Austin City Limits

Leon Bridges has taken the music world by storm with a soul sound rooted in 50s and 60s R&B – a Sam Cooke-derived aesthetic that’s so old-fashioned it sounds new all over again on his debut album Coming Home. So we were pleased to welcome the young Fort Worth native to Austin City Limits for his debut taping.

Bridges and his band, which includes our White Denim pals Austin Jenkins and Joshua Block, gently kicked things off with “River,” a quiet, meditative hymn of desire. Bridges broke that spell immediately afterward, putting down his guitar to shimmy through the jumping “Flowers,” a throwback to an earlier era of soul music. “Brown Skin Girl” and “Let You Down” (an as-yet-unreleased song) continued the vibe, conjuring the specter of Cooke without enslaving it. One of his best-known tunes, “Better Man” moved forward to the Stax era, hitting a mid-60s groove. Bridges slowed back down for “In My Arms,” a classic R&B slow dancer that would have had all couples in the room in a clinch if we’d had a dance floor. Speaking of dancing, “Out of Line” grabbed hips for a classic twist, before “Daisy Mae” dialed back for a 50s-style, missing only doo-wops. “Smooth Sailin’” evoked the early Motown era, with its basic hooks and irresistible groove.

Bridges ventured back to ballad territory for the quietly passionate “Lisa Sawyer,” the young singer’s tribute to his mother. After asking audience members to tell their neighbors “I love you,” he sang a perfect version of his hit “Coming Home,” inviting the thrilled crowd to sing along with him. Then Bridges took us to church with the slow burning “Shine,” much to the audience’s delight. After introducing his band, Bridges went back to the dance floor, first for the lovers’ waltz “Pull Away” and then for the set-closing New Orleans R&B of “Twisting and Groovin’.”

One quick offstage break later, Bridges and the band returned for “Pussy Footin’,” another hip-swinging old school soul tune that would make a dead man dance. Bridges finished the performance with “Mississippi Kisses,” a slinky seduction song on which he engaged everybody in the crowd to dance along with him, going onto the floor to make sure it happened. That earned Bridges and band a standing ovation, and with good reason: few soul singers can evoke such old-fashioned musical values and still sound contemporary. It was a great show, and we can’t wait for you to see it when it airs next spring on your local PBS station.    

We’re always happy to give space to up-and-coming artists, so we were thrilled to host the ACL debut of Vintage Trouble. The L.A. quartet has honed its fiery live show on tours with the Who and AC/DC, and the band brought the full measure of its live prowess to its high-energy rock/soul, winning over not only our studio crowd, but also the online contingent of Troublemakers from all over the world who watched their heroes via our livestream.

Following handshakes all around, the socially-conscious ballad “Not Alright By,” from the debut The Bomb Shelter Sessions, gently began the show. Then VT went straight into the blazing “Blues Hand Me Down,” impeccably dressed singer Ty Taylor engaging in his trademark spin before commanding the microphone and exhorting the crowd to dance and scream. The band shifted to the 70s-soul styled “Doin’ What You Were Doin’,” losing no momentum and engaging the audience to help sing one of the highlights from their latest album 1 Hopeful Rd. The come-on “Total Strangers” jumped into James Brown territory, aided by an infectious “na-na” chorus, a rocking guitar riff courtesy axeslinger Nalle Colt and plenty of audience participation. The fans also sang part of “Another Man’s Words,” a beautiful ballad also from the new record. The band then dipped back into its past with “Nancy Lee,” Bomb’s bluesy tale of Taylor’s father meeting his mother. The blues was also at the heart of “Angel City, California,” as filtered through the classic rock & roll stylings of forebears like the Faces and featuring one of Taylor’s most skillful performances.

Everything up to then, however, was just a warm-up for “Run Like the River.” Rolling all of VT’s soul, rock, blues and gospel influences into one monster anthem, the band revved up both themselves and the crowd, who got a visit from Taylor on both the floor and the balcony. After that extended expression of joy, for which VT was rewarded with a roar, Taylor and company mellowed the mood with the easygoing “Nobody Told Me” – at least until the end, when gospel call-and-response came to the fore and Taylor moved himself to tears. The band then indulged in some juke joint blues, deliberately invoking the 50s for the hip-shaking, frontman-spinning “Before the Tear Drops.”

Taylor took time out to thank both the ACL staff and the crowd, demanding big cheers for both. Then it was into another steaming slice of James Brown-style R&B with the shimmying “Strike Your Light,” which, of course, required some serious audience participation (and another visit from Taylor). After that, the band could do little else but bring us back down to earth via the soul ballad “Run Outta You,” Taylor letting his passion spill and Colt punctuating it with an elegiac extended solo, after which he tossed his axe away as if it was pointless to continue and left through the audience. The rest of the band kept going, Taylor coaxing yet more call-and-response from the crowd, before first bassist Rick Barrio Dill and then Taylor wormed through the people, leaving drummer Richard Danielson to finish the song alone. And that was the end, even though by the sound of the audience’s cheers they didn’t want Vintage Trouble to go. It was an amazing show, and we can’t wait for you to see it when it broadcasts next spring as part of our Season 41 on your local PBS station.

Alabama Shakes wowed us three years ago when they taped Austin City Limits in support of their debut Boys & Girls. Now, with the band taking over the world with their follow-up Sound & Color, we were pleased to welcome them back to our stage for a triumphant second taping, and on singer Brittany Howard’s birthday, no less.

The band clearly takes a lot of pride in their new record, as they played every song from it. The quartet, augmented by two keyboardists and three backup singers, kicked off the night with the slinky “Future People,” a three-cowbell song for the singers. The combo followed with the wailing “Dunes,” featuring a clanging Howard guitar solo as well as her distinctively soulful vocals. “Shoegaze” moved the band out of the retro soul bag in which it’s often placed into somewhere more rocking. The Shakes then revisited their debut Boys & Girls for the fan favorite soul ballad “Heartbreaker,” before going back to a streak from Sound & Color. The Hi Records-styled “Guess Who,” the church-powered “Joe”  and the powerful “Miss You” brought the mood to a boil, letting the rocking “The Greatest” blow off the steam. The set hit a peak with “Gimme All Your Love,” the band’s destined-to-be classic anthem that appeared in our 40th anniversary special before it was released. The audience rewarded the Shakes by serenading the birthday girl with a spontaneous “Happy Birthday.”

The new “This Feeling” turned the heat back down to simmer before giving way once again to the past for B&G’s gospel-flavored “On Your Way.” Sound &Color gave us another trilogy of future classics: the atmospheric ballad “Gemini,” the gently groovy title track and the 70s funky strut “Don’t Wanna Fight.” The band then visited its contribution to the hit film The Silver Linings Playbook for the rocking dance tune “Always Alright,” a clear audience favorite. The Shakes’ hit lighter-waver “You Ain’t Alone” followed, much to the crowd’s delight. Howard then thanked the crowd for its support before the band ended with S&C’s sparse, soulful “Over My Head.” It was a great set that proved how much Alabama Shakes deserves every bit of acclaim and success they’ve earned, and we can’t wait for you to see it when it airs early next year on your local PBS station.