Category: Featured

ACL Season 45 Streaming Bonus: Epic Hour with Rock Supergroup The Raconteurs

Post author By michael
Post date February 12, 2020

photo by Scott Newton

Steady now: Austin City Limits turns up the volume with a fan-favorite highlight from this season: a streaming-only bonus installment of The Raconteurs’ acclaimed appearance, back by popular demand and amplified by previously unseen performances for a full, hour-long set. The return of powerhouse rockers The Raconteurs, the supergroup featuring Jack White, Brendan Benson, Patrick Keeler and Jack Lawrence, in their first appearance in over a decade was one of the most-watched broadcasts of Season 45. The free webisode offers double The Raconteurs and will be available to music fans everywhere to stream online here beginning Wednesday, February 12, 3 pm CT at pbs.org/austincitylimits.

The Raconteurs’ electrifying Season 45 broadcast earned raves from viewers and critics alike: “The Raconteurs Cut Loose with Face-Melting Austin City Limits Performance”—Spin; “The Raconteurs Rock the Fuck Out on ACL TV”—Consequence of Sound. The 11-song enhanced performance includes five additional songs from their 2019 Austin City Limits taping—more of the incomparable Jack White and his partners-in-crime, more blazing guitar solos, more iconic riffs and more swaggering hooks.

The Raconteurs return with a full-tilt romp featuring killer gems from the acclaimed HELP US STRANGER, their third studio LP and first album in more than a decade. Featuring both Jack White and Brendan Benson as lead singers/guitarists AND songwriters, with an ace rhythm section of Jack Lawrence (bass) and Patrick Keeler (drums), and augmented by multi-instrumentalist Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone Age) for this appearance, The Raconteurs deliver a love letter to classic rock in a performance for the ages. Fellow Detroit natives Benson and White trade-off lead vocals in a blistering 11-song set of pure rock and roll. Tearing into back-to-back STRANGER highlights including “Bored and Razed,” “Only Child,” “Sunday Driver” and “Help Me Stranger,” the energy is pushed to 11, as the band adds new classics to rock’s canon. The hard-driving combo dip back into 2008’s GRAMMY-winning Consolers of the Lonely for the searing “Old Enough” and “Top Yourself” anchored by White and Benson’s mighty guitar work, then nod to the Sixties with an ecstatic cover of Donovan’s 1965 classic “Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness)”. With dazzling showmanship and guitars shredding in harmony, the band rips into the number that introduced The Raconteurs to the world, “Steady, As She Goes,” from their 2006 debut Broken Boy Soldiers. White leads the crowd in call-and-response with the audience chanting “Are you steady now?” before the face-melting anthem erupts into an epic blitz of guitar bliss. Tying it all off is an extended version of “Carolina Drama,” The Raconteurs’ gothic American murder ballad. “If you want to know the truth of the tale,” howls White, with the Austin audience chanting the final, dramatic “Go and ask the milkman” line for a storybook ending and a standing ovation.

“As usual, The Raconteurs are doing what comes natural – reminding us that rock and roll is alive and well, and in Jack White’s hands the power of the guitar has no match,” said ACL executive producer Terry Lickona.

THE RACONTEURS SETLIST: *(additional songs not in original broadcast)

BORED AND RAZED*

ONLY CHILD*

NOW THAT YOU’RE GONE

SUNDAY DRIVER

HELP ME STRANGER

THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS*

OLD ENOUGH*

TOP YOURSELF

HEY GYP (DIG THE SLOWNESS)

STEADY, AS SHE GOES

CAROLINA DRAMA*

Tags Season 45, webisode

Episode Recap Featured New Broadcast News Uncategorized

Rosalía invigorates ACL’s season 45 finale

Post author By michael
Post date February 6, 2020

photo by Scott Newton

Austin City Limits closes out Season 45 with a spectacular full-hour performance showcasing celebrated Spanish singer-songwriter Rosalía in her ACL debut. The globally praised Flamenco-fusion artist has taken the music world by storm, winning her first Grammy Award and five Latin Grammys while also garnering the first-ever Best New Artist Grammy nomination for a principally Spanish language artist.

Catapulted to global stardom with chart-topping Spanish language hits, Rosalía lights up the ACL stage in an irresistible hour, filled with songs from her acclaimed 2020 Grammy-winning El Mal Querer album, which also led the field of winners at this year’s Latin Grammy Awards—including the first “Album of the Year” recognition in 13 years for a solo female artist. She dazzles in a stellar 16-song set that showcases her trailblazing fusion of classic flamenco, reggaetón, hip-hop and electronic beats. The captivating red-clad singer, flanked by dancers in sheer red outfits, opens the hour with “Pienso En Tu Mirá,” her emotive vocals augmented by double-time flamenco handclaps and exciting choreography. The 26-year-old Catalan, Spain native puts her hand to her heart as she reacts to enthusiastic cheers from the Austin audience, saying “It means so much to me to be here because I’m very far from where I am from.” Rosalía has revolutionized flamenco, making it accessible for a new generation, and thrills the rapt audience with a passionate, goosebump-inducing a capella version of an early 20th century flamenco classic, “Catalina.” A gifted, expressive singer and dancer, she tilts her head back to unleash her powerful vocal amid rhythmic handclaps and the audience erupts. Rosalía closes out a stunning set with back-to-back showstoppers including the smash international single, “Con Altura,” her chart-topping collaboration with reggaetón star J Balvin (which has racked up more than 1.2 billion views on YouTube, making it 2019’s most-viewed music video by a female artist) and the breakout single “Malamente” that started it all, earning six 2018 Latin Grammy nods, propelling Rosalía from Spanish pop star to international sensation.

“‘Original’ is often a cliché when it’s applied to new music, but there’s no better way to describe Rosalía,” says ACL executive producer Terry Lickona. “Her impact is profound – blurring all the boundaries between cultures, genres, and generations. She is the future, here today.”

As always, check your local PBS listings for the broadcast time in your area, and don’t forget to click over to our Facebook and Twitter pages or sign up for our newsletter for more ACL info. Join us next week for a special encore episode, featuring Americana superstar Brandi Carlile.

ROSALÍA setlist:

PIENSO EN TU MIRÁ

BAREFOOT IN THE PARK

DE MADRUGÁ

CATALINA (a cappella)

DIO$ NO$ LIBRE DEL DINERO

A NINGÚN HOMBRE

DE AQUI NO SALES (PREGÓN)

DI MI NOMBRE

BAGDAD

BRILLO

PARRITA REMIX

SANTERÍA

YO X TI, TU X MI

CON ALTURA

AUTE CUTURE

MALAMENTE

Tags Season 45, TV broadcast

Yola opens ACL 46 taping season with buckets of soul

Post author By michael
Post date February 5, 2020

photo by Scott Newton

You’d be forgiven for thinking Yola is from the American South. But singer, songwriter and multiple Grammy nominee (including four nods in the Americana category) actually hails from Bristol, England. She recorded her debut Walk Through Fire with Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach for his Easy Eye Sound label, garnering much love and acclaim, as well as those Grammy noms. Now her path leads her to her debut taping for Austin City Limits, which doubles as our first taping for Season 46, live streamed around the world.

The singer and her band took the stage and immediately began “Lonely the Night,” a midtempo bit of melancholy that near-perfectly inhabits the midpoint between soul and country – a sweet spot Yola owns. Donning her acoustic guitar, Yola’s vision further crystallized in follow-up “Ride Out in the Country,” one of the tunes that brought her to the public’s attention (as evidenced by the crowd’s enthusiasm), and given a tight, simmering reading here. “Shady Grove” took a more relaxed route, alluding to the folk music from which the title is adapted. Her album’s title track came next, with Yola sharing the story of its surprising inspiration: a house fire in which she was caught, which she remarkably translated into a smoldering love song with the help of Auerbach and legendary songwriter Dan Penn. She went back to folk rock for “Love All Night (Work All Day),” a tribute to doing what’s necessary to sustain one’s passion. Acknowledging the inspiration of Graham Nash and the Hollies, she then injected a dollop of soul into the Hollies’ “The Air That I Breathe,” ironically a song on which Nash himself did not perform. The audience loved it anyway. “That was fun, wasn’t it?” she teased.

Yola put down her guitar for “Faraway Look,” perhaps her most well-known hit (so far), giving the ballad the full force of her magnificent voice. After introducing the band, she sang the upbeat, uplifting “Love is Light” and the sadder (but still upbeat) “Still Gone.” Yola then flipped her back pages for the rocking “What You Do,” a track from her 2016 debut EP Orphan Offering. “It Ain’t Easier” followed, a powerhouse ballad that once again unleashed her full vocal power. Yola and her group closed the main set with a song by “my all-time hero,” Elton John – namely the grand ballad “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” which was unsurprisingly right up her alley. The crowd sent her off with a huge roar of applause.

Needless to say, Yola wasn’t done quite yet. She and the band came back onstage with “I Don’t Wanna Lie,” an old-fashioned soul groover that became an audience singalong. She brought the show home with Aretha Franklin’s explosive take on the classic Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell tune “You’re All I Need to Get By.” The audience went wild once again, as Yola walked off in triumph. It was a great show and a great season debut, and we can’t wait for you to see it when it airs this fall on your local PBS station.

Tags season 46, Tapings

Episode Recap Featured New Broadcast News

Billie Eilish reveals many dimensions on ACL’s Season 45

Post author By michael
Post date January 30, 2020

photo by Scott Newton

Austin City Limits spotlights newly minted five-time Grammy Award winner Billie Eilish in an epic hour. The global pop phenomenon performs her off-kilter pop hits and songs from her acclaimed multi-platinum smash WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?

18-year-old Los Angeles native Billie Eilish just swept the 2020 Grammy Awards, winning Best New Artist, Song, Record and Album of the Year, becoming only the second person in Grammy history to win all of the “Big Four” categories and the youngest person ever to win Album of the Year.

Eilish’s celebrated debut album, 2019’s WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? is the centerpiece of her stunning ACL debut, and the striking neon-green clad teen commands the stage in an electrifying 14-song set, accompanied by her brother and collaborator FINNEAS, who earned his first Grammys as 2020 Producer of the Year for his sister’s debut.

Sporting a shock of lime-green hair and an oversized t-shirt, Eilish playfully saunters onstage to the electronic pulse of her Grammy-winning, No. 1 megahit, the pop-noir smash “bad guy,” as her whisper-speak vocals lend a sinister edge to this tale of dark seduction. She thrills on the thorny world domination fantasy “you should see me in a crown,” directing the delirious crowd to “sing as loud as you possibly can.” The innately groundbreaking artist remakes pop iconography and gives voice to 21st century teen ennui with lacerating songs about Gen Z angst, recreational drug use, heartbreak and self-destruction. Eilish performs the early career highlights that launched her meteoric rise: the sparse, synthy 2016 viral hit ballad “ocean eyes” (that generated a massive online following), and the spellbinding, melancholy “idontwannabeyouanymore,” from her 2017 EP Don’t Smile At Me.

A truly hypnotic performer, Eilish flaunts her range, singing with featherlight vocals and a lingering ache on the haunting heartbreak anthem “when the party’s over”—about going home angry and alone—before giving in to the sampled screams and grim impulses of the monster under the bed fever dream “bury a friend” for a riveting closer. The young star then descends into the rapt ACL audience, sweetly embracing her fans, enveloped in a screaming sea of hands and iPhones.

photo by Scott Newton

“Whether you’re already a hardcore fan, or you were captivated by her mesmerizing Grammy performance, this is a rare opportunity to see the many dimensions of Billie Eilish live in concert,” says ACL executive producer Terry Lickona. “An artist like Billie comes along once in a generation. Her Grammy sweep is historic; her ACL performance is historic.”

As always, check your local PBS listings for the broadcast time in your area, and don’t forget to click over to our Facebook and Twitter pages or sign up for our newsletter for more ACL info. Join us next week for another new episode, featuring Grammy-winning Spanish star Rosalía.

BILLIE EILISH setlist:

bad guy

my strange addiction

you should see me in a crown

idontwannabeyouanymore

copycat

when i was older

wish you were gay

xanny

all the good girls go to hell

ilomilo

bellyache

ocean eyes

when the party’s over

bury a friend

goodbye (outro)

Tags Season 45, TV broadcast

Featured Live Stream News

ACL to live stream Yola’s taping debut

Post author By michael
Post date January 28, 2020

Austin City Limits is thrilled to announce that we are live streaming the first taping of our new Season 46—also the first taping of 2020—featuring multiple Grammy-nominee, British country-soul singer Yola, as she makes her ACL debut on February 4 at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT on the ACL YouTube channel.

Produced by ACL three-timer Dan Auerbach, Yola’s debut Walk Through Fire is a career-defining and genre-bending release from one of the most exciting emerging acts in music today. Yola’s arresting vocals captivate with sincere tales of heartache and loves lost, forgotten, and broken. Released on Nashville’s Easy Eye Sound, the album earned widespread critical acclaim from national press including The New York Times, Vogue, Rolling Stone and NPR, with The Los Angeles Times raving, “British, black and bold, Yola is shaking up American roots music”. Yola counts none other than Sir Elton John as a major fan, with the music icon hailing the singer-songwriter “as one of his favourite rising stars.”

Known for show-stopping live performances, Yola’s 2019 highlights include standout appearances at ACL Fest, Glastonbury, Newport Folk Festival, SXSW and Farm Aid. She has shared the stage this past year with Dolly Parton, Mavis Staples, Kacey Musgraves, The Killers, Sheryl Crow and Brandi Carlile, and is currently opening for Chris Stapleton on multiple U.S. tour dates. We’re thrilled to welcome Yola to the ACL stage.

Join us here on February 4 at 8 p.m. CT for Yola’s soulful set. The broadcast episode will air as part of our new Season 46, premiering in October on PBS.

ACL congratulates the 2020 Grammy winners

Post author By michael
Post date January 27, 2020

photo by Scott Newton

Austin City Limits extends our congratulations to our Season 45 ACL performers for their big wins at the 62nd annual Grammy Awards.

Billie Eilish took top honors last night, taking the trifecta of Song of the Year, Album of the Year, and Record of the Year, as well as Best New Artist and Pop Vocal Album of the Year, all thanks to her double platinum debut When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (Her brother and creative partner Finneas also won Producer of the Year.) You can watch Billie showcase the LP on ACL in a new full-hour episode premiering Saturday, Feb. 1 on PBS – check your local listings, of course.

photo by Scott Newton

Season opener Gary Clark Jr. also took home multiple trophies, winning Best Rock Song, Best Rock Performance, and Best Contemporary Blues album. Other Season 45 guests with brand new Grammy awards on their shelves include Patty Griffin (Best Folk Album), Cage the Elephant (Best Rock Album), Vampire Weekend (Best Alternative Music Album) and Rosalía (Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album). The Spanish singer/songwriter/dancer will be featured in a full-hour performance in our season finale premiering February 8.

photo by Scott Newton

We also salute ACL alumni Grammy winners: Tanya Tucker (Best Country Song, co-written by ACL two-timer Brandi Carlile, and Best Country Album – amazingly, her first wins in her decades-long career), Willie Nelson (Best Country Solo Performance), Elvis Costello (Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album), Sarah Jarosz and Nickel Creek’s Sara Watkins (Best American Roots Song as part of supergroup I’m With Her), Esperanza Spalding (Best Jazz Vocal Album), Rodrigo y Gabriela (Best Contemporary Instrumental Album), Delbert McClinton (Best Traditional Blues Album), Keb’ Mo’ (Best Americana Album), Angelique Kidjo (Best World Music Album), Dolly Parton (sharing the Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance with King and Country) and John Legend (Best Rap/Sung Performance, for “Higher,” his collaboration with DJ Khaled and the late Nipsey Hussle).

photo by Scott Newton

In addition, beloved singer/songwriter John Prine (saluted by his old friend Bonnie Raitt) and punk rock progenitor Iggy Pop both received Lifetime Achievement Awards for their distinguished service to music. ACL congratulates all the honorees and 2020 Grammy Award winners.

Tags Grammys