Category: Taping Announcement

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Featured News Taping Announcement

New tapings: Arlo Parks, Japanese Breakfast, Foo Fighters and Cimafunk

Foo Fighters. Photo by Magdalena Wosinska.

Austin City Limits is thrilled to announce the first round of tapings for Season 48, featuring a stellar slate of performers. The taping season kicks off with a pair of 2022 GRAMMY Best New Artist nominees, British singer/songwriter Arlo Parks on April 11, and acclaimed Japanese Breakfast on April 20. Newly minted Rock & Roll Hall of Famers and 2022 GRAMMY triple nominees Foo Fighters return to rock ACL for the third time on April 27, while Afro-Cuban Latin funk sensation Cimafunk brings the funk on May 3.

Arlo Parks. Photo by Lillie Eiger.

Arlo Parks had a major 2021 wherein she released her highly-praised debut album Collapsed in Sunbeams, won the BRIT Award for Best New Artist, received the Mercury Prize for album of the year, and won the BBC Introducing Artist Of The Year Award. She also scored a pair of 2022 GRAMMY nominations for Best New Artist and Best Alternative Album. Along with the towering awards, Collapsed in Sunbeams was included on almost every ‘Best Albums of 2021’ list and received critical acclaim from the likes of The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The FADER and many more. This year she shared a new single “Softly” and is currently on a North American tour with Clairo, which will conclude with a performance at this year’s Coachella Festival. Arlo also recently announced high-profile summer stadium dates with Billie Eilish and Harry Styles. Born Anaïs Oluwatoyin Estelle Marinho, the 21-year-old from West London – who burst onto the scene with 2018’s “Cola” — uses poetry as her songwriting compass, weaving vivid imagery and sensory touches throughout the stirring, honest stories that make up her already-rich body of work. In Arlo’s world, words are as useful as photographs. Luscious, expressive vignettes pepper the poetic lyrics in her sweet, ruminative indie pop songs. “I was really interested in the idea of delving into a hyper-specific moment and making it feel universal, making it something that people could connect to,” she says about drawing from poetry in her approach. Arlo recalls a childhood record collection that included classics from Sade, Earth Wind & Fire, and Bob Dylan and choir practice as fundamentals to her musical side. When she was 14, Arlo downloaded Garageband and started making beats to rhyme her poetry to, which over time naturally morphed into singing and the dulce soprano that sets her apart in today’s music climate. In 2017, she took a chance and submitted her recordings to BBC Introducing, which led to her first interview, management and recording contract. Following performances at Glastonbury and Latitude Festivals and a pair of EPs released when she was still a teenager, Arlo released her debut album Collapsed in Sunbeams to critical raves in 2021. Her songwriting has seen her gain new fans in Billie Eilish, Florence Welch, Michelle Obama, Angel Olsen, Phoebe Bridgers, Massive Attack and renowned writer Zadie Smith, amongst many others.

Japanese Breakfast. Photo by Tonje Thilesen.

2021 was a big year for Michelle Zauner. She released Jubilee, her album with her pop-alternative band Japanese Breakfast, which quickly became one of the most praised releases of 2021, landing her two 2022 GRAMMY nominations for Best New Artist and Best Alternative Album, as well as placement on Best Of 2021 lists from Rolling Stone, People, Pitchfork, Entertainment Weekly, Billboard, NPR, Spin, Wall Street Journal and more. The album was also voted the #1 album of the year on NPR’s Listeners’ Poll, and its lead single “Be Sweet” was voted the #1 song of the year on Pitchfork’s Readers’ Poll. From the moment she began writing her new album, she knew that she wanted to call it Jubilee. After all, a jubilee is a celebration of the passage of time—a festival to usher in the hope of a new era in brilliant technicolor. Zauner’s first two albums garnered acclaim for the way they grappled with anguish; Psychopomp was written as her mother underwent cancer treatment, while Soft Sounds From Another Planet took the grief she held from her mother‘s death and used it as a conduit to explore the cosmos.  Jubilee is an album about processing life and love in the quest for happiness, and how that process sometimes requires us to step outside of ourselves. In addition to Jubilee, 2021 saw Zauner release her New York Times best-selling memoir Crying in H Mart, which she’s currently adapting for the screen for MGM’s Orion Pictures. Crying in H Mart is an unflinching, powerful memoir about growing up Korean American, losing her mother, and forging her own identity. The book has been on the New York Times Best Sellers’ list for 30 weeks. She also released the original soundtrack to the anticipated video game Sable, which Entertainment Weekly compared to David Bowie’s 1977 masterwork Low and Pitchfork said is “a streamlined glimpse into her versatility as a narrative artist.” Michelle Zauner first appeared on our stage at the 2021 ACL Hall of Fame celebration to salute honorees Wilco and we’re thrilled to have her return with Japanese Breakfast.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees and 2022 GRAMMY triple nominees for their much heralded Medicine at Midnight, the mighty, mighty Foo Fighters return for their third appearance on the ACL stage. Produced by Greg Kurstin and the band, and featuring “Shame Shame,” “Waiting On a War” and the bludgeoning “No Son of Mine,” Medicine at Midnight, Foo Fighters’ 10th studio album was released in early 2021 to overwhelming acclaim: Rolling Stone hailed the album as “brighter and more optimistic than anything they’ve ever done,” while The Wall Street Journal quite simply called it “One of Foo Fighters’ best albums of this century.” More recently, Medicine at Midnight earned the sextet a trio of GRAMMY nominations: Best Rock Performance for “Making A Fire,” Best Rock Song for “Waiting On A War,” and Best Rock Album, bringing Foo Fighters’ career total nominations to 32. Foo Fighters—who celebrated their 25th anniversary in 2020—have won 12 GRAMMY Awards, including a record four wins for Best Rock Album, two Best Rock Songs and a Best Rock Performance. On February 25th Foo Fighters will make their feature film acting debut, playing themselves in the horror comedy Studio 666, filmed in the same Encino, California house in which they recorded Medicine at Midnight. Foo Fighters were fortunately able to fit in a visit to ACL in between sold out dates on their North American stadium tour, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Pat Smear and Rami Jaffee back to our stage.

Cimafunk. Photo by Michael Alford.

Cimafunk is an Afro-Cuban rock star whose name refers to his heritage as a “cimarrón,” Cubans of African descent who resisted and escaped slavery, as well as to the essence of his music that aims to subvert conventional sounds with rhythmic innovation. As innovative funk forefather George Clinton of Parliament-Funkadelic fame says, “he is the one, the next one.” By bringing out the best in Cuban rhythms and traditions and infusing sounds and styles from Africa and the U.S., Cimafunk has created something unique and special, both in terms of music and the values he stands for. His monumental second album El Alimento, released in October 2021, received overwhelming praise: Rolling Stone ranked it #3 of the Best Spanish-Language and Bilingual Albums of 2021 and #23 of the 50 Best Albums of 2021. El Alimento was also among NPR’s Best Latin Music of 2021 and #1 of Le Monde’s Latin Music favorites. Singles also made their way through 2021 lists: “Rómpelo” ft. Lupe Fiasco was among NPR Alt.Latino’s best singles of 2021, and “Funk Aspirin” ft. George Clinton in Remezcla’s 10 Best Indie Pop, Rock, & Chill Songs of 2021. Co-produced by Cimafunk and Grammy-award winning producer Jack Splash (CeeLo Green, Kendrick Lamar, Alicia Keys), the sonically dynamic collection masterfully blends Afro-Cuban sounds and rhythms with global funk, hip hop and soul, resulting in a progressive, head-bopping celebration of black music’s power to eclipse borders and cross-pollinate across cultures. Written and recorded over 2020, the album served as an alimento for the soul, a motivation to persevere through the pandemic, as Cimafunk spent countless hours studying decades of musical influences to help understand who he is musically and culturally, and thus, where he wanted this album to take him. According to The New York Times, Cimafunk is on “Quest to Create One Nation Under a Groove.” Cimafunk became a household name in Cuba with his 2018 hit “Me Voy,” which generated a frenzy, creating a movement in Havana and throughout the island, selling out venues with thousands of fans excited to dance to the groove of Afro-Cuban Funk and millennials replicating his style and appearance, one that draws heavily on his African roots and the black showmen of the 20th century. Named by Billboard as a “Top 10 Latin Artist to watch,” Cimafunk stole the show at the 2019 South by Southwest Music Festival and has toured aggressively in the U.S. and Europe, making a name for himself as one of today’s great showmen, performing an electric live show with his nine-piece band from Havana.

Want to be part of our audience? We will post information on how to get free passes as we get a week out from each date. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for notice of postings. The broadcast episodes will air in late 2022 on PBS as part of our upcoming Season 48.

Please look for safety updates regarding entry to Austin City Limits Tapings. Austin PBS will continue to monitor local COVID-19 trends and will meet or exceed protocols mandated by local governments.

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Featured Live Stream News Taping Announcement Uncategorized

Taping and live stream announcement: Terry Allen

photo by Barbara FG

Austin City Limits is proud to announce our final taping of Season 47, with a Texas legend making his highly-anticipated return to the ACL stage: maverick singer/songwriter Terry Allen returns for his first headline taping in over two decades on December 1. He will be joined by his longtime group the Panhandle Mystery Band—featuring Lloyd Maines, Charlie Sexton, Richard Bowden, Shannon McNally, Davis McLarty and sons Bukka and Bale Allen. The taping will also be live streamed, as ACL offers fans worldwide a unique opportunity to watch the taping live in its entirety at 8pm CT/ 9pm ET at this location. ACL’s public ticket giveaway, which had been suspended throughout Season 47 due to Covid restrictions, will resume with this taping and we are thrilled to welcome back the general public.

Iconic and iconoclastic Texan songwriter and visual artist Terry Allen returns to the ACL stage to showcase his highly lauded 2020 album Just Like Moby Dick. Raised in Lubbock, Texas, the cult favorite continues the remarkable artistic trajectory he began almost fifty years ago with influential classics including his cinematic debut Juarez (1975) and his 1979 masterstroke Lubbock (on everything). Just Like Moby Dick has earned widespread acclaim: “A remarkable late-career high point” (Austin American-Statesman); “One of outlaw country’s strongest and oddest talents” (Uncut); “…takes you on a journey through the brilliant mind of this ‘master lyricist’” (New York Times). Casting his net wide for wild stories, Just Like Moby Dick features, among many other things, Houdini in existential crisis, the death of the last stripper in town, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, mudslides and burning mobile homes, and all manner of tragicomic disasters, abandonments, betrayals, bad memories, failures, and fare-thee-wells. Alongside his iconic musicianship, Allen also is an accomplished, “flat-out inspiring” (LA Times) visual artist whose work has been shown throughout the United States and internationally, and is represented in major private and public collections. His work will be the subject of the upcoming exhibition MemWars at Austin’s Blanton Museum of Art beginning December 18 through July 2021. The New York Times notes, “There is just one person whose art has been seen in highbrow museums around the country and is an inductee of the Buddy Holly Walk of Fame in Lubbock. He is Terry Allen.” Allen is the subject of the recent documentary concert film, Scott Ballew’s Everything for All Reasons, featuring frequent collaborators including David Byrne, Kiki Smith, Joe Ely and Allen’s wife, actress writer Jo Harvey Allen.  Allen has also collaborated with Guy Clark, Butch Hancock, Dave Alvin and Lucinda Williams, and his haunting and hilarious songs have been covered and championed by the likes of Bobby Bare, Ryan Bingham, Richard Buckner, Jason Isbell, Little Feat, Sturgill Simpson, and Kurt Vile.

Want to be part of our audience? We will post information on how to get free passes on November 22 at 10 a.m. CT. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for notice of postings. The broadcast episode will air in early 2022 on PBS as part of our Season 47.

Austin PBS has adopted updated health & safety protocols for those in attendance at tapings until further notice, including the requirement of avnegative COVID test or proof of vaccination for entry. As public health conditions for live entertainment change, ACL will remain flexible and adapt to applicable health protocols. We appreciate your understanding and patience as we continue to respond to ever-changing conditions. Our top priority is bringing y’all great music and keeping everyone who attends ACL tapings safe. 

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Featured News Taping Announcement

Taping announcements: Olivia Rodrigo, Joy Oladokun, Duran Duran, Brittany Howard and Phoebe Bridgers

Olivia Rodrigo photo by Louis Browne

Austin City Limits is thrilled to announce a stellar slate of October tapings as part of our Season 47. Multi-platinum singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo makes her ACL debut on Oct. 2; acclaimed singer/songwriter Joy Oladokun makes her debut on Oct. 3; international superstar rock legends Duran Duran hit the ACL stage for the first time on Oct. 5; multiple GRAMMY-winner Brittany Howard returns to our stage in her first appearance as a solo artist on Oct. 6; and indie original Phoebe Bridgers makes her long-awaited ACL debut on Oct. 7. 

Multi-platinum singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo dominated the charts and smashed streaming records in a breakout year, earning multiple No. 1 hits with her record-breaking, RIAA Platinum Certified debut album SOUR. It all started with her debut single “drivers license,” which landed at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early January in its first week out. The anthem has since become one of the most streamed songs in the world, surpassing 1 billion total Spotify streams and 1.2 billion global streams on Apple Music. The breakout pop phenom is now officially in the driver’s seat and not slowing down, she earned the most U.S. audio streams from a female debut album ever, broke the record for the most-streamed album in a week by a female artist in Spotify history and cemented her status as one of the most promising young artists to emerge in recent years: “All of pop music is Olivia Rodrigo’s playground… She’s a whole new pop-queen paradigm, ripping up the old playbook and starting again.” – ROLLING STONE; “…Rodrigo has become a voice of her generation” – VARIETY; “…SOUR stakes its claim as the pop album of the year so far.” – BILLBOARD. The L.A.-based artist displays her remarkable talent for capturing complex emotions in high-impact pop songs on SOUR and continues her chart-topping reign with No. 1 singles “deja vu,” “good 4 u” and her latest “brutal.” SOUR embodies a minimalist but mesmerizing form of alt-pop, each song centered on the Southern California native’s beautifully detailed storytelling and unforgettably original narrative voice. But while she never shies away from sharing her messiest and most painful feelings, Rodrigo endlessly matches her sensitivity with an undeniable boldness. To that end, SOUR fully reflects the moody intensity that informed its title. “I’m fascinated by the idea of a relationship going sour,” says Olivia. “For me the goal of all music is to take these complicated feelings and externalize them in a way that makes people feel seen—but then when someone tells me that one of my songs resonates with them, it makes me feel seen too. It’s so inspiring to see my music affect people and maybe help them to feel less alone, and I just want to keep doing that for the rest of my life.

Joy Oladokun photo by Nolan Knight

Breakthrough singer, songwriter and musician Joy Oladokun is having a banner year with the release of her major label debut album, in defense of my own happiness. The acclaimed record features collaborations with Maren Morris, Jensen McRae and Penny & Sparrow and has recently been named one of the “Best Albums of 2021 So Far” by Variety and Rolling Stone, with the latter hailing Oladokun, “a serious talent with a kind of low-key, casual ease…she’s always seeking out the light to point the way, making for one of the year’s most uplifting listens.” NPR Music raves “Oladokun’s songwriting is brutally honest, yet inviting, as she fearlessly tackles tough topics…while the theme is heavy, the delivery is uplifting, once again demonstrating how Oladokun’s penetrating gaze into the human psyche yields beautiful storytelling in spite of the pain that surely inspired it.” Additionally, NPR Music declares, “She has a remarkable ability to distill how forces at work in the world…she can make even social and political protest feel like an intimate, warmly human act.” A special deluxe edition, in defense of my own happiness (complete), was released this summer via Amigo Records/Verve Forecast/Republic Records, and features all 14 tracks from in defense of my own happiness, ten songs from her self-released 2020 record in defense of my own happiness (the beginnings), and new track “judas,” a highlight Billboard praises, “As per usual with the fast-rising singer-songwriter, it’s a beautiful song that will have you thinking about it for the rest of the day.” Oladokun continues to forge her own path, sharing the unique perspective she’s gained from living in today’s world as a black, queer woman and first-generation child of Nigerian immigrants. Born in Arizona and now living in Nashville, her musical exploration began at age ten when she was inspired to learn guitar after seeing a video of Tracy Chapman—the first time she’d ever seen a black woman play the instrument. In the years since she has garnered a devoted fanbase and her music has been featured on popular television shows including “Grey’s Anatomy” and “This Is Us.” After performing special shows earlier this summer with Leon Bridges, Cautious Clay, and Dermot Kennedy, Oladokun will continue to tour throughout the fall, including an appearance at ACL Fest and several dates supporting Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit and Pink Sweat$. 

Duran Duran photo by John Swannell

Duran Duran make their ACL debut on the eve of the release of their highly anticipated 15th studio album, FUTURE PAST, out October 22. Duran Duran is singer Simon Le Bon, bassist John Taylor, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and drummer Roger Taylor. Internationally acclaimed, award-winning, and among the best-selling acts of all time, the Birmingham, England natives celebrate their 40th Anniversary this year with several high-profile appearances including headlining slots at ACL Fest and the upcoming Global Citizen LIVE. FUTURE PAST, Duran Duran’s first album in six years, boasts esteemed producers and collaborators including pioneering Italian composer/producer Giorgio Moroder, the critically acclaimed British DJ/producer Erol Alkan, and Grammy and Academy award-winner Mark Ronson, plus special guests Graham Coxon of Blur, Swedish hitmaker Tove Lo, Japan’s CHAI and more. The album was recorded across studios in London, LA and Tokyo over lockdown. 

Earlier this year, Duran Duran captivated American audiences with their spellbinding set at the Billboard Music Awards, where they they performed the first single from the new record, “INVISIBLE,” as well as classics “Notorious” and “Hungry Like The Wolf.” Four decades on from the release of their legendary 1981 self-titled debut album, the influential British music icons recently released their latest single “ANNIVERSARY,” about which John Taylor said, “‘ANNIVERSARY’ is a special song for us. Obviously we were conscious of our own impending 40th anniversary of making music together, but we wanted the song’s meaning to be inclusive in the broadest possible way. After playing and working together for so long, we very much appreciate what ‘being together’ and ‘staying together’ can really mean – it’s not something we would have thought song worthy 40 years ago but we do today!” Like the album from which it comes, “ANNIVERSARY” is Duran Duran at their exhilarating best, and continues to show why they’re still one of the most exciting and progressive bands on the planet. Said frontman Simon Le Bon, “When we first went into the studio in late 2018, I was trying to persuade the guys that all we needed to do was write two or three tracks for an EP.  Four days later, with the nucleus of 25 plus strong songs in the can, that all deserved development, I realized we’d be in it for the long haul, but that was before COVID. So here we are in 2021 with our 15th studio album, FUTURE PAST, straining at the leash. I’m not saying it’s epic, but well … yes I am.”  

Brittany Howard

As the frontwoman and guitarist for Alabama Shakes, Brittany Howard became one of music’s most celebrated figures – the band won four GRAMMYs (out of its nine nominations) and she has performed everywhere from the Obama White House to the main stage at Lollapalooza, where she sang with Paul McCartney at his invitation. But for her solo debut Jaime, Howard boldly decided to explore new directions, with diverse instrumentation and arrangements and intimate, revelatory lyrics. Howard titled the album after her sister, who taught her to play the piano and write poetry, and who died of cancer when they were still teenagers. Jaime was awarded four stars by Rolling Stone, MOJO and Q, named the Best Album of 2019 by NPR and nominated for a GRAMMY Award in the Best Alternative Music Album category. Praising Jaime as “a candid autobiography in funk,” The New York Times said, “With a voice that can go to the roadhouse, the church or deeply private places, she exorcises troubles with the music’s sheer pleasure.” “Stay High” won a GRAMMY for Best Rock Song after spending three weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Songs chart. It was Public Radio’s Most Popular Song of 2019 and named by Pitchfork and others as one of the year’s best songs. “History Repeats,” “Goat Head” and “Short And Sweet” received GRAMMY nominations in the rock, R&B and American roots categories respectively. She makes her solo debut on Austin City Limits after appearing twice on the program with Alabama Shakes.

Phoebe Bridgers photo by Frank Ockenfels

Phoebe Bridgers’ second album Punisher, was one of 2020’s best-loved records, earning four 2021 Grammy nominations, including Best New Artist. The Pasadena, California-born and raised singer and songwriter doesn’t write love songs as much as songs about the impact love can have on our lives, personalities, and priorities. To say Bridgers writes about heartbreak is to undersell her blue wisdom; to say she writes about pain erases all the strange joy her music emanates. Punisher, her second solo album, cements Bridgers as one of the most clever, tender and prolific songwriters of our era. Bridgers released Stranger In The Alps, her 2017 debut album, as a relatively unknown singer-songwriter living in Los Angeles. Four years later, she’s become an internationally recognized musician with four acclaimed bodies of work to her name: her two solo albums, the boygenius EP, a collaboration with Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus; and Better Oblivion Community Center, a surprise release with Conor Oberst in 2019.  Co-producing Punisher with Tony Berg and Ethan Gruska further sharpened her instincts, and the resulting work is an even weirder, more dynamic, and stylistically diverse song cycle. The album’s breakout single, “Kyoto,” a 2021 Grammy double-nominee for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance, registers as one of the most upbeat Bridgers has ever released, but touches on heavy subjects.“I love my life, my real actual dreams came true, but sometimes when I feel depressed, I also feel really guilty,” she said. “That song is about being in Japan for the first time, somewhere I’ve always wanted to go, playing my music for people who really want to hear it, and feeling…bad.” Punisher is fascinated with, and driven by, that kind of impossible tension. Whether it’s writing tweets or songs, Bridgers’ singular talent lies in bringing fierce curiosity to uncomfortable and painful things, interrogating them until they yield up answers that are beautiful and absurd, or faithfully reporting the reality that, sometimes, they are neither. This is Punisher in a nutshell: devastating elegance punctuated by a moment of deeply witty self-awareness. We’re thrilled to welcome Bridgers in her ACL debut.

The broadcast episodes will air this fall and winter as part of our upcoming Season 47, which premieres October 4 on PBS.

Due to implemented safety measures amid the ongoing uncertainty relating to COVID-19, there is currently no public ticket giveaway for access to attend these upcoming ACL tapings. With the safety of the artists, crew and guests top of mind, the limited studio audience will be prioritized to our donors who make Austin City Limits possible and who have continued to support the show during this challenging time and beyond. Effective 8/23/21, Austin PBS has adopted updated health & safety protocols for those in attendance at tapings until further notice. As public health conditions for live entertainment change, ACL will remain flexible and adapt to applicable health protocols. We will expand the audience as safety measures allow and will post giveaway opportunities on acltv.com as available. We appreciate your understanding and patience as we continue to respond to ever-changing conditions. Our top priority is bringing y’all great music and keeping everyone who attends ACL tapings safe.  

About Austin City Limits

Austin City Limits (ACL) offers viewers unparalleled access to featured acts in an intimate setting that provides a platform for artists to deliver inspired, memorable, full-length performances. Now in its 47th Season, the program is taped live before a concert audience from The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. Austin City Limits is the longest-running music series in television history and remains the only TV series to ever be awarded the National Medal of Arts. Since its inception, the groundbreaking music series has become an institution that’s helped secure Austin’s reputation as the Live Music Capital of the World. The historic KLRU Studio 6A, home to 36 years of ACL concerts, has been designated an official Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Landmark. In 2011, ACL moved to the new venue ACL Live at The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. ACL received a rare institutional Peabody Award for excellence and outstanding achievement in 2012.

Austin City Limits is produced by Austin PBS, KLRU-TV and funding is provided in part by Dell Technologies, Workrise, the Austin Convention Center Department and Cirrus Logic. Additional funding is provided by the Friends of Austin City Limits. Learn more about Austin City Limits, programming and history at acltv.com.

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Featured News Taping Announcement

New tapings: Khruangbin, Leon Bridges, Jackson Browne and St. Vincent

photo by Zackery Michael

Austin City Limits’ esteemed forty-seventh taping season continues with a highly-anticipated September schedule, featuring the debut of eclectic groove trio Khruangbin on Sept. 13, the second visit from R&B singer/songwriter Leon Bridges on Sept. 14, songwriting icon Jackson Browne in his first appearance in nearly two decades on Sept. 22, and a new taping with modern rock star St. Vincent on Sept. 30. 

Khruangbin; photo by Pooneh Ghana

Taking their name from a Thai word that means airplane, Khruangbin has always been multilingual, weaving far-flung musical languages like East Asian surf-rock, Persian funk, and Jamaican dub into mellifluous harmony. The atmospheric Texan trio is formed by bassist Laura Lee Ochoa, guitarist Mark Speer, and drummer Donald ‘DJ’ Johnson Jr.  Khruangbin’s widely-acclaimed recent album Mordechai represents a shift for the primarily instrumental act, featuring vocals prominently on nearly every song, It’s a shift that rewards the risk, reorienting Khruangbin’s transportive sound toward a new sense of emotional directness, without losing the spirit of nomadic wandering that’s always defined it. And it all started with them coming home. By the summer of 2019, the Houston act had been on tour for nearly three-and-a-half years, playing to audiences across North and South America, Europe, and southeast Asia behind its acclaimed debut The Universe Smiles Upon You and their breakthrough second album Con Todo El Mundo. They returned to their farmhouse studio in Burton, Texas, ready to begin work on their third album. But they were also determined to slow down, to take their time and luxuriate in building something together. Khruangbin had worked with lyrics before, but this time Ochoa had found she had something to say—and so did the songs. Letting those words ring out gave Khruangbin’s cavernous music a new thematic depth. Musically, the band’s ever-restless ear saw it pulling reference points from Pakistan, Korea, and West Africa, incorporating strains of Indian chanting boxes and Congolese syncopated guitar. But more than anything, the album became a celebration of Houston, the eclectic city that had nurtured them, and a cultural nexus where you can check out country and zydeco, trap rap, or avant-garde opera on any given night. In those years away from that home, Khruangbin’s members often felt like they were swimming underwater, unsure of where they were going, or why they were going there. But Mordechai leads them gently back to the surface, allowing them to take a breath, look around, and find themselves again. The just-dropped Mordecai Remixed embodies the band’s creative aesthetic: “We write our music to be interpreted; this is another wonderful interpretation of the music. There is something very vulnerable about letting others work on your music. But through the correspondence with the different artists, we gained a bigger connection to the songs themselves.” Frequent collaborators, Khruangbin teamed up with Leon Bridges to pay tribute to the state that raised them with 2020’s EP Texas Sun. 

Leon Bridges; photo by Justin Hardiman

Grammy Award-winning R&B artist and songwriter Leon Bridges returns to our stage for the first time since his 2016 ACL debut, showcasing his third release, the acclaimed Gold-Diggers Sound, whose name comes from the East Hollywood studio where the album was made. Gold Diggers Sound is a literal place: a studio, speakeasy-style bar and hotel on an unassuming block in Los Angeles. The Fort Worth native spent over two years in residence conceptualizing, writing and recording, and the result is his most confident, intimate and sensual album to date. Hailed a Critics Pick by The New York Times, Gold-Diggers Sound is a modern R&B album with touches of soul and psychedelia, featuring twelve tracks, including previously released tracks “Motorbike”, “Why Don’t You Touch Me” and “Sweeter,” which Bridges released last June after the police murder of George Floyd.  The record is birthed from extended late nights at the Los Angeles complex and celebrates Bridges’ immersive experience of creating music in the same space in which he lived, worked, and drank. What began as nightly all-night jam sessions where Leon and his fellow musicians could just vibe and let loose away from crowds, cameras, and structured studio schedules, quickly began to form into what he realized was an album. Says Bridges, “I spent two years jamming in what often felt like a musician’s paradise. We effortlessly moved from the dance floor to the studio. We would be finishing our tequilas at 10AM and waking up with coffee and getting to work at 10PM. It was all for the love of R&B and musicianship.” Gold-Diggers Sound is also the culmination of three years of musical experimentation: recording the Texas Sun EP with Khruangbin, duetting with Kacey Musgraves, collaborating with artists including Diplo, Luke Combs, Odesza, Lucky Daye and John Mayer, and contributing vocals to The Avalanches’ haunting “We Will Always Love You.” It positions him as a dynamic artist unbound by expectations, yet always focused on delivering outstanding performances guided by soulful commitment. “I love staying unpredictable. I get high off of that,” says Bridges. “R&B and soul aren’t linear things; they have different outputs. I want my fans to embrace the direction I’m going in. My music is going to continue to evolve, but it’s always going to stay meaningful and soulful.” 

Jackson Browne; photo by Nels Israelson

Jackson Browne’s classic self-titled debut album was released in 1972, and for over 50 years he has written and performed some of the most literate and moving songs in popular music, and defined a genre of songwriting charged with honesty, emotion and personal politics. Hailed as one of the Greatest Songwriters of All Time by Rolling Stone, Browne is revered for era-defining hits like “Running On Empty” and “The Pretender,” as well as deeply personal ballads like “These Days” and “In the Shape of a Heart.” He was inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004 and 2007. Throughout his storied career, Browne has regularly threaded activism into his life and songs, raising funds and awareness for social, political, and environmental efforts. 

In a season highlight, Browne returns to our stage for the first time since his ACL debut in 2002, showcasing a new collection of songs, Downhill From Everywhere, his fifteenth studio album, which debuted in the Top 5 on Billboard’s Current Album, Album Sales and Americana Album Charts. Though the songs were recorded prior to the tumultuous events of the past year, the album feels remarkably prescient, grappling with truth and justice, respect and dignity, doubt and longing, all while maintaining a defiant sense of optimism that seems tailor-made for these turbulent times. The album’s breakout single “My Cleveland Heart,” inspired by a Cleveland factory that produces artificial hearts, imagines the liberation that would come from replacing our fallible, human hearts with unbreakable, artificial ones (“They’re made to take a bashin’ / And never lose their passion”). Like much of Browne’s illustrious catalog, Downhill From Everywhere is fueled by a search—for connection, for purpose, for self—but there’s a heightened sense of urgency written between the lines, a recognition of the sand slipping through the hourglass that elevates the stakes at every turn. While such ruminations might suggest a meditation on aging and mortality from a rock icon in his early 70s, the truth is that Browne isn’t looking in the mirror; he’s singing about us, about a world fast approaching a social, political, and environmental point of no return. Clean air, fresh water, racial equity, democracy—it’s all on the line, and nothing is assured. “I see the writing on the wall,” says Browne. “I know there’s only so much time left in my life. But I now have an amazing, beautiful grandson, and I feel more acutely than ever the responsibility to leave him a world that’s inhabitable.” The songs on Downhill From Everywhere are ultimately portraits—of people, of places, of possibilities—that appeal to our fundamental humanity, to the joy and pain and love and sadness and hope and desire that bind us all, not only to each other, but to those who came before and the generations still to come. Browne, currently on a U.S. tour with James Taylor, has announced a fall headlining tour and will also be a featured keynote speaker at this year’s AmericanaFest. We’re thrilled to welcome him back to the ACL stage.

First appearing on ACL in 2009, groundbreaking Texas native St. Vincent opened our Season 44 broadcast season in an epic hour, and we’re thrilled to have her back for her third appearance on the ACL stage. Hailed in a four-star Rolling Stone review as “a mutant strain of retro pop steeped in New York lore,” Daddy’s Home, the sixth album from Annie Clark, a/k/a St. Vincent, is the latest facet of an ever-evolving artist widely regarded as the most consistently innovative and intriguing presence in modern music. In the winter of 2019, as her 2017 masterpiece MASSEDUCTION‘s title track won the Grammy for Best Rock Song and the album won Best Recording Package, St. Vincent’s father was released from prison. She began writing the songs that would become Daddy’s Home, closing the loop on a journey that began with his incarceration in 2010, and ultimately led her back to the vinyl her dad introduced her to during her childhood. The records she has probably listened to more than any others: music made in sepia-toned downtown New York from 1971-1975 – gritty, grimy, sleazy. The first full broadcast from St. Vincent’s synthesis of this came in the form of “Pay Your Way In Pain” and “The Melting Of The Sun” – played live before a crowd for the first time during her return to Saturday Night Live – highlighting Clark’s ability to shred both vocally and on the debut appearance of Goldie, the newest model of her signature Ernie Ball Music Man guitar. The reaction to Daddy’s Home has been immediate and ecstatic, with raves including. “In an industry crowded with artists who claim singularity, there is perhaps no musician more deserving of the label than St. Vincent” (Interview), “St. Vincent’s sound is more electric than ever” (Los Angeles), “St. Vincent has gotten to the point where we can’t look away, because there’s just nobody in indie-pop quite like Annie Clark” (Paste), and so many more. St. Vincent is now taking 2021’s most talked-about record on the road along with her top shelf Down And Out Downtown Band comprised of Justin Meldal-Johnsen (bass), Jason Falkner (guitar), Rachel Eckroth (keys), Mark Guiliana (drums), and backing vocalists Nayanna Holley, Stevvi Alexander and Danielle Withers—don’t miss out on the invitation to spend the night with St. Vincent in the world of Daddy’s Home.

Due to implemented safety measures and the ongoing uncertainty relating to COVID-19, there is currently no public ticket giveaway for access to attend these upcoming ACL tapings. With the safety of the artists, crew and guests top of mind, the limited studio audience will be prioritized to our donors who make Austin City Limits possible and who have continued to support the show during this challenging time and beyond. Effective 8/23/21, Austin PBS has adopted updated health & safety protocols for those in attendance at tapings until further notice. As public health conditions for live entertainment change, ACL will remain flexible and adapt to applicable health protocols. We will expand the audience as safety measures allow and will post giveaway opportunities on acltv.com as available. We appreciate your understanding and patience as we continue to respond to ever-changing conditions. Our top priority is bringing y’all great music and keeping everyone who attends ACL tapings safe. In the meantime, select tapings will be offered as livestreams for our wonderful fans and supporters to enjoy on ACL’s YouTube Channel. Viewers can visit acltv.com for the latest news regarding livestreams.

About Austin City Limits

Austin City Limits (ACL) offers viewers unparalleled access to featured acts in an intimate setting that provides a platform for artists to deliver inspired, memorable, full-length performances. Now in its 47th Season, the program is taped live before a concert audience from The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. Austin City Limits is the longest-running music series in television history and remains the only TV series to ever be awarded the National Medal of Arts. Since its inception, the groundbreaking music series has become an institution that’s helped secure Austin’s reputation as the Live Music Capital of the World. The historic KLRU Studio 6A, home to 36 years of ACL concerts, has been designated an official Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Landmark. In 2011, ACL moved to the new venue ACL Live at The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. ACL received a rare institutional Peabody Award for excellence and outstanding achievement in 2012.

Austin City Limits is produced by Austin PBS, KLRU-TV and funding is provided in part by Dell Technologies, Workrise, the Austin Convention Center Department and Cirrus Logic. Additional funding is provided by the Friends of Austin City Limits. Learn more about Austin City Limits, programming and history at acltv.com. 

Categories
Featured Live Stream News Taping Announcement

ACL taping: Brandy Clark

Austin City Limits’ stellar summer of Season 47 tapings continues with the highly anticipated debut taping of acclaimed singer/songwriter Brandy Clark on August 3 at 8pm CT. The taping will also be live streamed, as ACL offers fans worldwide a unique opportunity to watch the ACL taping live in its entirety at this location.  

An eight-time Grammy nominee and CMA Award-winner, Clark is one of her generation’s most respected and celebrated songwriters and musicians. Her most recent Grammy-nominated album, last year’s Your Life is a Record, was produced by Jay Joyce and features Clark’s most personal songwriting to date. The widely-praised record landed on several best of the year lists including NPR Music, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Variety and Slate, who declares Clark, “one of the greatest living short-story-songwriters in country (which really means in any genre)…I don’t think there’s a 2020 country or country-adjacent album that outdoes Clark’s,” while The New Yorker declares, “No one is writing better country songs than Brandy Clark is…Your Life is a Record is the best-sounding album that she’s released,” and Variety proclaims, “one of the very best singer-songwriters contemporary country has.” The hitmaker, whose songs include Kacey Musgraves’ “Follow Your Arrow,” Miranda Lambert’s “Mama’s Broken Heart,” The Band Perry’s “Better Dig Two” and Hailey Whitter’s “Ten Year Town,” also recently released a special deluxe edition of Your Life is a Record in honor of the album’s one-year anniversary, which features six new songs including “Remember Me Beautiful” and collaborations with Brandi Carlile and Lindsey Buckingham. In addition to being nominated for Best Country Album and Best Country Solo Performance at the 63rd Grammy Awards, Clark was recently awarded Outstanding Music Artist at the 2021 GLAAD Media Awards. Clark adds another accolade to her shelf with her ACL debut. 

Join us here on August 3 at 8pm CT for this performance by Brandy Clark. The broadcast episode will air this fall on PBS as part of our upcoming Season 47.

Due to implemented safety measures and the ongoing uncertainty from COVID-19, there is currently no public giveaway for access to attend upcoming ACL tapings. With the safety of the artists, crew and guests top of mind, the limited studio audience will be prioritized to our donors who make Austin City Limits possible and who have continued to support the show during this challenging time and beyond. We will expand the audience as safety measures allow and will post giveaway opportunities on ACLTV.com as available. Thank you for your patience as we work to reopen safely. We can’t wait to get back to the music with our supporters and fans. We have more exciting tapings coming up as part of our Season 47, and more information on those shows will be forthcoming.  

About Austin City Limits

Austin City Limits (ACL) offers viewers unparalleled access to featured acts in an intimate setting that provides a platform for artists to deliver inspired, memorable, full-length performances. Now in its 47th Season, the program is taped live before a concert audience from The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. Austin City Limits is the longest-running music series in television history and remains the only TV series to ever be awarded the National Medal of Arts. Since its inception, the groundbreaking music series has become an institution that’s helped secure Austin’s reputation as the Live Music Capital of the World. The historic KLRU Studio 6A, home to 36 years of ACL concerts, has been designated an official Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Landmark. In 2011, ACL moved to the new venue ACL Live at The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. ACL received a rare institutional Peabody Award for excellence and outstanding achievement in 2012.

Austin City Limits is produced by Austin PBS, KLRU-TV and funding is provided in part by Dell Technologies, Workrise, the Austin Convention Center Department and Cirrus Logic. Additional funding is provided by the Friends of Austin City Limits. Learn more about Austin City Limits, programming and history at acltv.com. 

Categories
Featured Live Stream News Taping Announcement

ACL live stream: Charley Crockett on 7/28

Austin City Limits is thrilled to announce we will live stream the highly-anticipated debut taping of a rising star, Texas country singer Charley Crockett on July 28 at 8 p.m. CT. ACL offers fans worldwide a unique opportunity to watch the ACL taping live in its entirety at this location. 

Newly nominated for Emerging Act of the Year at the 2021 Americana Music Awards, Charley Crockett has become one of the leading lights in independent country music following a decade of busking on the streets of New York City and New Orleans, and only two years removed from life-saving open-heart surgery. The South Texas native crafts his self-proclaimed “Gulf & Western” sound by synthesizing country, blues, soul, cajun, Western Swing, R&B and other pieces of American roots music into an unmatched, truly singular sound. When Crockett’s voice comes out of your speakers, there is no confusing him for any other artist. Rolling Stone raves Crockett is “Gearing up for a breakout year” and NPR Music calls him “such a fascinating mix, very 21st century and very vintage.” The Wall Street Journal agrees, “Mr. Crockett’s unique vocal style is one third Ernest Tubb honky tonk with clipped-word diction, one third Bill Withers low-key, soulful crooning, and one third jazzy French Quarter second-line swagger.” 

Hailing from the Texas bordertown of San Benito, Crockett was raised in an isolated, rural part of the Rio Grande Valley by a single mother in a trailer surrounded by sugar cane and grapefruit fields. As a teenager he was into free-styling and rapping. He spent formative years living with his uncle in New Orleans where he first became a street performer who discovered a love for folk music. In New York City he played hip hop and blues on street corners and in subway cars. What’s important to his identity as an artist, says Crockett, is that he has lived the songs he writes and sings. The prolific artist surprise released 10 For Slim: Charley Crockett Sings James Hand, a tribute to his friend and Texas honky tonk hero James Hand in February, and just announced Music City USA, another full-length album of new songs, out in September. We’re excited to welcome Charley Crockett and his band the Blue Drifters to the ACL stage.

Join us here on July 28 at 8 p.m. CT for this performance by Charley Crockett. The broadcast episode will air this fall on PBS as part of our upcoming Season 47.