Season 15 show with Strength in Numbers as a catalyst to his desire to make music. We’re always happy to host great musicians who’ve grown up with ACL. Hopefully future generations will be inspired by the Punch Brothers when the episode airs  this fall on your local PBS station. Check our Facebook and Twitter pages for more info as the year progresses.

When Justin Vernon created the acclaimed For Emma, Forever Ago in his family’s cabin in Medford, Wisconsin in 2008, he probably never thought that his candid creation would lead his band Bon Iver to the Austin City Limits studio. But here he is, playing to a packed house at ACL Live at the Moody Theater.

Joined by eight multi-instrumentalists, Vernon turned his intimate confessionals into orchestral pop anthems that kept the crowd mesmerized. They played all but one song from 2011’s Grammy-winning Bon Iver, Bon Iver, but left plenty of room for gems from For Emma and beyond. Making good use of controlled cacophony on “Perth” and “Creature Fear” and soft-to-loud dynamics on “Calgary” and the hit “Holocene,” the band deftly demonstrated its range and depth. (“Holocene reminds me of driving along the West Coast and feeling so insignificant, but in a good way,” tweeted Miranda S.) Bon Iver pulled back for the folky “Skinny Love” and the lovely “Re: Stacks” (performed by Vernon solo) and revved back up for the catchy “Towers” and the rocking “Blood Bank.”

As if Vernon didn’t already have the audience in the palm of his hand, he appealed to their local pride with what Julia Brash described as an “overwhelmingly beautiful” cover of hometown heroine Patty Griffin’s “Nobody’s Crying,” before engaging them in a mass singalong for “The Wolves.” “All we needed was a campfire,” noted Zackary Wilburn, “and we would have been in that cabin up in Wisconsin!” Bon Iver closed out the night with “For Emma,” in many ways the song that started it all.

“This is the only good, perfect, wonderful music show that we have,” Vernon asserted during the encore. Such high praise makes us blush – we’re as happy to have hosted Bon Iver as its leader was to be here. Bon Iver’s enchanting episode will air in the fall – check with your local PBS station for airdates and showtimes. You can also keep up with Season 38’s progress via Facebook, Twitter and this very blog.