Austin and Luck, Texas—The renowned live music television series Austin City Limits (ACL) will travel to Luck, Texas on March 19 for a first-ever collaboration with Luck Reunion, the annual gathering founded by Willie Nelson on his property each year. Two Texas institutions with a shared history and a deep commitment to showcasing trailblazing artists, ACL is proud to bring the spirit of Austin City Limits to Willie’s backyard.
Rooted in a mutual passion for authentic, eclectic music, the collaboration strengthens ACL’s ties to the creative community while expanding its presence beyond Austin’s city limits. As part of the activation, ACL will debut the Austin City Limits Artist Lounge, a dedicated space offering the ACL experience exclusively to Luck Reunion artists.
“Our story began with Willie Nelson on the Austin City Limits stage in 1974, and that connection remains central to who we are. Luck Reunion carries that same independent, Texas-born spirit, making this partnership both natural and meaningful. Austin City Limits has always championed artists and preserved a stage for authentic music discovery. As a community-supported public media organization, we’re excited to bring that shared spirit to Luck this year,” Luis Patiño, president and CEO of Austin PBS, said.
Designed as an intimate artist hub, ACL Artist Lounge will be outfitted by Sheila Youngblood, owner and creator of Round Top, Texas’s esteemed creative retreat Rancho Pillow, whose signature aesthetic will transform the space into a welcoming, one-of-a-kind gathering place within the Luck artist area. Fondly known as “the house that Willie built,” ACL embraces the outpost’s nostalgic, lived-in feel—evoking a throwback living room and nodding to the many artists who have remarked that their earliest memories of Austin City Limits were formed watching performances around the family television set.
The lounge will feature a vintage television playing classic ACL episodes alongside retro living room touches, including an old-school phone. Artists are invited to leave a favorite Austin City Limits memory or share early birthday wishes for ACL patron saint Willie Nelson ahead of his 93rd birthday on April 29th. The space will serve as a lively destination for artist interviews and informal conversations, inviting performers to connect, chat, and trade stories steeped in the shared lore of Luck and ACL in a relaxed setting.
Originally created to spotlight authentic Texas music and capture Austin’s burgeoning Cosmic Cowboy and Outlaw Country scenes of the early 1970s, Austin City Limits shares a deep, longstanding bond with Willie Nelson. The program was born more than 50 years ago when Willie taped the now-legendary 1974 pilot episode—an event that became the cornerstone of what would grow into the longest-running music series in television history. Willie has appeared on Austin City Limits nineteen times—more than any other performer —and was inducted into the inaugural ACL Hall of Fame in 2014; he most recently returned in 2024 to celebrate the show’s 50th Anniversary milestone with a historic outdoor concert in Austin. As Willie recently told Billboard: “Austin City Limits and PBS were and are an essential part of education, understanding, curiosity and empathy, which are the essentials and building blocks of humanity.”
Luck Reunion and Austin City Limits will also team up for the first time on a limited-edition merchandise collaboration, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting Austin PBS, home of Austin City Limits. The capsule collection will debut exclusively at Luck Reunion’s flagship store in Spicewood, TX, with additional availability to follow at Austin’s Hotel Magdalena and online via Luck Presents.
Austin PBS will also be onsite at Luck with a booth in the LFF Garden offering attendees photo opportunities featuring backdrops from beloved PBS series, including Mr. Rogers, Bob Ross and Sesame Street. Festivalgoers are invited to stop by, take photos, and learn more about how to support public media.
Austin City Limits continues to honor its roots while evolving alongside the artists and audiences it serves. This partnership brings that legacy full circle, uniting two Austin originals that personify music’s freewheeling spirit and share a common mission: championing both outliers and legends, celebrating the authentic sounds of Texas and beyond, and supporting the values of public media. Austin City Limits recently announced the initial tapings of its upcoming Season 52, with all-new episodes premiering on PBS later this year.
