We at Austin City Limits were saddened to learn of the death of Charles Neville of pancreatic cancer at age 79. The second oldest of the Neville Brothers, Charles appeared on the show with his siblings three times, in 1979, 1986 and 1995. The sax-wielding New Orleans native began his career backing various New Orleans-based R&B acts, before enlisting in the Navy. Upon release, he joined songwriter Larry Williams’ band before moving to New York, gigging constantly and building his jazz chops. He returned to New Orleans in the mid-70s at the behest of his uncle, Big Chief Jolly of the Wild Tchoupitoulas, to form the Neville Brothers with Aaron, Art and Cyril. Acclaimed albums like Fire On the Bayou and Yellow Moon and many celebrated tours and performances followed. The Brothers dissolved as a unit in 2012, but by then the Massachusetts-based Charles had already established himself as a jazz artist, as well as leading the New England Nevilles with his sons.
“Charles Neville was ‘the horn man’ in The Neville Brothers,” says ACL executive producer Terry Lickona. “Each of the four brothers had their own distinct sound, but Charles, with his saxophone, brought a unique energy to what was to become one of the most popular and influential bands ever to emerge from the New Orleans music scene. They were one of the first acts I booked in my first year as ACL Producer, and we were honored to induct them into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame last year.”
Here are Charles and his brothers performing “Yellow Moon,” with his snaky sax giving one of the Nevilles’ most famous songs its signature sonic stamp.
Austin City Limits showcases left of the dial faves TV On The Radio and The War On Drugs, splitting the bill in a brand new installment. Two of today’s most critically-acclaimed indie rock bands, both acts make powerful debuts in their first appearance on the ACL stage.
First up is TV On The Radio, formed in Brooklyn in 2001 and considered one of the most influential bands of the decade. The quartet showcase tracks from their latest and widely-acclaimed album Seeds. TVOTR’s originality and eclectic musical spirit—encompassing psychedelia, soul, electronica and urgent punk rock—is evident in their masterful five-song set, opening with the hard-driving “Lazerray” and grappling with pain and loss in the soulful, emotional closer “Trouble.” Witness an act that continues to make music boldly on their own terms, always pushing forward to become one of the best bands of its generation.
Philadelphia band The War On Drugs perform songs from their 2014 breakthrough Lost in the Dream, which earned widespread praise and landed the top spot on many critics’ album-of-the-year lists. Kicking off a gorgeous set with “Under the Pressure”, the song Spin declared record of the year, the rock outfit build momentum creating lush soundscapes filled with musical craft and intricate instrumentation. Bandleader Adam Granduciel’s Dylanesque vocals, cathartic lyrics and grand-scale guitar solos unfold to reveal expansive, dreamy atmospherics for a memorable debut.
photo by Scott Newton
“Indie music has been an important part of ACL’s musical legacy over the past two decades, but it’s a big umbrella that covers a vast musical landscape,” says ACL executive producer Terry Lickona. “Both TV On The Radio and The War On Drugs stand out as virtuoso live musicians, but their songs and vocals are what caught my ear. They are personal yet accessible to anyone who is a fan of great music.”
Tune in this weekend for this episode, and, as always, check your local PBS listings for the broadcast time in your area. This episode will also make its debut on American Airlines’ in-flight entertainment channel in June. Go to the episode page for more info, and don’t forget to click over to our Facebook, Twitter and newsletter pages for more ACL info. Tune in next week for an hour with global pop star Ed Sheeran.
Austin City Limits announces four new Season 44 tapings to kick off the summer of 2018: legendary songwriter John Prine on June 5, contemporary country queen Kacey Musgraves on June 6, Austin indie rockers Wild Child on June 21 and soulful singer/songwriter Anderson East on June 22.
Hailed “the Mark Twain of American songwriting” by Rolling Stone, John Prine (who made his ACL debut on Season 3 in 1978) makes his highly-anticipated eighth appearance on ACL with a new batch of songs from his just-released The Tree of Forgiveness, his first album of originals in thirteen years, and the highest-charting album of his 47-year career, debuting at #5 on the Billboard 200. Produced by Dave Cobb in Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A, Tree features guest appearances by Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires and Brandi Carlile, as well as co-writes with Dan Auerbach, Pat McLaughlin and Phil Spector. But it’s Prine and his distinctive vision that hold the spotlight, what the New York Times calls “a handful of folky chords, a melody that sounds like it’s always been around, a grainy and understated vocal and lyrics that summon complex emotions in a rigorous minimum of syllables.” Pitchfork praises the “virtuoso at understatement” for “finding the joy in the mundane, and writing about what it means to be alive,” trying, as the Nashville Scene notes, to help us “tolerate the bitter taste left by bewildering, painful experiences like death and love.” “Prine’s heart is all human,” says The Tennessean, “It beats in every song on The Tree of Forgiveness …the most personal record of his 47-year recording career.” He may be singing about going to heaven,” proclaims NPR Fresh Air, “but his earthiness keeps his music alive.”
photo by Jaime Nelson
Kacey Musgraves dazzled in a standout ACL debut in 2014, and the now two-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter makes her return appearance celebrating her acclaimed third album Golden Hour. The new album is generating glowing reviews, with NPR stating, “she’s relaxed into the sound she’s already designed, going deeper beneath its sparkly, vintage-tinted surface and further cultivating her innate commitment to clarity and craft,” and Noisey proclaims “it’s clear that the Texan is still the most talented songwriter in mainstream pop-county.” Co-writing and producing with Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk, the Golden, Texas native created an album that marks a more personal, emotional chapter for a songwriter who has been celebrated for her piercing observations and finely-hewn storytelling. “I had a different mindset this time, which was feeling rather than thinking— leading heart first, rather than brain first,” the newly-married artist says. “I was feeling genuinely happy for the first time in a long time, and it started pouring out in ideas and songs.” In this window of creative exploration, she and her collaborators offer strikingly new musical directions, with inspirations ranging from Neil Young to Sade, even dipping lightly into disco. “You won’t find anybody on this earth more inspired by traditional country music more than me,” she says, “but there are all these other facets of music that inspire me, too. I was wondering what it would sound like if those influences could live cohesively.” Pitchfork calls the record “an assured, artful snapshot of a particular rush of feelings, but its wisdom speaks volumes to Musgraves’ ongoing evolution.” Consequence of Sound calls Golden Hour “an honest, cohesive musical experience that will linger in your mind and heart long after the final notes have faded.”
photo by Sean Daigle
Austin’s Wild Child make their ACL debut in support of Expectations, the band’s most creative, colorful and intellectually engaging album to date. The Austin-American Statesman raves, “Four albums in, the Austin indie-folk band-that-could has become increasingly confident without losing the sense of childlike wonder that’s so central to the spirit of their music.” The septet’s new release rose out of a desire to take a multispectral approach to writing and recording that went beyond simply trying to engineer success. The band made a list of their favorite musicians who were also producers, choosing ones they thought would shine a new light on specific compositions, and then set about chasing their album from studio to studio all over the world. That route took them to Chris Walla’s (Death Cab For Cutie) studio in Tromsø, Norway, to a home-built warehouse studio in Philadelphia with Dr. Dog’s Scott McMicken, and back to Wimberley, Texas, as Matthew Logan Vasquez (Delta Spirit) set up a makeshift studio in Wild Child lead singer and violinist Kelsey Wilson’s childhood home. The group also tapped the talents of frequent tour mate Chris Boosahda (Shakey Graves), Atlantic Records recording artist Max Frost, and Grammy-winning producer Adrian Quesada (Black Pumas, Brownout). The result is a theater of possibilities, with arrangements that reflect the range of tastes of the producers, from scruffy lo-fi tape hiss to smoothed out precision-cut electronic pop sounds. “Without sacrificing Wild Child’s signature pop swell, Expectations emerges soulful and serious,” says the Austin Chronicle.
photo by Joshua Black Wilkins
Called “an exciting singer-songwriter effortlessly able to blend elements of rock, blues, country and soul” by Associated Press, Anderson East steps on our stage for the first time with his latest album Encore, produced by longtime collaborator Dave Cobb. The album’s title is derived from East’s steadfast belief: that every song on his new album must be worthy of closing out one of his notoriously epic live shows. The Athens, Alabama native broke onto the music scene with “Satisfy Me” from his 2015 major label debut Delilah, followed by a breakout series of years that included appearances on Cobb’s Southern Family compilation, Brandi Carlile’s Cover Stories benefit LP and the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack, as well as spending much of 2017 on the road with Chris and Morgane Stapleton as part of their All-American Road Show. The New York Times calls Encore “an often lustrous revisiting of raucous Southern soul, rousingly delivered and pinpoint precise,” with NPR Music claiming that it “draw[s] inspiration from the sophistication of Donny Hathaway’s compositions and arrangements, the grandness of Van Morrison’s Caledonia Soul Orchestra and the dashing song interpretation of Joe Cocker.” American Songwriter says, “This remains a sharp, soul-drenched, organically based set that solidifies the R&B roots at the heart of East’s talents,” adding that it’s “poised to push the talented singer-songwriter over the top and into the mainstream.”
Want to be part of our audience? We will post information on how to get free passes about a week before each taping. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for notice of postings. The broadcast versions will air on PBS later this year as part of our Season 44.
Since Brandi Carlile first visited Austin City Limits on the original stage back in 2010, the Seattle singer and songwriter has moved from rapidly rising up-and-comer to a highly respected star in her own right. Following up successful albums Bear Creek and Grammy-nominated The Firecatcher’s Daughter with this year’s critically acclaimed By the Way, I Forgive You, an album of which she is extremely and justifiably proud, Carlile brought her esteemed catalog to ACL once again for an impressive, fiery show, which we streamed live around the world.
A string quartet joined drummer Chris Powell and keyboardist Jacob Hoffman for some moodsetting ambience, before twin brothers Phil and Tim Hanseroth took up the bass and guitar respectively. The woman of the hour arrived as Tim began fingerpicking “Every Time I Hear That Song,” her country twang perfect for a tale of heartbreak and redemption. Then the band kicked the tempo into the raging “Raise Hell,” a turbocharged take on galloping Johnny Cash chickaboom. After shouting out the Hanseroth brothers – her musical partners for seventeen years – Carlile led the gorgeous three-part harmonies of “The Eye,” with only Tim’s guitar for accompaniment. The twins then left the stage to Carlile alone – at least at first, as her four-year-old daughter Evangeline joined her onstage for a quick kiss. It was an appropriate visit, given that the next song was “The Mother,” in which Carlile grapples with parenthood with honesty and love.
The band arrived back onstage for “The Joke,” a room-filling anthem in support of anyone who’s ever felt marginalized or attacked for their choices. Her country rhythms returned even as the anthemic feel remained for “Harder to Forgive” (“than to forget”), and the lighters stayed out for the powerful “Sugartooth,” a song for those struggling with addiction. Carlile then strapped on an electric guitar and chopped out the chords to “Mainstream Kid,” a hard country rocker that earned the wildest applause so far. After that much reaching for the sky, the band brought the mood to a more reflective place with “Most of All,” Carlile’s salute to her parents. She followed that crowd-pleaser with a real surprise: a spectacular cover of Elton John’s deep cut “Madman Across the Water,” a bold and unusual choice that allowed the musicians to stretch their wings.
“They’ve heard me sing this song a million times,” Carlile stated after introducing her hardworking band. “I wanna hear Austin, Texas sing it!” Then it was into “The Story,” her 2007 breakthrough song, given the widescreen treatment it deserves. “Whatever You Do” followed, before the main set ended with Carlile at the piano belting out the show-stopping ballad “Party of One,” the strings playing her offstage. They played her back on again, too, as a loud crash during the first performance of “Every Time I Hear That Song” meant a redo. An earlier misplaced capo caused a redo of “The Eye” as well, the harmonies even sharper than before. Carlile and the band brought the show to a close and the house down with “Hold Out Your Hand,” an anthem that connected Woody Guthrie to twenty-first century rock, dedicated to a generation of kids fighting to make the world a better place. The audience went nuts, ending the show on the highest of high notes. It was an incredible show, and we can’t wait for you to see it when it airs this fall as part of our upcoming Season 44 on your local PBS station.
Austin City Limits announces the fifth annual Austin City Limits Hall of Fame Induction & Celebration will take place on Thursday, October 25, 2018, with music great Chris Isaak returning as host of the celebratory evening. Save the date for one of the year’s highlights, a star-studded night filled with performances and collaborations from music’s finest. The announcement was made by ACL executive producer Terry Lickona at tonight’s Brandi Carlile taping.
A new class of inductees will be announced at a later date, and will be saluted at the ceremony to be held at ACL’s studio home, Austin’s ACL Live at The Moody Theater. The event will be open to the public and ticket onsale information will be announced at a later date. Sponsor packages are available now at www.acltv.com/hall-of-fame/. All proceeds benefit KLRU-TV, Austin PBS. More information about performances, presenters and additional guest stars will be announced prior to the event.
photo by Gary Miller
The Austin City Limits Hall of Fame was established in 2014 to celebrate the legacy of legendary artists and key individuals who have played a vital part in the pioneering music series remarkable 40+ years as a music institution. The inaugural induction ceremony in 2014 honored Willie Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, Lloyd Maines, program creator Bill Arhos and Darrell Royal. 2015’s second annual ACL Hall of Fame ceremony honored Asleep at the Wheel, Loretta Lynn, Guy Clark, Flaco Jiménez and Townes Van Zandt, along with the original crew of the show’s first season in 1974-75. The 2016 Hall of Fame honored Kris Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt and B.B. King, alongside former ACL executive producer Dick Peterson. Last year’s Hall of Fame honored Roy Orbison, Rosanne Cash and The Neville Brothers, and the 50th Anniversary of the Public Broadcasting Act.
Austin City Limits is thrilled to announce that we will be livestreaming the return of standout singer/songwriter Brandi Carlile to our stage on Tuesday, April 10. We’ll be beaming live directly from the ACL stage at 8pm CT/9 pm ET on ACLTV’s YouTube channel.
Having first appeared on ACL in 2010 and most recently paid tribute to Roy Orbison in the 2017 ACL Hall of Fame New Year’s Eve celebration, Brandi Carlile comes back in celebration of her seventh album, By The Way, I Forgive You, produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb and acclaimed musician Shooter Jennings. One of 2018’s most anticipated albums, Rolling Stone hails the release “an Adele-meets Joni Mitchell tour de force,” and “a moving and righteous piece of Americana-infused pop.” NPR Music’s Ann Powers asserts, “By The Way, I Forgive You takes Carlile and her longtime bandmates, Phil and Tim Hanseroth, into a new space of risk-taking—as well as the emotional stratosphere. A country-rock aria dedicated to the delicate boys and striving girls born into—and, Carlile insists, destined to triumph over—this divisive time, ‘The Joke’ offers a stunning vocal performance from Carlile, swathed in warm piano, big drums and a perfect string arrangement.” Additionally, The New York Times praises, “Motherhood is disruptive, messy, inconvenient, enlightening and triumphant in ‘The Mother’…Its fingerpicking folk-rock unfurls from a blurry awakening to unabashed pride and joy.” Recorded at Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A, By The Way, I Forgive You includes ten new songs written by Carlile and longtime collaborators, twin brothers Tim and Phil Hanseroth. Of their close relationship, Carlile comments, “The Twins and I have been in a band for so long now. And not just a band, we are literally a family. When you create art with twins, it becomes unclear when I end and where they begin.” Over the course of their acclaimed career, the band has released six albums, including 2015’s The Firewatcher’s Daughter, which garnered a Grammy nomination for “Best Americana Album.”
Join us on April 10 for this full-set livestream on our ACLTV YouTube channel. The broadcast version will air on PBS later this year as part of our upcoming Season 44.
