Category: Taping Recap

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Taping recap: Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats

Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats on Austin City Limits, 2022. Photo by Scott Newton.

Few bands are as deft at mixing soul, rock, folk, country and blues as Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats. The Denver combo has proved their bonafides across three albums, not to mention their smokin’ Austin City Limits debut back in 2015. Armed with their excellent LP The Future and an upcoming ACL Fest sure to set Zilker Park on fire, the octet returned to our stage with a powerhouse performance. 

“It’s good to be back,” Rateliff remarked before the band went right into “Look It Here,” an effervescent soul stomp from the group’s 2015 debut. The group then touched down on their second record Tearing At the Seams for “You Worry Me,” a less frenetic but no less soulful pop tune. The combo of pop hooks and R&B arrangements continued with “I’m On Your Side,” the first tune from The Future, and “I’ll Be Damned,” with Rateliff putting down his guitar to glide across the stage with his trademark footwork. The band slowed things down to mid-tempo for “Survivor,” the warm R&B tune shot through with guitarist Luke Mossman’s psychedelic distortion and Rateliff’s reverb-heavy rhythm chops. The group shifted to a minor key and added some percussive background “ah’s” for “Baby I’ve Lost My Way,” keeping the vibe going for the surly “So Put Out.”

After thanking both Austin City Limits and the crowd for their support, Rateliff strapped an acoustic guitar back on for “Wasting Time,” which recalled early 70s Van Morrison. The leader then sat down at the Wurlitzer electric piano for “A Little Honey,” a horn-heavy burner in the tradition of Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes. “Love Me Until I’m Gone” reached even further back, recapturing a R&B groove not heard since the early sixties, if not the late fifties, and bringing it back to the twenty-first century. Rateliff then brought out the three-piece horn section of baritone saxist Andreas Wild, tenor saxophonist Jeff Dazey and trumpeter Daniel Hardaway for a harmonized intro to the dramatic soul ballad “Face Down in the Moment.” 

Rateliff stripped the band down to himself, Mossman and keyboardist Mark Shusterman for the exquisite “And It’s Still Alright,” the reassuring title track to Rateliff’s 2020 solo album that never got its due thanks to the pandemic cutting its tour short. The band returned for the warm ballad “Redemption,” a low-key stunner from the soundtrack to the film Palmer, then gave a shout-out to the mothers of a few bandmembers with the country-inflected “Hey Mama.” The tempo went revving back up for “Coolin’ Out,” an old-fashioned soul banger with a sizzling baritone sax solo that definitely did not follow its title’s advice. That led almost straight into the set’s finale, a one-two punch featuring an unnamed crowd-pumping vamp and the strutting, audience-pleasing “I Need Never Grow Old,” tossing his Telecaster offstage and exiting to wild applause. 
 Of course, the Night Sweats returned to the stage, evoking some Harvest-era Neil Young and the R&B side of the Band with the title track to The Future. Rateliff and the band ended the show with the upbeat rouser “Love Don’t,” leaving the audience happy and exhausted. It was a great rock & soul show, good ‘n’ greasy, and we can’t wait for you to see it when it airs early next year on your local PBS station as part of our Season 48.

Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats perform on Austin City Limits, Oct. 6, 2022. Photos by Scott Newton.

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Featured News Taping Recap

Taping recap: Adia Victoria

Adia Victoria tapes Austin City Limits, Oct. 2022. Photo by Scott Newton.

Though wielding an acoustic guitar and a sultry voice, Adia Victoria isn’t just a singer/songwriter. The South Carolina native’s presence, charisma, expansive musical vision and willingness to confront difficult truths put her on a level beyond folky introspection and comfortable ambience, giving her the rocking sound as projected on her third album A Southern Gothic. Tonight the artist brought her socially conscious acid blues to the ACL stage for her taping debut, live streamed around the world. 

“Good evening, Austin,” Victoria pronounced as she took the stage. “We’ve come all the way from Nashville to play these blues for you.” With a swampy, psychedelic sound, she and her three-piece band kicked the show off with the rumbling “Far From Dixie,” one of the jewels in Gothic’s crown. After commenting “I’m a bundle of butterflies and shaking in my red boots,” she launched into “Magnolia Blues,” a song of reminiscence that drew deeply from her region’s most influential musical export. Victoria really grabbed the blues by the conceptual horn on the slow-crawling “Mean Hearted Woman,” telling the “woman done me wrong” story from that woman’s point of view, and dedicating it to “every woman who’s ever been gaslit by a man in her life.” Victoria continued her guided tour of the South with “My Oh My,” another quietly intense slow burner. Incorporating a jangling strum akin to folk story songs, she explored the life of “lost” Southern girls in the evangelical church in the compelling “Whole World Knows.” 

Victoria introduced “Sea of Sand” as one of the first songs she ever wrote, and the defiant folk rocker proved an audience favorite, especially during the coda of her acoustic guitar contrasting with Mason Hickman’s grunged-out power chords. The songwriter put down her guitar for “Troubled Mind,” a song that began as a prayer, and allowed her band to lay out the music while she stalked the stage, microphone in hand. As the musicians kicked into the next number, Victoria introduced them to the crowd, throwing the spotlight on Hickman, bassist Jason Harris and drummer Daniel Closser. “This is a song about getting dumped,” she noted, as the music evolved into the menacing rumble of “Different Kind of Love.” She then led her boys into paying tribute to a primary inspiration by covering “You Was Born to Die,” a thumping 1933 tune from the catalog of the great bluesman Blind Willie McTell. Closser’s drum pound shored up Hickman’s boogie riff for “Ain’t Killed Me Yet,” a celebration of life through the lens of pure defiance, as represented by the feral howl she unleashed during the breakdown. 

Victoria re-donned her guitar for the final song, telling the crowd that she used to watch ACL with her grandmother, already knowing she would one day tread those boards herself. She then sang “South Gotta Change,” her only release during the year of the pandemic, a passionate protest song inspired by the deaths of George Floyd and Rep. John Lewis and dedicated to everyone who ever told her to shut up and sing. There was no way to follow that, so Victoria and her band took a bow and quit the stage. It was an excellent show, and we can’t wait for you to see when it airs early next year on your local PBS station. 

Adia Victoria on Austin City Limits, Season 48. Photos by Scott Newton.

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Featured News Taping Recap

Taping recap: Parker McCollum

Parker McCollum on Austin City Limits, 2022. Photo by Scott Newton.

It’s only a slight exaggeration to say that Texas music is synonymous with singer/songwriters. Not only that, but a certain special breed of singers and tunesmiths, whose ears are wide open to different sounds and whose Lone Star roots are deeply embedded within their music. Raised in the East Texas town of Conroe and seasoned at Austin’s own Saxon Pub, Parker McCollum is the fastest rising country star in the new generation, with a major label contract, a best-selling album in Gold Chain Cowboy, a just-announced nomination for  New Artist of the Year at this year’s upcoming Country Music Awards, and, now, his debut on Austin City Limits, which we live streamed around the world.  

“It’s the first time I get to say it,”  said the baseball-capped singer as he took his position at center stage. “What’s goin’ on, Austin City Limits?” He and his ace six-piece band then launched into the heartland rock of “Young Man’s Blues,” a cut from his 2020 Hollywood Gold EP that introduced McCollum to the wider world. The musicians wasted no time, going straight into the rocking but romantic “Wait Outside,” from his breakthrough  Gold Chain Cowboy. “I don’t know how many bands started out at the Saxon and then did a live Austin City Limits taping, but we’re certainly one of ‘em,” remarked McCollum wryly before singing “Stoned,” a new song destined for the next record. Strumming his acoustic with swagger, McCollum led the band into the anthemic, celebratory “To Be Loved By You.” The singer then went back to his debut album The Limestone Kid for “Meet You in the Middle,” a frisky country rocker with spitfire guitar solos from Brady Beal and Alex Weeden. 

“I hope the gratitude is just radiating off of us tonight,” McCollum smiled, acknowledging his family, introducing his band and singing the ballad “Like a Cowboy” with all the heart in his body. Then he introduced a just released single, the catchy “Handle On You,” which felt like an immediate audience favorite. The open-hearted McCollum mentioned how he had to delay the taping twice, first due to a broken finger and then illness, and he waited to be in top form to get this ACL moment right, and the singer aptly introduced the introspective folk rocker “Rest of My Life” to cheers from the crowd. The band launched into the brash rocker “Fallin’ Apart,” which McCollum noted was co-written by his producer Jon Randall and Miranda Lambert (both last seen on our stage in 2021 memorably debuting their The Marfa Tapes collaboration), along with fellow Texas songwriter Randy Rogers. After that blazer, it was only appropriate to go back to the honky-tonk for the brokenhearted boozer’s ballad “Drinkin’.” That tune segued directly into “Love You Like That,” a lighter-waver both uncertain and hopeful. 

McCollum then monologued about the writing of the next song “Hell of a Year,” explaining how he choked up singing it during soundcheck when he remembered writing it in the drive-thru of an Austin Whataburger, finally feeling like he’d written a good song. He balanced the heart-on-sleeve poignancy of the tune by drolly noting that the song was written about 2017, but gained new resonance in 2020 – “It’s every songwriter’s dream, for a song to be relevant twice.” McCollum returned to the heartland for the widescreen rocker “Why Indiana,” and the already fired-up audience showed their love for the penultimate “Pretty Heart,” the double-platinum first single from Gold Chain Cowboy. McCollum once again expressed his gratitude to his family (many of whom were present in the audience) and to ACL before ending the show with the heartfelt power ballad “I Can’t Breathe,” once again to the crowd’s great delight. The band returned to the stage with “Happy New Year,” a tune from The Limestone Kid that represented not only where he came from but where he’s headed. The music ended, but McCollum didn’t leave the stage – he couldn’t, as he was surrounded by legions of fans and autograph seekers, who he was happy to indulge. It was a hell of a debut show, and we can’t wait for you to see it when it airs this fall on October 29 as part of our upcoming Season 48. 

Parker McCollum tapes Austin City Limits for the first time, Sept. 7, 2022. Photos by Scott Newton.

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Featured News Taping Recap

Taping recap: Lyle Lovett & His Large Band

Lyle Lovett & His Large Band perform on Austin City Limits, Aug. 24, 2022. Photo by Scott Newton.

Guy Clark once sang, “Old friends – they shine like diamonds.” That feels appropriate as we welcomed back our pal, noted Guy Clark fan, and ACL frequent flyer Lyle Lovett to our stage for a headliner show for the first time in a dozen years. (In fact, the last time Lovett did his own taping was the final show in our original home in Studio 6A in 2010.) So the show felt like a reunion, not only for us, but for the devoted fans that packed ACL Live at the Moody Theater. The Texas hero was here to support his latest album 12th of June, of course, and pulled from it generously. But the show was as much a homecoming as a showcase. 

The lights on stage went down, before pianist Jim Cox and violinist Luke Bulla played the bandleader onstage for the lovely old-school ballad “Are We Dancing.” Lovett then quit the stage and the band swung into “Cookin’ at the Continental,” the classic jazz tune from the pen of piano great Horace Silver that throws a spotlight on every member of the twelve-piece Large Band. Lovett and his four singers (including longtime compatriot Francine Reed) returned for “Pants is Overrated,” a prime slice of the songwriter’s wry humor. After noting how glad he was to return to the ACL stage, Lovett told the story of meeting Francine Reed, who’s sung with him since the mid-eighties. Reed announced her retirement from the road this year, but not before she joined the Large Band for this performance. She and Lovett sang two duets drawn from the repertoire of jazz vocal great Nat King Cole and recorded on 12th of June: “Straighten Up and Fly Right” and “Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good To You,” the latter of which featured Lovett taking Reed for a brief spin on the dance floor. 

Lovett talked about his time on the show, reminiscing about how he used to come to tapings long before he ever performed himself. He segued into introducing the core members of the Large Band, many of whom he’s played with for thirty-plus years, before playing the country waltz “Her Loving Man.” After bemusedly describing his early years being mislabeled a folk singer, introducing his friends in the audience, Lovett claimed the next song as a commemoration of a successful co-headlining tour with singer/songwriter Chris Isaak – who walked out onstage midway through the wry “Mirrored Man’s Lament” to sing along, to the surprise and delight of the crowd. Of course, you can’t invite the sparkle-jacketed rocker onstage and not sing a Roy Orbison song, and that was “Dream Baby,” the song they performed together every night during the tour. Following one quick (and, sadly, temporary) jacket exchange, Isaak left and Lovett sang the melancholy ballad “The Mocking Ones.” 

Prefaced by a story about his family’s history and traditions, Lovett paid tribute to his wife and children with the beautiful title track to 12th of June. He continued the nods to family with “Pig Meat Man,” a bluesy stroll through his son’s love of bacon that featured some sizzling improvisations from University of North Texas saxophone professor Brad Leeli. The Large Band ended the first set with the barrelhouse piano-led “On a Winter’s Morning,” the same song that concludes 12th of June. Following a short period of rest, Lovett and the band returned for a hearty five-song encore, starting with Lovett and Isaak sharing an impromptu duet on the Delmore Brothers’ “Blues Stay Away From Me” with trombonist Charles Rose. The blues feel continued with “My Baby Don’t Tolerate,” with round-robin solos from guitarist James Harrah, steel player Buck Reid, guitarist Dean Parks and drummer Russ Kunkel.   

The fan favorites continued with “I’ve Been to Memphis,” the rollicking opener to Lovett’s classic Joshua Judges Ruth that spotlighted bassist Leland Sklar, fiddler Luke Bulla, pianist Jim Cox, acoustic guitarist Jeff White, singers Reid, Willie Greene, Jr., Lamont Van Hook and Jason Eskridge, the four-piece horn section of Lesli, Rose, trumpeter Steve Hermann and saxophonist Mace Hibbard and stalwart cellist John Hagen, with whom Lovett began playing in 1979. Lovett enthused about his old friend’s history before telling him, “Let’s play one we’ve played many times.” That was “If I Had a Boat” from Lovett’s second album Pontiac, a Lovett standard and a crowd favorite. There was only one way to follow that and end the evening, and that was with “That’s Right (You’re Not From Texas),” Lovett’s lively and beloved homage to his home state. The audience went justifiably wild as the Large Band played their leader off with a burst of “Here I Am.” It was a great show and a proper homecoming, and we can’t wait for you to see it when it airs this fall on your local PBS station. 

Photo by Scott Newton.
Photo by Scott Newton.
Photo by Scott Newton.
Photo by Scott Newton.
Photo by Scott Newton.
Photo by Scott Newton.
Photo by Scott Newton.
Photo by Scott Newton.
Photo by Scott Newton.

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Featured News Taping Recap

Taping recap: Lucius

Lucius on Austin City Limits, July 2022. Photo by Scott Newton.

Lucius leaders Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig graced the ACL stage once before, singing backup for Wilco leader Jeff Tweedy’s family band Tweedy in Season 40. We knew then they would bring their own band to the show, and thus were thrilled to witness it actually happening. The band brought its unique blend of pop, electronica, disco and singer/songwriter folk to us having played a series of shows with our recent guest Brandi Carlile, and the seasoning showed with a sparkling set full of songs from across their decade-plus career. 

Sporting their trademark identical hairstyles, Wolfe and Laessig descended in tandem from the drum riser to lead the band into the funky, hip-swinging “Second Nature,” the title track of their latest album, with synchronized stage moves to match their entwined harmonies. The pair picked up blinged-out keytars for the equally discofied, fuzz guitar-frosted single “Next to Normal,” to enthusiastic applause. Wolfe and Laessig then moved back in time to their 2013 debut LP Wildewoman for the groovy, dramatic “Tempest,” beating floor toms (and encouraging the crowd to clap along) and sharing the vocals with bassist Solomon Dorsey and guitarist Alex Pfender. The band returned to Second Nature for the soaring pop anthem “Promises” and the heartfelt, powerfully-sung ballad “The Man I’ll Never Find,” which made use of the sparkling pony mic that allowed Laessig and Wolfe to sing face to face. Lucius shifted to waltz time for the gorgeous “Dusty Trails,” a shimmering showcase for the band’s distinctive vocal blend. At one point the band dropped out and the frontwoman backed away from the mic for a minute of unamplified, a cappella glory, which the audience loved. 

Lucius then stepped away from their original material for their lush cover of Gerry Rafferty’s “Right Down the Line,” recorded for their “unplugged” record Nudes – interestingly, the second time the song has been sung on our stage, following its appearance in Bonnie Raitt’s Season 38 set. The pony mic went away and the set leapt back to Wildewoman for the guitar-powered audience singalong, “How Loud Your Heart Gets.” Back came Second Nature and the keytars for the synth-heavy “Heartbursts,” which found Pfender and Dorsey joining Wolfe and Laessig at the front of the stage. The heart-wrenching “White Lies” followed, a yearning ballad perfect for waving lighters in the dark. In an unusual move, Lucius ended the main set with “Supernatural Girl,” an unreleased but glorious anthem that saw the band exit the stage and join the thrilled audience in a hail of soaring “ahhhhs” and synthesized and strummed feedback. 

“Are we feeling nice and floaty and spacy now?” Wolfe asked, revealing that they hadn’t been part of the crowd since their first record and noting the continuing importance of Austin City Limits to live music, to exuberant applause. The dynamic duo launched into fan-favorite “Two of Us On the Run,” a tribute to their friendship and collaboration. The pair strutted back onstage as the band immediately kicked into the rocking grooves of “Turn It Around,” a song from the group’s 2012 self-titled debut EP. The song ended but the beat continued, Wolfe and Laessig singing the high harmony that signaled the 1970s Donna Summer electro-disco classic “I Feel Love,” to the absolute delight of the audience. The familiar pulse served as soundtrack for the introduction of the band, before returning to the song, climaxing with Laessig and Wolfe taking a tandem bow. The crowd went wild, as well they should have. It was an excellent show, and we can’t wait for you to see it when it airs this fall as part of our Season 48 on your local PBS station.   

Lucius tapes Austin City Limits, July 18, 2022. Photos by Scott Newton.

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Taping recap: Brandi Carlile

Brandi Carlile on Austin City Limits, July 2022. Photo by Scott Newton.

There are few artists in music in the twenty-first century more respected and beloved than Brandi Carlile, and we’re always glad to have her back on Austin City Limits. Having gone from strength to strength and triumph to triumph since she first played our show back in 2010, the award-winning singer, songwriter, producer and activist made her third appearance with a stunning show centered around her much-admired seventh LP In These Silent Days. 

The set began with a “Twintro,” as Carlile’s longtime musical, harmony and songwriting partners Tim and Phil Hanseroth came onstage from opposite sides for some six-string crosstalk. The rest of the band came up to fill up the sound, then Carlile herself arrived, picked up her guitar, and launched the hard rocking “Broken Horses.” The band followed up with the twins manned stompboards as well as their axes for the breathless folk rock of “The Thing I Regret,” a Firewatcher’s Daughter tune and a showcase for their harmony blend with their bandleader. Singers/string players Monique and Chaunte Ross (last seen on our stage in May with Allison Russell) and Kyleen King came onstage for the homespun family devotional of “You and Me On the Rock,” leading Carlile to exclaim, “All these joyful noises!” Joined by cellist Sara Nelson for the full four-piece string section, Carlile took to the piano with the twins around her for lush three-part harmonies on the beautiful love song  “This Time Tomorrow.” Carlile picked her acoustic back up for “The Mother,” a sweet and witty fan favorite from her prior LP By the Way, I Forgive You, enhanced by the string quartet. The tributes to motherly devotion continued with “Mama Werewolf,” a frisky country rocker that “told the truth about what kind of mother I really am.” 

“I think we should get trippy,” Carlisle noted as she brought singer/songwriter/guitarist Celisse to the stage (thereby explaining the pink sparkly guitar rig with “Celisse loves you” written on it) for a gorgeous, psychedelic take on the David Bowie classic “Space Oddity,” with harmony guitars from Celisse and Tim Hanseroth and a sleek segue into a powerhouse version of Radiohead’s “Creep,” capped off by the guest’s crowd-approved guitar solo. The only way to follow that one-two punch was a complete change of pace, thus the acoustic-wielding Carlile and the twins gathered around an old-fashioned microphone for “Cannonball,” a harmony-driven folk delight from her breakthrough The Story. The singer then went back up to the piano for “Right On Time,” her hit from In These Silent Days, replaced by pianist Shooter Jennings as she came back to her guitar to send the song into spectacular flight. The band kept the lighter-waving vibe alive with “Sinners Saints and Fools,” another powerful, defiant anthem from Days that the musicians – especially the strings, percussionist Jeff Haynes and guitarist Tim Hanseroth – sent into orbit. There was only one way to end the set after that: with musician intros and “The Joke,” the incredible song of love and empowerment that’s become Carlile’s signature tune, and one earning her rapturous applause. 

There was no way anyone was ready to let her go after that, however. The band kicked off the encore with Celisse on a bluesy version of Joni Mitchell’s classic “Woodstock,” to loud applause. Afterward, the string section came forward and gathered around the old-fashioned mic and the band ripped through Carlile’s Woody Guthrie-esque folk rocker “Hold Out Your Hand,” a great opportunity for audience sing- and clapalongs. Accompanied only by strings, piano, Hanseroth harmonies and her own acoustic guitar, Carlile ended the show with the benediction “Stay Gentle,” seguing smoothly into a solo version of the classic standard “Over the Rainbow.” Blessings thus bestowed, Carlile beckoned the band back onstage for a final bow to passionate applause. It’s clearly the foundation of a classic episode, and we can’t wait for you to see this season highlight when it airs this fall as part of our Season 48 on your local PBS station. 

Brandi Carlile, the Hanseroth twins and band tape Austin City Limits for the third time, July 13, 2022. Photos by Scott Newton.