ACL fans need no introduction to Norah Jones – the eclectic singer/songwriter has graced our stage twice before. Her upcoming third taping on October 18, however, comes on the heels of her acclaimed album Little Broken Hearts. Not only is Hearts a classic break-up album, but it also comes with imaginative production and co-writing from the iconoclastic Brian Burton, AKA Danger Mouse, who has himself visited ACL as part of Gnarls Barkley. Combining Burton’s otherworldly textures with Jones’ raw, heart-on-sleeve writing produces what The Boston Globe called “a striking change-up” and The Philadelphia Inquirer deemed “her best album in ages.” Meanwhile NPR notes, “Always more versatile than most people think, Jones fits all of this smart material to perfection, marking her second decade as a star while making her sound cooler and more unflappably sophisticated than ever.” We’re proud to present an ACL veteran moving in new directions. We hope you can join us.
Category: Featured
When we announced the collaboration between Austin City Limits and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s Library & Archives last month, the cameras didn’t quit rolling once the press conference was concluded. Immediately afterward our own Terry Lickona was the subject of a Rock Hall Legend interview, conducted by Dr. Lauren Onkey and featuring Terry’s take on some of the significant tapings of the last 38 years. Check it out.
The history of Austin City Limits from Austin City Limits on Vimeo.
Today, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and KLRU–TV announced a collaboration to preserve 37 years of content from the award-winning television show Austin City Limits. The materials will be housed at the state-of-the-art Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library and Archives and will include more than 800 performances recorded by KLRU in front of a live audience – from 1975 to the present day. The collection will continue to grow as new shows are produced and made accessible to fans and scholars alike.
Terry Stewart, president and CEO of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, and ACL executive producer Terry Lickona made the announcement today from KLRU’s Studio 6A, original home of Austin City Limits and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Landmark.
“Austin City Limits uniquely represents more than three decades of some of modern music’s most significant artists and their performances—from iconic musicians to cutting-edge talent,” said Stewart. “It’s one of the most significant archives that documents the American culture and Austin City Limits shares our mission of celebrating and interpreting popular music’s impact on our world.”
“We are honored to have our collection preserved in perpetuity at the Museum as it will allow us to focus our resources on continuing to produce great television,” said Terry Lickona, executive producer of Austin City Limits. “We are the longest running music television show in history and intend to keep doing it well into the future.”
KLRU’s Austin City Limits Collection is a valuable educational and research resource that will be available to academics from around the world, including those conducting research in musicology, ethnomusicology, cultural studies, the music industry, television, and American history, among many other subjects. Moreover, the Museum’s strong commitment to educating the public about the history of rock and roll, and its ability to publicize the Austin City Limits Collection and make it accessible to researchers, will benefit the study of popular music in the United States and beyond.
Collection highlights:
• 37 years of content comprised of audio and video recordings, photographs and documents
• Features over 800 artists and more than 60 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees
• Over 5,500 audio and video recordings of all broadcast programs comprising the Austin City Limits television show
• Additional performance footage and audio not included in broadcast
• 40 linear feet of archival documents (contracts, printed programs, tickets, other records and ephemera)
• Over 270,000 slides, transparencies, negatives, prints, and digital images relating to the performances
The Library and Archives is the world’s most comprehensive repository of materials relating to the history of rock and roll, housing vast collections of books, periodicals, and commercial audio and video recordings, as well as hundreds of archival collections containing personal papers, business records, photographs, posters, audio, and video. Visiting researchers have access to never-before-seen materials, including the archival collections of some of popular music’s most significant figures, such as Clive Davis, Ahmet Ertegun, Alan Freed, Milt Gabler, Mo Ostin, Joe Smith, Seymour Stein, and Jerry Wexler. Extensive video footage of the Rock Hall’s past events are also being made available, including Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies, the American Music Masters series, the Hall of Fame series, the Legends series, and the Songwriters to Soundmen series.
Summer keeps heating up for Austin City Limits, as we’ve got two more tapings to announce, both from singers burning up their individual genres: Kat Edmonson on July 10 and Tim McGraw on August 6.
With a vision that’s “equal parts Billie Holiday and Bjork” (All About Jazz), Kat Edmonson seemingly came out of nowhere in 2009 to take the jazz world by storm. The Texas native grew up in Houston with a mother who introduced her to the Great American Songbook. Determined to be a singer, she auditioned for American Idol during its second season, but left Hollywood for Austin. She became a regular at the Elephant Room, Austin’s premier jazz club, building a following and making musical connections that energized her career. Her 2009 debut album Take To the Sky hit the top 20 on Billboard’s jazz charts, adding enough juice that she found herself playing gigs with Boz Scaggs, Smokey Robinson and Willie Nelson. A high-profile duet with fan Lyle Lovett on the Christmas classic “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” put her on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and set the stage for Way Down Low, her second record and first to include her own original songs. Armed with a LP that’s been called “intuitive about melody and handy with a phrase” (The New York Times) and “one of the greatest vocal albums I’ve ever heard” (The Boston Globe), Kat Edmonson now comes to our stage on July 10, ready for what’s sure to be a memorable ACL debut.
Also making his debut this season is country superstar Tim McGraw. Obviously no rookie, the Louisiana native has sold over 40 million units, won three Grammy Awards, 14 Academy of Country Music Awards, 11 Country Music Association Awards, 10 American Music Awards, three People’s Choice Awards and numerous other honors. With 7.8 million spins at radio, he was deemed “Artist of the Decade” (2000-2010) by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems. McGraw’s 11th studio album Emotional Traffic debuted at No. one on the Billboard Country Chart, making it his 13th career #1 debut. With 32 #1 singles to his credit and his current single “Better Than I used To be” tracking on the same course, McGraw’s hits include “Felt Good On My Lips,” “Southern Voice,” “Live Like You Were Dying, “Real Good Man” and many, many more. NPR notes, “With a voice that can go from earthy to angelic in a single phrase and a back catalog that shows serious growth over two decades, McGraw is a star with substance.” Come find out for yourself on August 6.
Go here for more information on ACL tapings, and check in on our Facebook and Twitter pages for the ticket announcements for these shows.
There’s nothing like the combination of a great song and a great voice. This weekend on Austin City Limits we’ve got a pair of singer/songwriters who’ve mastered that blend: Rosanne Cash and Brandi Carlile.
The daughter of American icon Johnny Cash, Rosanne Cash is no stranger to the ACL stage – this is her seventh appearance on the show. For this episode, Cash showcases her album The List, which contains her interpretations of classic folk and country tunes drawn from a list of essential songs compiled by her father before his passing. She essays powerful takes on standards like “Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow,” “500 Miles” and “Sea of Heartbreak,” as well as some of her own tunes, including “The World Unseen” and “Dreams Are Not My Home.” Longtime fans will gain new insight into Cash’s creative process, while new arrivals on her musical planet will discover a new favorite.
Speaking of new favorites, we’re proud to re-present the ACL debut of Brandi Carlile. The Washington-born singer and tunesmith has been making music since she was in her teens, and by the time she released Give Up the Ghost, the album she highlights in this episode, she’d made fans of Elton John, Sheryl Crow and other well-known acts. Joined by her trusty sidekicks the Hanseroth twins, Carlile shows off her literate folk rock with “Pride and Joy” and “The Story,” proves her (and her band’s) vocal chops with the a cappella “Oh Dear” and rocks the house down with a sizzling cover of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues.” This episode shows neophytes what diehards already know – Brandi Carlile is a contender.
Check your local listings and tune in! You can find more info on this episode here. More ACL info in general can be had on our Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr pages. Next week: our singer/songwriter fest continues with Lyle Lovett and Bob Schneider.
June may be vacation time for most folks, but here at Austin City Limits we’re happy to come to work. Why? Because we have not one, not two but three great artists visiting us: Dr. Dog on June 25 and Bonnie Raitt and Mavis Staples on June 27.
Hailing from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Dr. Dog has had the virtue of developing far away from the music industry. Grown organically through practice and experimentation, the band’s quirky, catchy pop draws equally from the psychedelic 60s and the indie rock 00s. Dr. Dog earned its national break in 2004 after going on the road with ACL veterans My Morning Jacket. The band has since become a well-traveled touring outfit, releasing half a dozen albums and appearing on the late night TV shows of David Letterman, Jimmy Fallon, Conan O’Brien and Craig Ferguson. Armed with its acclaimed seventh LP Be the Void, Dr. Dog records their first episode of Austin City Limits on June 25.
Bonnie Raitt needs no introduction to ACL fans, having appeared on the show twice before, in Seasons 9 and 28. The veteran musician’s remarkable talents are back in the public eye this year with Slipstream, the first release on her own Redwing Records label and her first since 2005’s Souls Alike. NPR praised Slipstream as “vital and fresh… beautiful,” Rolling Stone gave it a 4-star review, and Entertainment Weekly wrote “Superb… she slips her purring voice into every song like a letter going into an envelope addressed just to you.” The album debuted at #6 on the Billboard 200, marking the nine time Grammy-winner’s highest charting album and best sales week in nearly two decades. We welcome Bonnie Raitt back to the ACL stage on June 27.
But Ms. Raitt is not coming alone. Joining her will be gospel/R&B legend Mavis Staples. The Chicago native began her career in 1950 with the Staple Singers, who became one of the most successful family gospel bands in America with pop hits “Respect Yourself” and “I’ll Take You There.” The Staple Singers represented the musical voice of the Civil Rights movement due in part to their friendship with Martin Luther King and also to their willingness to record material as topical as it was inspirational. Mavis first tested the solo waters in the late 60s, recording sporadically for the next 40 years. Currently signed to hip label Anti-, Mavis is still riding high on the success of 2010’s You’re Not Alone, produced by pal Jeff Tweedy from Wilco. Now she’s bringing her venerated pipes, whose “otherworldly power comes…from a masterful command of phrasing and deep-seated sensuality” (All Music), to the Moody Theater for her Austin City Limits debut.
Stay with us on Facebook, Twitter and this very blog for more news about upcoming tapings, and check out our Tumblr page for blasts from the past.