Lil Yachty on Austin City Limits, June 28, 2023. Photo by Scott Newton.
Breaking into stardom after the release of 2016 album Lil Boat featuring popular track “Minnesota”, Atlanta rapper Lil Yachty sailed into the scene with his iconic autotuned vocal style and lighthearted lyricism. Yachty makes his ACL debut with his latest album Let’s Start Here. as the centerpiece, a clear departure from his previous sound. The embodiment of a modernized pop-infused psychedelic funk album with a soul influence, the album reflects a clear tribute to the 70s soul funk scene. The innovative rap star delivered a powerful fifteen-song set backed by a six-piece band, while welcoming special guests, Teezo Touchdown, Justine Skye, and Fousheé aboard the S.S. Yachty for a thrilling musical journey. Yachty’s iconic vocals swim amongst a sea of sound being carried by the god-like vocal performance of the band’s backup singers that invoke a rich, soulful, and dynamic sound worthy of many a moment of sonically-induced goosebumps while listening. He delivered a thrilling performance reflecting the album’s musical breadth, signaling his arrival into an increasingly colorful sound inspired by meaningful musical influences—synthesizers, guitar solos, keyboards, and clap-alongs all included–welcome aboard the S.S. Yachty.
Yachty and crew sail into the first track “the BLACK seminole.” laying the foundation of the psychedelic soul sound that will be representative of the musical foundations laid within the the new record. A slowed down, psychedelic acid jazz-type instrumental that Yachty’s reverbed vocals seemingly weave in and out of, the vocals echo into the night’s first groovy guitar solo. A track that thematically pays homage to the cultural identity of the black psychedelic funk and soul sound, Yachty sings “The black seminole, a head general…a black man with mouths to feed, embracing equality throughout greed.” The rapper takes a moment to recognize the variety of talent that is represented amongst his band–a high energy all black, female band wearing matching black sweatsuits, bandanas, and shades. The crowd applauds as the musician asserts“I got all my sisters here with me,” indicating his intentional choice of the all-female power band with remarks on the strength of the female talent and citing how “Women rule the world.”
Following that shot of truth, the S.S. Yachty welcomes aboard a trio of special guests. Rising into action, “the ride-”, brings an 80’s inspired synth-sounding pop track featuring vocals from upcoming Beaumont rapper, Teezo Touchdown. Yachty’s light-filled ethereal sounding vocals complement a contrasting, in your face ‘ vocal performance by Touchdown. The Texas rapper sings holding a hand full of flowers and a head adorned with his signature wig of nails, and graces the stage in a pair of white go-go boots enthusiastically rapping into his bouquet before fist-bumping Yachty during his exit. The pair makes a playful and energetic presence on stage as they vocally bounce off each other, leading the crowd into their first wave of groovy head nodding.
The slow psychedelic sounds of funk are back in the spotlight with “The Zone~” featuring Yachty’s blossoming, kaleidoscope-like vocals that ripple throughout the track before meeting with the funky lightness of guest artist Justine Skye’s R&B inspired vocal style. A track for sailing on auto-pilot, relaxing into the magnetic mellowness of reverbed and distorted guitar and vocal tracks, the S.S. Yachty sails onto seriously smooth waters. Before diving into the climactic disco anthem “drive ME crazy!” the Atlanta rapper singles out a pair of enthusiastic fans in the front row, The stoked pair cheer as Yachty announces he will dedicate the disco anthem to them, a token of the Captain’s appreciation for his most sunny of sailors. The track reflects the absolute energetic force radiating from the sheer talent produced by the Yachty band. The disco anthem immediately brings an impactful wave of energetic groove amongst the crowd, uplifting the sea of Yachty youngsters. A disco groove irresistible to any seasoned rollbouncer slowly melts into the slowness of the synth sounds of “The Alchemist.”
Bringing the performance to the album’s musical climax, the upbeat nature of “The Alchemist.” brings an energetic presence. In typical Yachty fashion, his instinctually uplifting lyricism continues to carry as the foundation to the inherent early and current Yachty sound, singing “No need to brag, but I was built for this. I know now that most men would kill for this.” The track breaks away from the funk foundations and leans towards the pop and R&B undertones still present within the album’s influences. On the Yachty sound spectrum, the rhythmically upbeat pop influence combined with the vocals of his final guest, R&B singer Fousheé, place this track several blocks away from the intersection between psychedelic funk and soul that tends to encompass the record.
Yachty and crew bring a soulful presence fueled by a powerfully talented band of musicians that reflect the identity of the rapper’s musical experimentation inspired by traditional sounds served up a-la-Yachty. The captivating performance mobilized a sea of sing-alongs, head banging, and sheer applause for the massive talent of Lil Yachty and the musical journey. Using his debut ACL taping to showcase a departure from the conventional Yachty style, Lil Boat and crew create waves with a newfound sound that soulfully satisfies.
Austin City Limits is excited to announce that we will be live streaming our upcoming Season 49 taping with Grammy-winning guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela in their first appearance in a decade, with a one-of-a-kind performancefeaturing the Austin Symphony Orchestra on July 7 at 8pm CT. This appearance marks the first time Austin City Limits/Austin PBS has collaborated with the Austin Symphony Orchestra, one of Austin’s oldest and most respected arts institutions. ACL offers fans worldwide the unique opportunity to watch this taping live in its entirety free here on our ACLTV YouTube Channel.
In an unprecedented performance, Rodrigo y Gabriela will be joined by over thirty musicians from the Austin Symphony Orchestra to bring to life their latest release In Between Thoughts…A New World on the ACL stage. For over two decades, the Mexico City-bred duo of Gabriela Quintero and Rodrigo Sanchez have created music that invites lasting transcendence, captivating audiences across the globe with their virtuosic and wildly inventive guitar playing. In Between Thoughts marks a sharp departure from the signature acoustic sound the acclaimed act first showcased on their 2006 self-titled studio debut, and finds the pair expanding their sound with an orchestra. Conceived during the pandemic, the duo worked remotely with Vienna-based composer Adam Ilyas Kuruc and The Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra, who ornamented their serpentine arrangements with lush strings and powerful percussion. Sparked from their study of Advaita Vedanta (a Hindu philosophy rooted in the concept of nondualism), In Between Thoughts…A New World arrives as one of Rodrigo y Gabriela’s most revelatory offerings to date: a spontaneously composed body of work primed to bring about the very expansion of consciousness that inspired its creation. As they delved further into the philosophy, the duo began channeling their sense of heightened awareness into song form. “The music just started flowing out, without any real intention,” says Rodrigo. “When we looked back we realized we’d come up with nine songs that told the story of our coming to understand the Advaita path, in the exact perfect order.” The album finds Rodrigo trading his acoustic guitar for electric, adding a mercurial new energy that’s elegantly amplified by the duo’s subtle use of analog synths, Mellotron, and other electronic instruments. Propelled by a fierce vitality hinting at their thrash-metal roots, the result is an album of relentless movement and endless fluidity, each moment charged with the pure thrill of discovery. “When the subject matter is something like spirituality or seeking meaning, that can very easily go along with music that’s calming or serene,” says Gabriela. “But we wanted to do something different — we wanted to bring a cinematic quality and a lot of action to the music, and make it feel as exciting as we find all this to be.”
Join us here on July 7 at 8 p.m. CT for Rodrigo y Gabriela featuring the Austin Symphony Orchestra; the broadcast episode will air on PBS this fall as part of our upcoming Season 49. Tune in to your local PBS station on Saturday nights for fan-favorite encore episodes of Austin City Limits; watch live on PBS, or stream anytime at PBS.org.
Austin City Limits (ACL) is proud to announce the newest class of Austin City Limits Hall of Fame inductees, recognizing two beacons of American music: Celebrated country superstar Trisha Yearwood and late songwriting giant John Prine. The ACL Hall of Fame celebrates this stellar pair of pioneering artists with longtime ties to ACL. The 2023 ACL Hall of Fame inductees will be saluted at a star-studded ceremony to be held October 26, 2023 at ACL’s studio home, ACL Live at The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. More information about guest performers, presenters and additional guest stars will be announced prior to the event. Musical highlights and inductions from the ceremony will air on PBS in 2024.
The event will be open to the public and tickets will be on sale June 23 at 10am CT at acltv.com/hall-of-fame. Sponsor packages are available now at acltv.com/hall-of-fame. All proceeds benefit Austin PBS.
Since its inception in 2014, the ACL Hall of Fame has honored legendary artists who have played a vital part in the trailblazing music series remarkable nearly half-century as a music institution. The inaugural awards honored Willie Nelson and Stevie Ray Vaughan. The ninth class of inductees features two legendary acts: Multiple GRAMMY®, CMA® and ACM® Award-winner Trisha Yearwood debuted on the series in Season 17 in 1992. She went on to make two additional headlining appearances in 1996 and 2000 and returned in Season 41 in 2015 as a guest of Don Henley. The late singer-songwriter John Prine, who passed away in 2020, appeared regularly on ACL throughout his celebrated five-decade career. Prine made his first Austin City Limits appearance in 1978, in the third season of the nascent show, and returned for his eighth and final appearance forty years later in Season 44 in 2018. The influential artist appeared on a Songwriters Special in 1983 alongside peers including Guy Clark and Rodney Crowell, and made headlining appearances in 1988, 1992 and 1996; and in 2002 appeared as a special guest of Bonnie Raitt. Austin City Limits saluted Prine with a posthumous retrospective hour in 2020, which aired as the season premiere of Season 46 and highlighted classic gems from his catalog.
“John Prine and Trisha Yearwood represent both the growth and continuity of ACL’s legacy,” says longtime ACL Executive Producer Terry Lickona. “John was the consummate songwriter whose body of work on ACL spans decades. Trisha was one of a new breed of women in Country music, and one of the first to recognize ACL’s value and impact. They are foundational artists in ACL’s rich legacy.”
Honorees and their families shared their reactions to joining the ranks of outstanding artists who have been inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame:
Trisha Yearwood: “Appearing on Austin City Limits for the first time in 1992 was a rite of passage for me as an artist. After watching all of my heroes grace that stage, walking onto it myself was a spiritual experience. I am so honored to go into the ACL Hall of Fame, made even sweeter by going in alongside my friend John Prine. Getting to sing with John was one of the highlights of my career, and I’m proud to share the evening honoring his memory.”
Fiona Whelan Prine: “We are delighted and honored that Austin City Limits will induct John into its esteemed Hall of Fame. ACL is an important institution, celebrating the very best of American music and performances. John was always proud to appear on Austin City Limits. This induction would be a proud moment for him to join some of the artists he most admired. It is especially meaningful that he will be inducted alongside his dear friend, and duet partner, Trisha Yearwood.”
About the 2023 Austin City Limits Hall of Fame Honorees:
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John Prine:
Called “the Mark Twain of American songwriting” by Rolling Stone, Prine’s singular talent and his ability to write songs about everyday lives and the human condition are revered by generations of songwriters. The Maywood, Illinois native went on to become one of the most highly acclaimed and beloved singer-songwriters in American musical history, with fans ranging from Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson and Bonnie Raitt to Jason Isbell and Kacey Musgraves. His 1971 self-titled debut arrived already packed with classics including “Sam Stone,” “Paradise,” and “Angel From Montgomery,” and was only the first in a long line of stunning collections of insightful, witty, and heartfelt songs and stories. With nineteen studio albums, the folk hero was a four-time GRAMMY® winner, the recipient of a GRAMMY® Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020, inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019, the Americana Music Association’s Artist of the Year for consecutive years in 2017, 2018 and 2020, and the recipient of the 2016 PEN New England Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence Award. Prine had a remarkable final act: his final album, 2018’s The Tree of Forgiveness, was both his most lauded and successful, debuting in the top 5 on the Billboard 200, earning a pair of GRAMMY® Awards. Prine appeared on Austin City Limits no less than nine times: as a headlining artist in 1978, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2005 and 2018, and 2020’s posthumous retrospective, and on a songwriters special in 1983 and as a special guest of Bonnie Raitt in 2002. Prine passed away in 2020 but leaves behind an extraordinary body of work and his enduring legacy lives on.
Trisha Yearwood:
Following three decades in the spotlight, numerous GRAMMY®, CMA® and ACM® Awards to her name, countless multiplatinum certifications, twelve studio albums and millions of fans entertained, the same passion still motivates and moves Trisha Yearwood. The singer, actress, best-selling author, chef, personality and entrepreneur derives deep fulfillment from simply walking up to a microphone and pouring her heart out by way of a celebrated powerhouse voice. In 2019, she continued that tradition with her first solo full-length since 2007, a collection of Frank Sinatra covers and one original entitled Let’s Be Frank. Later that year, Trisha unveiled her highly anticipated new single, “Every Girl in This Town,” setting the stage for the release of her first full-length country record in over a decade, Every Girl, and nationwide tour. The first single achieved the highest debut and biggest add day of her career. Every Girl: Deluxe, includes a new acoustic re-recording of her 1991 debut album’s lead single “She’s In Love With The Boy.” Trisha made history when the original “She’s In Love With The Boy” vaulted to #1 and cemented her as the first female country artist to have a debut single reach the top of the country charts. It was the first in a series of top 10 hits throughout the nineties, and in 2021 she made history once again when the country evergreen was named “the MOST listened to country song by a Female Artist in the history of Billboard’s Country Airplay Charts.” Every Girl: Deluxe upholds and extends the timeless entertainer’s legacy for a new generation of fans. Adding to that legacy, Yearwood has appeared on Austin City Limits four times – as a headliner in 1992, 1996, and 2000, and returning as a guest of Don Henley in 2015.
Established in 2014, the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame celebrates the legacy of legendary artists and key individuals who have played a vital part in the pioneering music series remarkable nearly half-century 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. 2017’s Hall of Fame honored Roy Orbison, Rosanne Cash and The Neville Brothers, and the 50th Anniversary of the Public Broadcasting Act. 2018’s fifth anniversary class featured the inductions of Ray Charles, Marcia Ball and Los Lobos. The 2019 Hall of Fame welcomed Lyle Lovett, Buddy Guy and Shawn Colvin to its ranks. The seventh annual Hall of Fame in 2021 welcomed Lucinda Williams, Wilco and Alejandro Escovedo. The eighth annual Hall of Fame in 2022 honored Sheryl Crow and Joe Ely.
Austin City Limits and the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame are produced by Austin PBS. Austin PBS is a non-profit organization providing public television and educational resources to Central Texas as well as producing quality national programming.
Austin City Limits
Austin City Limits (ACL) offers viewers unparalleled access to featured acts in an intimate setting that provides a platform for artists to deliver inspired, memorable, full-length performances. Now in its 49th Season, the program is taped live before a concert audience from The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. Austin City Limits is the longest-running music series in television history and remains the only TV series to ever be awarded the National Medal of Arts. Since its inception, the groundbreaking music series has become an institution that’s helped secure Austin’s reputation as the Live Music Capital of the World. The historic Austin PBS Studio 6A, home to 36 years of ACL concerts, has been designated an official Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Landmark. In 2011, ACL moved to the new venue ACL Live at The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. ACL received a rare institutional Peabody Award for excellence and outstanding achievement in 2012.
Austin City Limits is produced by Austin PBS and funding is provided in part by Dell Technologies, Workrise, the Austin Convention Center Department, Cirrus Logic and AXS Ticketing. Additional funding is provided by the Friends of Austin City Limits. Learn more about Austin City Limits, programming and history at acltv.com.
Austin City Limits Hall of Fame
In 2014, Austin PBS, KLRU-TV — creator and producer of the legendary PBS show Austin City Limits — established the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame to recognize legendary musicians and key individuals who have been instrumental in making television’s longest-running popular music show an institution. Each year a new class of honorees are inducted and celebrated at a live event taped to air on PBS. It is also a historical archive, educational resource and celebration of Austin City Limits —telling the story of the show through photos, a timeline/anthology mural and in the near future, an interactive database of vintage Austin City Limits performances and video footage of interviews, behind-the-scenes and never before seen performances throughout the decades. Honorees to-date include Willie Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, Lloyd Maines, Asleep at the Wheel, Loretta Lynn, Flaco Jiménez, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Bonnie Raitt, Kris Kristofferson, B.B. King, Rosanne Cash, The Neville Brothers, Roy Orbison, Marcia Ball, Ray Charles, Los Lobos, Lyle Lovett, Shawn Colvin, Buddy Guy, Lucinda Williams, Wilco, Alejandro Escovedo, Joe Ely and Sheryl Crow.
Austin City Limits 8th Annual Hall of Fame is produced by Austin PBS and funding is provided in part by AXS Ticketing.
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, 2023. Photo by Danny Clinch.
Due to a schedule change, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit have to postpone their previously announced taping originally slated for June 14th. However, we are pleased to announce that Jason and the band will still be taping the show for our upcoming Season 49 and can confirm a rescheduled taping date of September 18th. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and look forward to the new date this fall.
A Jason Isbell record always lands like a decoder ring in the ears and hearts of his audience, a soundtrack to his world and, magically, to theirs, too. Weathervanes, Isbell and his GRAMMY®-winning band the 400 Unit’s eighth album, out June 9, carries the same revelatory power. This is a storyteller at the peak of his craft, observing his fellow wanderers, looking inside and trying to understand, reducing a universe to four minutes. Isbell shrinks life small enough to name the fear and then strip it away, helping his listeners make sense of how two plus two stops equaling four once you reach a certain age—and carry a certain amount of scars. “There is something about boundaries on this record,” Isbell says. “As you mature, you still attempt to keep the ability to love somebody fully and completely while you’re growing into an adult and learning how to love yourself.” Written and produced by Isbell, Weathervanes is a collection of grown-up songs: Songs about adult love, about change, about the danger of nostalgia and the interrogation of myths, about cruelty and regret and redemption. Some will make you cry alone in your car and others will make you sing along with thousands of strangers in a big summer pavilion, united in the great miracle of being alive. The record features the rolling thunder of Isbell’s fearsome 400 Unit, who’ve earned a place in the rock ‘n’ roll cosmos alongside the greatest backing ensembles, as powerful and essential to the storytelling as The E Street Band or the Wailers. They make a big noise, as Isbell puts it, and he feels so comfortable letting them be a main prism through which much of the world hears his art. He can be private but with his mighty band behind him he transforms, and there is a version of himself that can only exist in their presence. The roots of this record go back into the isolation of the pandemic and to Isbell’s recent time on the set as an actor on Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. There were guitars in his trailer and in his rented house and a lot of time to sit and think. The melancholy yet soaring track “King of Oklahoma” was written there. Isbell also watched the great director work, saw the relationship between a clear vision and its execution, and perhaps most important, saw how even someone as decorated as Scorsese sought out and used his co-workers’ opinions. “It definitely helped when I got into the studio,” Isbell says. “I had this reinvigorated sense of collaboration. You can have an idea and you can execute it and not compromise — and still listen to the other people in the room.”
Want to be part of our audience? We will post information on how to get free passes a week in advance of the taping. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for notice of postings. The broadcast episode will air on PBS this fall as part of our upcoming Season 49.
Clockwise, from upper left: Lil Yachty, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Jenny Lewis, DOMi & JD BECK.
Austin City Limits is thrilled to announce a stellar slate of summer tapings for our upcoming Season 49: On June 28, we’ll present the highly-anticipated ACL debut of innovative rap star Lil Yachty, currently riding a career high following what Rolling Stone calls “one of 2023’s boldest left turns.” On July 7, we welcome back Grammy-winning guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela in their first appearance in a decade, with a one-of-a-kind performance featuring the Austin Symphony Orchestra. This appearance marks the first time Austin City Limits/Austin PBS has collaborated with the Austin Symphony Orchestra, one of Austin’s oldest and most respected arts organizations. Eclectic, Gen-Z jazz duo DOMi & JD BECK, nominated for a 2023 Best New Artist Grammy, make their debut appearance on July 8; and acclaimed singer-songwriter Jenny Lewis returns to the ACL stage for the first time since Season 40 on July 26.
Photo by Tom Harrison.
Lil Yachty kicked off 2023 on a high note with the release of his sonically divergent fifth album Let’s Start Here., a monumental psychedelic alternative rock album thatreceived widespread acclaim from critics and musical peers alike. Recorded in Brooklyn and a Texas border town, Let’s Start Here is an imaginative, immersive exploration of psychedelic rock, rap, and soul inspired by Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, Frank Ocean and Tame Impala, among others, and features all live instrumentation and co-writers as varied as Mac DeMarco, Nick Hakim, Alex G and members of MGMT, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Chairlift. “I did what I really wanted to do, which was create a body of work that reflected me,” explains Yachty in a recent Billboard cover feature. “My idea was for this album to be a journey: Press play and fall into a void.” The Source raves, “Let’s Start Here. continues to further the star’s reputation as an innovative savant,” and Rolling Stone hails, “The rapper and musician’s ambitious left-turn incorporates experimental rock and jazz with near-flawless execution, arriving at something that feels genuinely brand-new.” The 25-year-old Georgia native became a teenage breakout sensation when his Soundcloud-released song “One Night” was featured in a viral comedy video. In 2016, after collaborating with rapper DRAM on the Top 5 hit “Broccoli,” Yachty signed a joint deal with Quality Control Music and the legendary Motown Records, releasing his debut solo album Teenage Emotions in 2017. His 2018 album Lil Boat 2 debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. After having all of his major label albums and mixtapes chart in the Billboard Top 200 and scoring seventeen hits in the Top 40, Yachty’s Let’s Start Here. debuted atop three genre charts that prove his crossover appeal: Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums. Highlights include the album’s trippy opener, “the BLACK seminole.” a seven-minute opus that Yachty performed on his recent buzzed-about Saturday Night Live musical debut. Along with a coveted slot on 2023’s ACL Festival, Yachty embarks on his own extensive headlining The Field Trip Tour this fall with stops across North America and Europe.
Photo by Ebru Yildiz.
In an unprecedented performance, Rodrigo y Gabriela will be joined by over thirty musicians from the Austin Symphony Orchestra to bring to life their latest release In Between Thoughts…A New World on the ACL stage. For over two decades, the Mexico City-bred duo of Gabriela Quintero and Rodrigo Sanchez have created music that invites lasting transcendence, captivating audiences across the globe with their virtuosic and wildly inventive guitar playing. In Between Thoughts marks a sharp departure from the signature acoustic sound the acclaimed act first showcased on their 2006 self-titled studio debut, and finds the pair expanding their sound with an orchestra. Conceived during the pandemic, the duo worked remotely with Vienna-based composer Adam Ilyas Kuruc and The Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra, who ornamented their serpentine arrangements with lush strings and powerful percussion. Sparked from their study of Advaita Vedanta (a Hindu philosophy rooted in the concept of nondualism), In Between Thoughts…A New World arrives as one of Rodrigo y Gabriela’s most revelatory offerings to date: a spontaneously composed body of work primed to bring about the very expansion of consciousness that inspired its creation. As they delved further into the philosophy, the duo began channeling their sense of heightened awareness into song form. “The music just started flowing out, without any real intention,” says Rodrigo. “When we looked back we realized we’d come up with nine songs that told the story of our coming to understand the Advaita path, in the exact perfect order.” The album finds Rodrigo trading his acoustic guitar for electric, adding a mercurial new energy that’s elegantly amplified by the duo’s subtle use of analog synths, Mellotron, and other electronic instruments. Propelled by a fierce vitality hinting at their thrash-metal roots, the result is an album of relentless movement and endless fluidity, each moment charged with the pure thrill of discovery. “When the subject matter is something like spirituality or seeking meaning, that can very easily go along with music that’s calming or serene,” says Gabriela. “But we wanted to do something different — we wanted to bring a cinematic quality and a lot of action to the music, and make it feel as exciting as we find all this to be.”
Photo by Tehillah De Castro.
“My philosophy of life is don’t take shit too seriously,” says keyboard savant DOMi Louna, born Domitille Degalle. And that’s fair. But the vibrant world she and her drum ace collaborator JD BECK have given us demands exploration. The astoundingly virtuosic jazz duo’s music finds both humor and greatness in harmonic complexity, rhythmic shiftiness, and speed. She favors sounds that evoke ‘70s jazz fusion and the colorful blips of 2000s Pokémon soundtracks, while he tunes and plays his snare in ways that can sound electronic, channeling IDM and boom bap. Sometimes they’re stuffed into a bathroom and sometimes the drums are muffled by pretzels stacked on the hi-hat, or toilet paper tossed on the snare. Their acclaimed debut album—NOT TiGHT, released by Anderson .Paak’s new label APESHIT in partnership with the legendary jazz label Blue Note Records—is an attempt to bottle their goofy magic. They offer winking breaks and gleeful pivots, but the album is more composed than anything they’ve done before, toying with pop structures and pretty restraint. “Since they first started breaking the internet with their hyperarticulate strain of beat music, DOMi and JD BECK have gradually burrowed their way into the jazz mainstream,” raves NPR Music. “Or maybe it’s that the mainstream has sidled up to them?” The duo first played together in a room full of blaring demos at a trade show, but they bonded over gauche keyboard effects and mom jokes. Over the next year and a half, they wrote and recorded much of NOT TiGHT at JD’s house in a Dallas suburb on drums and a 49-key MIDI board with just a few mics. The album—which earned them two GRAMMY nominations including Best New Artist—features the likes of Thundercat, whose deadpan funk is their closest antecedent, Herbie Hancock, Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes, Mac DeMarco, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and .Paak himself. The duo has been featured in the line-ups of music festivals across the globe from Coachella to the North Sea Jazz Festival. Neither can believe what’s happening, but leave it to them to skewer the moment. When JD suggests people might hate NOT TiGHT, DOMi Louna says, “That would be sick! Booo. They suck!”
Photo by Bobbi Rich.
Having appeared on ACL twice before (with Rilo Kiley in Season 31, and leading her own band in Season 40), Jenny Lewis returns to the ACL stage showcasing her upcoming fifth solo album, Joy’All, out June 9th. Produced by Dave Cobb and recorded at the historic RCA Studio A in Nashville, Joy’All sees the highly anticipated return of one of the most compelling singer-songwriters of the 21st century embarking on a new era, in a new town—Nashville—and on a new label, as she joins the iconic roster of Blue Note/Capitol Records. Heralded by the “strummy, beach bummy” (VULTURE) first offering “Puppy and a Truck,” as well as the subsequent singles “Psychos”– declared as “easily, one of Lewis’ greatest creations” (PASTE) and “a cosmic country kiss-off” (ROLLING STONE)–“Giddy Up,” and “Cherry Baby,” Joy’All has already garnered a rapturous reception of critical acclaim: “four years on from her career-best On The Line, she’s sounding better than ever.” (PAPER). A culmination of Lewis’ prolific 20+ year career, Joy’All follows her four previous solo albums —2019’s On The Line, 2014’s The Voyager , 2008’s Acid Tongue and her 2006 solo debut Rabbit Fur Coat—as well as her universally-loved work in Rilo Kiley and side projects Nice As Fuck, Jenny & Johnny, and The Postal Service. With no signs of slowing down for 2023, Jenny is ready to hit the road for an epic itinerary that includes both the upcoming 20th anniversary Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie co-headline tour as well as supporting dates for the Beck and Phoenix co-headline Summer Odyssey Tour, in addition to her own headlining dates in support of Joy’All.
Want to be part of our audience? We will post information on how to get free passes a week in advance of the taping. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for notice of postings. Austin City Limits also previously announced summer tapings with celebrated Americana superstars Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit on June 14; country icon Tanya Tucker on July 10; and global music powerhouse Jorge Drexler on July 31. The broadcast episodes will air on PBS this fall as part of our upcoming Season 49.
Go behind-the-scenes of Austin PBS’s iconic, longest-lasting music television series, Austin City Limits, and hear from the show’s producers & technicians who have made the series a staple for music fans for 49 seasons. Join Sara Robertson, Austin PBS Chief Content Officer, as she moderates a panel discussion on June 1 at 3 pm at the Driskill Maximillian with Executive Producer Terry Lickona, Producer Jeff Peterson, Assistant Producer Michael Toland, Audio Director David Hough, and Director of Archives Liz Antaramian for a conversation about curating a one-of-a-kind music experience, how the series’ influence and creative vision has evolved over the last 5 decades, and the necessity of keeping art accessible and preserved for future generations.
The panel is presented by the 12th annual ATX TV Festival, which includes dozens of special screenings, panels, and cast reunions featuring Cheers, The Righteous Gemstones, Star Wars: Andor, Late Night With Seth Meyers,Dawson’s Creek, and much more. Check out the program and schedule for more.
