Category: Featured

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’.”

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: the Decemberists and Gillian Welch.

Austin City Limits is always proud to welcome hometown heroes to our stage, as we do this Saturday with an encore performance by Spoon. It’s difficult to put that label on the band – though Britt Daniel and company have been mainstays of the Austin indie rock scene since the mid-90s, Spoon’s subsequent success on a national scale means the band belongs to everyone now, not just Central Texans.

This show from Season 36 is Spoon’s third appearance on ACL, and likely won’t be their last. The indie rockers invited some friends onstage for their first full hour, including the Honeybears’ horn section and longtime local axe-slingers Charlie Sexton and Craig Ross. The band was supporting its acclaimed LP Transference, gracing the crowd with new Spoon standards like “Trouble Come Running,” “Written in Reverse” and “Got Nuffin,” but also dipped into its vast catalog for fan faves “You Got Your Cherry Bomb,” “Nobody Gets Me But You” and “Don’t Make Me a Target.”

Check out the episode page for more info, and be sure to visit the Facebook, Twitter and e-newsletter sign-up pages to bring more ACL into your life. Next week: R&B magnificence with Raphael Saadiq and Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears.

When it comes to reggae, Jimmy Cliff, whose ACL episode encores this weekend, is indisputably one of the greats. He first found fame as a teenager, with a string of hit singles in his native Jamaica. By the late 60s, reggae was spreading beyond the borders of his birthplace and Cliff became one of its first international stars with “Wonderful World, Beautiful People” and “Vietnam,” which Bob Dylan called “the best protest song I’ve ever heard.” In 1972 Cliff starred in the acclaimed film The Harder They Come, writing and singing the hit title song. Other Cliff compositions like “Many Rivers to Cross” and “You Can Get It If You Really Want” have also become often-covered, much-loved reggae standards. Cliff continues to record and tour all over the world, collaborating with Sting, the Clash’s Joe Strummer, Kool & the Gang, Wyclef Jean and the Rolling Stones along the way. As popular now as he ever was, Jimmy Cliff is the face of reggae, as you’ll see for yourself this Saturday – check your local PBS listings for the broadcast time and channel.

Check out the episode page for more details, and drop in on our Facebook and Twitter pages for more ACL info, or sign up for our newsletter. Next week: Spoon.

The day after we recorded Radiohead  back in March 2012, our reaction was, “Radiohead taped Austin City Limits last night. It almost feels like that’s all we need to say.” Even now we still feel the same sense of met anticipation. It was a happening that fans and we had personally been waiting for and it finally came to fruition. A band like Radiohead, (well, let’s be honest – there really isn’t a band out there like Radiohead) that can constantly challenge themselves and evolve to change their sound to continue to make beautiful and inspiring music is a rare gift. We are incredibly grateful to encore an episode featuring such progressive rock icons and modern day musical legends.

Radiohead open their set with “Bloom,” the busy and fitting song for the occasion that opens their 2011 self-released album The King of Limbs. From there the group goes to the piano-heavy and melodic “Daily Mail,” another new song from that year. The rest of the set features a collective mix of tracks from TKOL, Hail to the Thief, Kid A, OK Computer, and new singles. One highlight of the night is when they played a forgotten B-side, “The Amazing Sounds of Orgy.” Of course the essence of the night was captured at the very end when the band played the big hits and crowd favorites, “Idioteque” and “Paranoid Android.”

For those that missed seeing the taping live or the original broadcast last October, this is your opportunity to see what many described as being a passionate and “life-changing” performance. You can truly feel the energy of the band and the audience in this episode, and Thom Yorke’s dancing may even inspire you to flail around in your living room. (Seriously, if you don’t dance during “Idioteque” then there may be something wrong with your well-being.)

Don’t miss this weekend’s episode with Radiohead! And don’t forget to “Like” us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter for updates about ACL. Tune in next week for Randy Newman.