Category: Taping Announcement

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Featured News Taping Announcement

New tapings: Chris Stapleton, Carín León, Mickey Guyton, Norah Jones, the Avett Brothers, and Sturgill Simpson

Austin City Limits is proud to announce a stellar slate of acts for October tapings to complete our milestone Season 50, including a number of ACL Fest headliners featured on our namesake festival this fall. On October 3 we welcome back country giant Chris Stapleton for his second appearance on the ACL stage; on October 5 we present chart-topping Global Latin music superstar Carín León in his ACL debut; country music trailblazer Mickey Guyton comes to ACL for her first appearance on October 9; nine-time GRAMMY-winning Norah Jones returns to the ACL stage for her fifth appearance on October 10; October 13 brings The Avett Brothers to the ACL stage for their third headlining appearance; and Sturgill Simpson returns for the first time in nearly a decade with a new taping on October 28. We’re thrilled to welcome these exceptional artists to the ACL stage for our Anniversary season.

Kentucky-born Chris Stapleton is a 10x GRAMMY, 16x CMA and 19x ACM Award-winner and one of the country’s most respected and beloved musicians. In the midst of yet another triumphant year, Stapleton recently won four awards at the 59th ACM Awards as well as two more trophies at 2024’s 66th Annual GRAMMY Awards. These accomplishments celebrate Stapleton’s album, Higher, which includes break-out songs “White Horse” and “Think I’m In Love With You.” Produced by Dave Cobb, Morgane Stapleton and Chris Stapleton, the record landed on multiple “Best of” lists including Billboard, Esquire, Los Angeles Times, Vulture and Rolling Stone, who praises, “dazzling…the best evidence yet for the way one man’s voice has become synonymous with the very idea of a musical genre.” Additionally, The New Yorker declares, “Stapleton is the rare country star with both traditional bona fides and broad commercial appeal. He has an outlaw soul and a pop star’s capacity for inescapable hooks,” while GQ proclaims, “In an age rife with division, he’s maybe the only thing Americans all agree on.” Known for his electric live performances, Stapleton continues his extensive “All-American Road Show” through 2024. Additionally, Stapleton has new collaborations with Post Malone (“California Sober”), Slash (“Oh Well”), George Strait (“Honky Tonk Hall of Fame”) and Dua Lipa (“Think I’m In Love With You (Live from the 59th ACM Awards)”) in addition to recording a version of “I Should Have Known It” for the new Tom Petty tribute album.

Carín León continues his rapid ascent after a monumental 2023, including winning a Latin Grammy for Best Norteño Album for Colmillo de Leche and releasing two massive hit singles, with “Primera Cita” and “Según Quién” each charting Top 25 on Spotify and Top 30 on the Billboard Global 200. Earlier this year, the global Mexican star earned a standing ovation at the Grand Ole Opry with a set entirely in Spanish and made history as the first Latin artist to perform at both Coachella and Stagecoach. His single “ALCH SI” with Grupo Frontera reached the #1 spot on Billboard‘s Regional Mexican Airplay chart. León’s latest album Boca Chueca Vol. 1 is out now to great fanfare, and his Boca Chueca Tour 2024 sees stops across major cities in North America and Europe, including a performance at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. Originally from Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, León embarked on his musical journey at the age of 15, taking his first steps by learning to play the guitar and developing skills in singing and songwriting. In 2018, León released his debut album Desvelada con Banda y Mariachi which propelled him to quickly dominate the Regional Mexican music scene as a performer, singer and songwriter. In 2021 his album INÉDITO debuted atop the Apple Music charts, reaching #1 on the Mexican Music chart and #3 on the Latin Music chart and was named one of Billboard’s 25 Best Latin Albums of the year. León has received countless nominations and multiple awards, including a 2024 People’s Choice Country Award nomination for “The One (Pero No Como Yo),” his bilingual collaboration with country star Kane Brown, an ASCAP Award for the song “Me La Aventé,” numerous Premios Lo Nuestro (“Regional Mexican Breakthrough Artist,” “Best Male Artist” and “Banda Song of the Year”) and a 2022 Latin Grammy win for “Best Regional Mexican Song” for “Como lo Hice Yo,” a collaboration with Mexican pop group Matisse.

Mickey Guyton is a four-time GRAMMY-nominated artist and country music trailblazer. Over the course of her career, the Arlington, Texas native has been recognized for her musical achievements, including being named TIME Magazine’s Breakthrough Artist of the Year in 2022 and CMT’s Breakout Artist of the Year in 2021. With her 2021 debut studio album, Remember Her Name,  Mickey made history as  the first Black artist to earn a  GRAMMY nomination for Best Country Album.  Additionally, she became the first-ever Black female solo artist to earn a nod  in a country category with additional nominations for “Best Country Song” and “Best Country Solo Performance.” Beyond the GRAMMYs, Mickey has shined on the grandest of global stages, delivering powerful renditions of the national anthem at Super Bowl LVI and the 2023 World Series. She has also performed on a wide array of star-studded award shows and platforms, including the ACM Awards, CMA Awards, CMT Music Awards, ESPYs, CBS Mornings, Good Morning America, The Today Show, The Jennifer Hudson Show, The Kelly Clarkson Show, SHERRI, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Sesame Street, and many more. The multihyphenate has also evolved into a media personality, having co-hosted the Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks special on NBC, the 2023 National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on CBS and co-hosted the 56th Academy of Country Music Awards on CBS along with Keith Urban. Mickey recently released a series of new songs, including “Scary Love,” “Make It Me,” and “My Side of the Country” leading to her highly-anticipated sophomore album House On Fire out Sept. 27, 2024 on Capitol Records Nashville.

Norah Jones’ ninth solo studio album Visions is a vibrant and joyous 12-song set of original songs that finds the singer-songwriter-pianist singing about feeling free, wanting to dance, making it right, and acceptance of what life brings. The album is a collaboration with producer and multi-instrumentalist Leon Michels (Sharon Jones, Dan Auerbach). “The reason I called the album Visions is because a lot of the ideas came in the middle of the night or in that moment right before sleep,” says Jones. “We did most of the songs in the same way where I was at the piano or on guitar and Leon was playing drums and we were just jamming on stuff. I like the rawness between me and Leon, the way it sounds kind of garage-y but also kind of soulful, because that’s where he’s coming from, but also not overly perfected.” Jones first emerged on the world stage with the 2002 release of Come Away With Me, her self-described “moody little record” that introduced a singular new voice and grew into a global phenomenon, sweeping the 2003 GRAMMY Awards including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist. Since then, Jones has become a nine-time GRAMMY-winner, sold 53 million albums, and her songs have been streamed 11 billion times worldwide. She has released a series of critically acclaimed and commercially successful solo albums—Feels Like Home (2004), Not Too Late (2007), The Fall (2009), Little Broken Hearts (2012), Day Breaks (2016), Pick Me Up Off The Floor (2020), the live album ‘Til We Meet Again (2021), and her holiday album I Dream Of Christmas (2021). The 2010 compilation …Featuring Norah Jones showcased her incredible versatility by collecting her collaborations with artists as diverse as Willie Nelson, Foo Fighters, Outkast, and Herbie Hancock. In 2022, Jones launched her podcast Norah Jones Is Playing Along which features candid conversations and impromptu musical collaborations with some of her favorite musicians.

The Avett Brothers return with their first album in five years, produced by longtime collaborator Rick Rubin. The Avett Brothers, their eleventh studio album, is a record interested in the divine unknowable, as much untitled as it is self-titled. Songs like “Love Of A Girl,” “Country Kid” and “Forever Now” seek the sacred in the commonplace: a cheap cup of coffee, broken hearts and school bus lessons, a baby’s first steps, growing older and holding on to one’s roots, losing someone and accepting fate, rediscovering hope and finding sanctity in tragedy…ultimately reveling in the fun and surrender of what we cannot understand. Recorded in Malibu, Nashville, Mar Vista, and the band’s hometown of Concord, NC, the album is also one that revealed itself naturally over time. As their first LP on Ramseur Records/Thirty Tigers since 2007’s Emotionalism, The Avett Brothers is at once a cumulative opus and fresh start for the band’s future. Since the start of their expansive US tour of nearly 50 dates that extends throughout 2024,  The Avett Brothers have remained tireless and gleefully unpredictable in their music, live set and beyond.

Respected, beloved and fiercely independent, Sturgill Simpson makes his highly anticipated return to music with the release of his acclaimed new album, Passage Du Desir, under a new name, Johnny Blue Skies. Of the new chapter, Johnny Blue Skies shares, “You can turn the page or you can light the book on fire and dance around the flames. You can try to live above hell or you can just go raise some. Here’s to clean livin’ and dirty thinking.” The eight-song Passage Du Desir was produced by Johnny Blue Skies and David Ferguson and recorded at Clement House Recording Studio in Nashville, TN and Abbey Road Studios in London, England. Simpson and his band—Kevin Black (bass), Robbie Crowell (keys), Laur Joamets (guitar) and Miles Miller (drums)—will also make their long-awaited return to the road this fall with the “Why Not? Tour.” Simpson’s first full tour in over four years, the extensive headline run includes stops at L.A.’s The Greek Theatre, Washington State’s The Gorge Amphitheater, Lexington’s Rupp Arena, Chicago’s Salt Shed (two nights), Queens’ Forest Hills Stadium and Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena among many more. Simpson also headlined Outside Lands and will close out both weekends of this year’s Austin City Limits Music Festival. Since his debut, Simpson has released five full-length studio albums—2013’s High Top Mountain, 2014’s Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, 2016’s A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, 2019’s Sound & Fury and 2021’s The Ballad of Dood and Juanita—along with the 2020 projects, Cuttin’ Grass Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. Throughout his singular career, Simpson has relentlessly pushed against expectations, earning widespread acclaim and countless accolades including a Grammy Award in 2017 for Best Country Album and six GRAMMY nominations across four genres: country, rock, bluegrass and americana.

We’re thrilled to welcome these remarkable artists to the ACL stage for our milestone season. Want to be part of our audience? We will post information on how to get free passes a week in advance of each taping. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for notice of postings. The broadcast episodes will air on PBS as part of our upcoming anniversary Season 50.

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Featured News Taping Announcement

New taping: Wynonna

Austin City Limits is thrilled to announce a new taping with one of country music’s most legendary voices and iconic performers: Wynonna. A musical force like none other, we welcome her to the ACL stage on September 3 for our milestone Anniversary Season 50.

One of the most widely recognized and awarded female country musicians in history, Wynonna is celebrating a remarkable 40-year career. Her 1992 self-titled solo debut sold over five million units, becoming the highest-selling debut album by a female artist at the time. Wynonna earned three consecutive #1 hits and the singer followed the wildly successful debut with the multi-platinum album Tell Me Why. Building on the groundbreaking music she and her mother created as The Judds, Wynonna grew into her once-in-a-generation vocal prowess with an ease that resonated with legions of fans. Chart-topping hits “No One Else On Earth,” “Tell Me Why,” “She Is His Only Need,” “Girls With Guitars,” and “I Saw The Light” set the next chapter in motion for the girl from Ashland, Kentucky who became a global superstar. Having practically grown up as America’s favorite musical daughter, Wynonna matured into a woman who embraced life’s peaks and valleys, great thrills, and heavy disappointment. Beyond the Grammy Awards, multi-platinum albums and sold-out tours, the country/soul vocalist expanded on the Appalachian traditionalism that defined The Judds to create a world where Top 5 dance/club hits were as possible as being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Wynonna has sold-out concerts scheduled throughout the summer before she hits the road for her “Back to Wy” tour in September. She’ll be playing her debut and sophomore albums back-to-back for 17 special shows across the country. Wynonna first appeared on Austin City Limits with The Judds during ACL’s 10th Anniversary Season in 1985 and opened our Season 22 in 1997 with a full-hour season premiere. We’re proud to welcome her back during our 50th Anniversary Season for the first time in nearly three decades. 

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 as part of our milestone Season 50, which premieres on September 28, 2024.

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Featured News Taping Announcement

New Taping: Hurray for the Riff Raff

Hurray for the Riff Raff

Austin City Limits is excited to announce a new summer taping, Hurray for the Riff Raff, to be included in the stellar lineup of Season 50 performances. Hurray for the Riff Raff will make their debut on ACL Tuesday, July 2 in support of their latest release, The Past Is Still Alive.

Hurray for the Riff Raff. Photo by Tommy Kha.

Hurray for the Riff Raff’s latest release, The Past Is Still Alive, finds bandleader Alynda Segarra (they/them) being called “one of America’s best songwriters” (Vulture). Recently released on Nonesuch Records, The Past Is Still Alive is the record of Segarra’s life so far. Finding fans in everyone from Elton John to poet Eileen Myles, it has been hailed as “the next great American road album” (The Atlantic), through which Hurray for the Riff Raff is “etching their own story into the American songbook, and asserting that they belong there” (The New York Times). Pitchfork named it Best New Music, NPR Music‘s Ann Powers drew comparisons to Joni Mitchell’s Hejira and Lucinda Williams’ Car Wheels On a Gravel Road, and in a sweeping cover story, Paste declared it “the most important album of the 2020s so far.” Produced by Brad Cook (Bon Iver, Indigo Girls, Waxahatchee), The Past Is Still Alive is both a memoir and a roadmap to America’s fringes, as Segarra uses portraits of their radical, itinerant experiences to deliver profound reflections on time, memory and loss. Segarra is 36, or a little less than halfway through the average American lifespan. In that comparatively brief time, though, the Hurray for the Riff Raff founder has been something of a modern Huck Finn, an itinerant traveler whose adventures prompt art that reminds us there are always other ways to live. Segarra’s poetic power proves why they have become a pan-everything fixture of the modern folk movement, illustrating inequality and independence, and navigating chaos and trauma with a sense of wonder and want. With The Past Is Still Alive, their ninth studio album, Segarra finally tells the story themselves, speckling stirring reflections on love, loss, and the end or evolution of the United States with foundational scenes from their own life. “It felt like a trust fall, or a letting go of this idea of proving something to the music industry—how I can be more digestible, modifiable, sellable,” Segarra says. “I feel like I’m closer to what I actually have to share.” 


We’re thrilled to welcome Hurray for the Riff Raff to the ACL stage for our milestone 50th season. 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 anniversary Season 50

Categories
Featured News Taping Announcement

New tapings: Maggie Rogers, Kacey Musgraves, The War And Treaty, Gracie Abrams

Austin City Limits is proud to announce new summer tapings from a stellar slate of American originals for our golden anniversary Season 50: critically acclaimed producer/songwriter/performer Maggie Rogers returns on May 30 with songs from her new album Don’t Forget Me; celebrated singer-songwriter Kacey Musgraves returns for her third headlining appearance on June 3 to showcase her acclaimed new release Deeper Well; powerhouse act The War And Treaty return to the ACL stage on June 28 for their second feature slot; and 2024 Grammy Best New Artist nominee Gracie Abrams makes her ACL debut on July 30 with new music from her upcoming sophomore album The Secret of Us.

Maggie Rogers. Photo by Maddy Rotman.

GRAMMY® Award-nominated producer/songwriter/performer Maggie Rogers recently shared her third studio album, Don’t Forget Me, out now via Capitol Records.  Rogers co-produced her new album with Ian Fitchuk (Kacey Musgraves, Maren Morris) at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, writing eight of its 10 songs with him and penning two alone. Shawn Everett (Brittany Howard, The War on Drugs) mixed and the album was mastered by Emily Lazar (Beck, Coldplay), who has mastered all of Rogers’ albums to date. Praising the album’s “transcendent songwriting,” SPIN said, “with Don’t Forget Me, Rogers sounds fully confident.” Rolling Stone said, “For such a heavy emotional lift, the album is an easygoing listen, perfect for a Sunday-afternoon drive.” In this feature, The New Yorker praised the album as “the loosest and most elemental music she’s made…burly, coltish, tender, fun,” while Pitchfork declared, “the singer-songwriter’s third album is her strongest yet, the sounds of a wise, clear-eyed melodious prodigy coming into her own voice.  Originally from Maryland, Rogers released her breakthrough EP Now That The Light Is Fading in 2017. Widely hailed as an artist to watch, Rogers released her critically acclaimed Capitol Records debut album Heard It In A Past Life in January 2019 and immediately found tremendous success: entering Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart at No. 1 and debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The album earned praise from the likes of NPR, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, TIME Magazine, Vogue, and many more. Heard It In A Past Life also landed Rogers a nomination for Best New Artist at the 62nd GRAMMY® Awards and led to performances on major TV shows including Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Austin City Limits, Today, and more. The album, which contains the platinum hits “Light On” and “Alaska,” has amassed over one billion combined global streams and is certified Gold in the U.S. In 2022, Rogers released her follow up album, Surrender, to widespread acclaim and embarked on two sold-out headline tours across Europe and North America including her Summer of ’23 Tour, which included stops at legendary venues like Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, Forest Hills Stadium in NYC and the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.  Rogers kicks off her “Don’t Forget Me Tour, Part 1” May 23 at Gallagher Square at Petco Park in San Diego, CA, and will perform two nights at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado (May 27 + May 28). The “Don’t Forget Me Tour, Part II” — Rogers’ first-ever arena outing — will launch on October 9th at Moody Center in Austin, TX and include shows at New York City’s Madison Square Garden (October 19) and the Kia Forum in Inglewood, CA (November 2).

Kacey Musgraves. Photo by Kelly Christine Sutton.

Kacey Musgraves has always been a little bit magic. From the tumbling sparkle of Laurel Canyon acoustics that cascade into “Cardinal,” the swirling opener on the seven-time Grammy winner’s fifth album, Deeper Well, the metaphysical and incandescent are even more present and powerful from a woman whose songs have cast a glow on how evolved people live since her first single “Merry Go ‘Round” charmed the world over a decade ago with its hypocrisy-skewering appeal. If there’s one thing Musgraves has done across one of modern music’s most expansive and adventurous creative journeys, it’s trust her gut. Glistening folk-pop and country explorations with just enough bluegrass to spin the modern arrangements organically, she wears these songs like a second skin. For Deeper Well, the introspective writer found herself drawn to NYC’s legendary Electric Lady studio. Working with longtime co-producers Ian Fitchuk and Daniel Tashian, the music on Deeper Well is almost chimeric: rolling acoustic guitars, puffy clouds of strings and synth, warm bass punctuations, layered harmonies, moments of Celtic melody and plenty of room on the tracks for Musgraves’ silvery vocals. On the bright, almost folky title track, the 30-something songstress surveys her life and priorities, recognizing what feeds her, drains her and even examines the Texas childhood she’s left behind on her way to now. “Sonically, I’ve been craving classic American songwriting,” she says. “Real songs. No gimmicks. The color palette of where those songs came from was everything I felt pulled to. New York is one of the places that kind of record came from. Simon & Garfunkel, the Greenwich Village clubs, fingerpicking and James Taylor. Social commentary. Storytelling. I always look for honesty in terms of the songs, and this record is no different. Unconsciously, I think that’s part of what drew us to taking our stories to New York City.” Deeply personal, universally true, Deeper Well is a coming of enlightenment song collection that embraces fear, vulnerability and the joy found beyond the doubt most sentient people wrestle. “Love is the prism,” says the sloe-eyed songwriter, “and my role in it. I make sense of the world around me by looking for balance and I’d like to think this album is for anyone who’s living life and paying attention.”

The War And Treaty. Photo by Austin Hargrave.

Founded in 2014 by the husband-and-wife duo Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter, The War And Treaty has emerged as one of the most electrifying new acts in American music. The Nashville-based pair recently garnered their first-ever GRAMMY nominations for Best American Roots Song and the all-genre Best New Artist, along with a 2024 Duo of the Year nomination from the Academy of Country Music. This follows an exciting year of honors for the pair including their first-ever Duo of the Year nomination from the Country Music Association and nominations for this year’s CMT Music Awards for Duo/Group Video of the Year and for CMT Performance of the Year. Further recent recognition has come from the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Grand Ole Opry, and the Americana Music Association. With a lionhearted sonic blend, both roaring with passion and tender to the touch, The Tennessean notes, “they are unlike any other act in music.” The War And Treaty’s 2023 major label debut album Lover’s Game (Mercury Nashville) was met with critical praise, with the Associated Press claiming, “The colossally talented pair continue their commando, no-limits journey to the top of the music world.” Drawing respect across the board, they have gone on to appear as top-flight collaborators, including the latest “Hey Driver” with Zach Bryan. The group also just released their first new single of 2024, “Stealing A Kiss” – a seductive envelope of country soul that they are becoming well known for. The War And Treaty has captivated audiences across the globe from North America to Europe, Australia and beyond, while headlining their own shows and opening for a diverse group of living legends: Al Green, Brandi Carlile, Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, John Legend, Lauren Daigle, and Van Morrison among them. The War And Treaty made their ACL debut in Season 46 in 2020 during ACL’s limited audience pandemic tapings, and we are thrilled to welcome them back to light up the ACL stage, this time with a full live audience.

Gracie Abrams. Photo by Abby Waisler.

Gracie Abrams returns with the highly-anticipated new album, The Secret of Us, out June 21st on Interscope Records. The album’s newly-released lead single “Risk” was met with an outgoing of support and excitement from fans online as well as raves from Rolling Stone, Billboard, Nylon and more. The 24-year-old songwriter co-wrote the bubbly yet incisive new track with longtime friend Audrey Hobert and took a hands-on role producing the new single alongside her friend and frequent collaborator, the National’s Aaron Dessner.  The Secret of Us will come nearly a year since her debut album, Good Riddance, which Gracie released in February 2023 and Rolling Stone hailed “one of 2023’s Best Debuts.” Good Riddance earned Gracie her first ever Grammy nod at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards with a nomination for the highly coveted Best New Artist. Since making her debut in 2019, Gracie Abrams has emerged as one of the most compelling singer-songwriters of her generation, earning the admiration of such like minded artists as Taylor Swift, Lorde, Billie Eilish, and Olivia Rodrigo. A consummate songwriter who names Joni Mitchell as her most formative influence, she penned her first song at age eight, then went on to amass a devoted following on the strength of her emotionally intimate lyrics and DIY sensibilities. With the arrival of her breakout debut project minor in summer 2020, she received glowing reviews from the likes of NME, who praised her “painfully honest tales of heartbreak draped in delicate melodies that carry much more intrigue than the usual run-of-the-mill singer-songwriter.” The seven-song effort features her beloved singles “21,” “I miss you, I’m sorry,” and “Long Sleeves.” In late 2021, Abrams returned with This Is What It Feels Like, a 12-track project exploring such complex emotional experiences as self-betrayal, insecurity, and failed attempts at connection. Soon after completing her sold-out North American headline tour for This Is What It Feels Like, she set to work on her debut album. Abrams kicked off 2022 with a headline tour of North America followed by a support slot on Olivia Rodrigo’s tour and reconnected with Dessner to release two songs “Block me out” and “Difficult.” In early 2023, Abrams released her debut album, Good Riddance, followed by a North American headline tour that sold out in under one hour. Gracie toured with Taylor Swift as the opening on select dates of her blockbuster Eras Tour and will continue as direct support when the Eras Tour returns to North America later this year. 

We’re excited to welcome these stellar acts to the ACL stage for our milestone 50th season. Want to be part of our audience? We will post information on how to get free passes a week in advance of each taping. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for notice of postings. The broadcast episodes will air on PBS this fall as part of our anniversary Season 50.

Categories
Featured News Taping Announcement

New Season 50 tapings: Jelly Roll, Nickel Creek, Jacob Collier

Austin City Limits is thrilled to announce a trio of new tapings for our milestone Season 50: 2X Grammy-nominated Nashville sensation Jelly Roll makes his highly-anticipated ACL debut on April 9, showcasing his breakthrough album Whitsitt Chapel; formative bluegrass act Nickel Creek returns for the first time in a decade on May 5 for their fourth taping, showcasing their latest album Celebrants; and UK phenom, eclectic singer and multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier, makes his ACL debut on May 14 on the heels of his sixth Grammy win and the release of his new LP Djesse Vol. 4.

Jelly Roll. Photo by Robby Klein.

Breakout singer-songwriter Jelly Roll (born Jason DeFord) makes his Austin City Limits debut riding country’s hottest hand: he scored a Best New Artist nomination at this year’s Grammy Awards, his 2023 debut country album Whitsitt Chapel debuted at No. 3 on Billboard’s All-Genre chart and No. 2 on the Country Album chart, earning him the biggest country debut album in chart history, and he just announced a 37-date “Beautifully Broken” headlining U.S. arena tour. A native of working-class Nashville borough Antioch, Jelly is racking up a string of record-breaking hits and countless accolades, with four 2024 People’s Choice Awards, including Male Country Artist of the Year; was the most nominated male at the 2023 CMA Awards, with five nominations, winning CMA Best New Artist, and swept the 2023 CMT Awards, taking home a trio of awards to become the most awarded artist of the night. He also landed a Billboard magazine “Country Power List” cover, and the chart-topper recently received Billboard’s 2023 Breakthrough Award. His 2023 smash #1 single “Save Me”—a confessional, vulnerable expression of self-doubt—broke radio airplay records and set the stage for a new chapter in his life. Jelly Roll held the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Emerging Artist chart for 25 straight weeks, the longest run in that ranking’s history. Whitsitt Chapel— named for the small Tennessee church he grew up going to—takes listeners on a “Backroad Baptism” through songs of faith, addiction, love and life in-between with powerful highlights including “Need A Favor” and “Hungover In a Church Pew.” “A collection of songs about Saturday night sins and Sunday morning sanctity,” raves The Tennessean. “I’ve always felt like my music lived somewhere between Willie Nelson and 3-6 Mafia,” Jelly tells American Songwriter, as he straddles country, rock and rap to create songs that resonate with his legions of fans across the globe. In addition to his radio and streaming success, he has also become a pop culture phenomenon and is the subject of an acclaimed Hulu documentary charting his remarkable ascent from former inmate to music-making stardom. His self-built, unconventional industry rise and unique fan connection have garnered praise from numerous outlets, with Variety noting, “For everyone who’s facing the same struggles, Jelly Roll is their Springsteen,” and American Songwriter echoing, “with a string of accolades and an extremely dedicated following, Jelly Roll has emerged as a force to be reckoned with in the music industry.” His current single, “Halfway To Hell”  currently dominates Country and Rock radio.

Nickel Creek. Photo by Josh Goleman.

GRAMMY Award-winning trio Nickel Creek—Sara Watkins (fiddle), Sean Watkins (guitar), and Chris Thile (mandolin)—is in the midst of a triumphant year following the release of their acclaimed album, Celebrants—their first new project in nine years. Recorded at Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A, Celebrants was released to critical praise and earned a 2024 Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album. Of the record, NPR Music raves, “the trio sounds and plays better than ever…these songs are nuanced and honest, not fantasy but one suited for introspection,” while Paste praises, “their instruments and voices alternately blend and shine…it’s a joy to have the gang back together,” and Spin proclaims, “giddily ambitious…breathtaking instrumental interplay between mandolin, guitar, and fiddle.” Together a sum of more than their staggering parts, Nickel Creek revolutionized bluegrass and folk in the early 2000s and ushered in a new era of what we now recognize as Americana music. After meeting as young children and steadily earning the respect of the bluegrass circuit over the course of a decade, the trio signed with venerable label Sugar Hill Records in 2000 and quickly broke through with their Grammy-nominated, Alison Krauss-produced self-titled LP. Since that effort, the group has released a trio of acclaimed studio albums: 2002’s This Side, which won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album, 2005’s Why Should the Fire Die? and 2014’s A Dotted Line. Known for their high energy live shows, Nickel Creek will continue to perform through 2024 including an extensive headline tour this spring, a special co-bill with Andrew Bird for several weeks in July, and will join Kacey Musgraves throughout her North American arena tour this fall. Nickel Creek made their ACL debut in Season 26 in 2001, returned in Season 28 and in 2014 for Season 40, and we’re thrilled to welcome them back for our golden anniversary. 

Jacob Collier. Photo by Tom Bender.

Recognized by audiences, critics, and fellow musicians alike as one of the most gifted young artists of modern times, 29-year-old music prodigy and North London native Jacob Collier has already notched a seemingly endless list of achievements, including becoming the first British act in history to win a Grammy Award for each of his first four albums, along with 12 Grammy nominations, including the top honor of Album of the Year in 2021. He continues the creative streak in 2024, scoring his sixth career Grammy win at this year’s awards, marking an astonishing fifth consecutive year of nominations. Djesse Vol. 4 marks the epic climax to the four-part journey that Collier first began in 2018 with the release of Djesse Vol. 1; this final album completes the quartet with 16 sweeping tracks and an epic list of special guests and collaborators including Brandi Carlile, Stormzy, Michael McDonald, Kirk Franklin, Chris Martin, Chris Thile, Anoushka Shankar, John Legend and John Mayer; as well as the “Audience Choir,” the collective recorded voices of more than 150,000 audience members from every corner of the world across Collier’s last two years of global touring. The Guardian raves, “A thesis would be required to do Djesse Vol. 4 justice, but it is ultimately an invigorating and irrepressible record, unlike anything else you are likely to hear.” His 2016 debut LP In My Room, recorded, produced and played entirely by Collier, heralded the arrival of a staggering musical mind, traversing everything from microtonal of the Flintstones theme to folk-influenced ballads. An ensuing one-man-band international tour saw him developing an innovative live show where he played and layered twelve instruments to recreate the world of In My Room onstage. “My audiences are so musical and they participate so readily in the music,” says Collier. “When I play live, I’m not just showing up to entertain, it feels like we’re all coming together to make music in unison.” That natural pull towards musical collaboration went on to inform Collier’s plans for his ensuing Djesse series of releases. “After being on my own, I realised I wanted to work with other people and learn from them,” he explains. “I decided to make a quadruple album including every genre under the sun, where each collaborator made music that was special to me. I wanted to plunge myself into the deepest possible waters of creativity.” The resulting volumes of Djesse have delivered on Collier’s ambitious promise, featuring musical themes that encompass everything from orchestral composition to folk songwriting, R&B, rap and pop. “The key skill to collaboration is drawing things out of people that they didn’t know they had in them,” he says. “It’s all about being taken by surprise and holding the potential for things changing. “I’m just following my voice to see where it takes me next,” says Collier. “I’m keeping my mind and ears open, as there is still so much more to discover and create.”

We’re thrilled to welcome these incredible artists to the ACL stage for our milestone season. Want to be part of our audience? We will post information on how to get free passes a week in advance of each taping. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for notice of postings. The broadcast episodes will air on PBS this fall as part of our anniversary Season 50.

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New Season 50 tapings: Black Pumas, Juanes, Gary Clark Jr., and Brittany Howard

2024 marks the 50th Anniversary of Austin City Limits, kicking off a yearlong celebration saluting five decades of iconic performances. The trailblazing series is thrilled to announce the initial tapings of milestone Season 50, featuring an all-star slate of returning favorites: Eight-time Grammy nominees, Austin’s own Black Pumas make their long-awaited return on February 20 supporting their acclaimed sophomore release Chronicles of a Diamond; Colombian superstar Juanes returns to the ACL stage for the first time in over a decade on March 4, making his third appearance with songs from his smash Vida Cotidiana; Austin native/hometown hero Gary Clark Jr. returns March 26 for his fourth appearance to preview his powerful new offering JPEG RAW; and celebrated singer-songwriter Brittany Howard takes the ACL stage for her second solo headlining performance on April 29 to showcase her upcoming album What Now.

Photo by Jody Domingue.

When Black Pumas released their star-making self-titled debut in 2019, the Austin-bred soul duo set off a reaction almost as combustible and rapturous as their unbridled breed of psychedelic soul. Along with earning an astounding seven Grammy Award nominations (including Album Of The Year) and critical acclaim, singer/songwriter Eric Burton and guitarist/producer Adrian Quesada achieved massive success as a sensational live act, delivering a transcendent show Burton aptly refers to as “electric church.” The band’s meteoric rise  saw them playing thrilling sold-out shows across North and South America and Europe and selling more than one million albums worldwide.  Their breakout single “Colors,” a gold-certified anthem that resonated with audiences across the globe, received over 450 million streams. In creating the follow-up to one of the most celebrated debuts in recent years, the band broadened their sonic palette to include a dazzling expanse of musical forms: heavenly hybrids of soul and symphonic pop, mind-bending excursions into jazz-funk and psychedelia, and starry-eyed love songs that feel dropped down from the cosmos. Chronicles of a Diamond harnesses the lightning-in-a-bottle chemistry between Burton (a self-taught musician who got his start busking on beaches and subway platforms in his native Los Angeles) and Grammy Award-winning Quesada. Wilder and weirder and more extravagantly composed than its predecessor, Chronicles of a Diamond arrives as the fullest expression yet of Black Pumas’ frenetic creativity and limitless vision, bringing their singular vision to life with more power, passion, and daring originality than ever before. Pumas have already earned a 2024 Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance for the record’s irresistible opening track “More Than a Love Song,” along with widespread praise: “One of the most moving things about this record is his (Burton’s) voice…” says  NPR Music, adding it’s, “a little trippy, [and] a little gritty.” and the Austin American-Statesman declares “it will go down in history as one of the defining soul albums of our generation.”

Photo by Mario Alzate.

Juanes’ critically-acclaimed 10th studio album Vida Cotidiana (Everyday Life), his first album of original material in four years, is also his most personal, with the global icon reflecting on topics ranging from love, marriage, family, social concerns and more. The career highlight has earned press raves including NPR, Billboard, Rolling Stone and Variety declaring Vida Cotidiana among ‘The Best Latin Music of 2023’ and Juanes achieves  a new creative pinnacle in his distinguished two-decade career. Juanes recently received his 25th career LATIN GRAMMY award (extending the Colombian music icon’s status  as The Latin Recording Academy’s most honored solo artist of all time). He also received a 2024 GRAMMY nomination for “Best Latin Rock Or Alternative Album,” his ninth career nomination.  An electrifying guitarist and gifted songwriter, with a staggering 30 million albums sold worldwide, Juanes admits, “I think this is my best album as a musician, composer and performer. All my previous experiments were certainly valid—getting out of your safe zone and feeling uncomfortable can provide a transformative experience. But this new session returns to the places that are closely connected with my essence.” From the somber power-rock chords of “Gris” and the funky accents of the politically charged “Canción Desaparecida,” to the stately orchestral touches of “Mayo” and the infectious vibes of “Cecilia”—the Latin chart-topping duet with Dominican master Juan Luis Guerra informed by the spiraling grooves of Cuban son and Afrobeats—Vida Cotidiana confirms Juanes as one of the most soulful practitioners of sterling Latin pop-rock in the game. The superstar brings his widely praised Vida Cotidiana World Tour to the U.S. in early 2024, as The LA Times declares, “‘Juanes’ live show is… a daring rock production…  and  a ‘don’t miss’ event. His concerts confirm Juanes as the rare artist — in company with the likes of U2, and Bruce Springsteen — with the power to inspire beyond the [venue] walls.”

Photo by Mike Miller.

Anyone who has listened to a Gary Clark Jr. album or watched the four-time Grammy Award winner perform live knows that he’s a gifted multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and performer. And never more so than on his last album, 2019’s illuminating This Land. But while This Land signaled a breakthrough in displaying his musical versatility beyond the blues, his fourth studio album,JPEG RAW, represents a quantum leap. “Blues will always be my foundation,” says Clark. “But that’s just scratching the surface. I’m also a beat maker and an impressionist who likes to do different voices. I’ve always loved theater and being able to tell a story. At home when I play the trumpet, I think Lee Morgan, or John Coltrane when I play the sax. I’ve even got bagpipes just in case I need them. So while this is my most honest and vulnerable album about relating to the human condition, it’s also the most freeing.” The album’s title track—an acronym for Jealousy, Pride, Envy, Greed … Rules, Alter Ego, Worlds—examines the role cell-phone society plays in this chaos at the expense of real-life, one-on-one interaction. “I don’t love having a mobile device,” explains Clark of the song’s origin and the album’s overarching theme. “I miss being able to have more genuine interaction, looking someone in the eyes and learning something, getting a perspective. JPEG RAW is about showing the real and not the edit. We live in a world of edits, filters and redos. We only get one shot.” “When the album sequencing was finished, the band and I realized that we’d made an album into a movie,” he recalls. “That’s what I was going for sonically because that’s how the whole writing process played out. First, it’s about angst and confusion, the unknown. Next, it’s about looking at ourselves internally. And then it’s about what comes after: the hope and triumph.” 

Photo by Bobbi Rich.

There’s a double meaning to the title of What Now, the revelatory new album from singer/songwriter Brittany Howard. “With the world we’re living in now, it feels like we’re all just trying to hang onto our souls,” says the Nashville-based musician and frontwoman for four-time Grammy Award-winning Alabama Shakes. “Everything seems to be getting more extreme and everyone keeps wondering, ‘What now? What’s next?’ By the same coin, the only constant on this record is you never know what’s going to happen next: every song is its own aquarium, its own little miniature world built around whatever I was feeling and thinking at the time.” With five Grammy wins and sixteen nominations, Howard follows up her massively acclaimed solo debut Jaime—a 2019 LP that landed on best-of-the-year lists from the likes of Pitchfork, The New York Times and Rolling Stone – with What Now, drawing an immense and indelible power from endless unpredictability. Over the course of its 12 tracks, Howard brings her singular musicality to a shapeshifting sound encompassing everything from psychedelia and dance music to dream-pop and avant-jazz—a fitting backdrop for an album whose lyrics shift from unbridled outpouring to incisive yet radically idealistic commentary on the state of the human condition. Anchored in Howard’s inimitable and infinitely commanding voice—a supreme vessel for channeling raw emotional truth—the record is at turns galvanizing, cathartic, and wildly soul-expanding, and the result is a monumental step forward for one of the most essential artists of our time. “I think the gift I bring is to help people to be more introspective and ask themselves questions,” says Howard. “With a little self-examination, we can learn to be kinder, more compassionate, more understanding of each other. We can see that a lot of us are going through the same shit, and we all just want to be seen for who we really are.”

We’re thrilled to welcome these incredible artists to the ACL stage to launch our milestone season. Want to be part of our audience? We will post information on how to get free passes a week in advance of each taping. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for notice of postings. The broadcast episodes will air on PBS this fall as part of our upcoming Season 50.