Ryan Adams is no stranger to ACL, having appeared on the show in various phases of his career as far back as the late ‘90s and as recently as 2006. The multiple-Grammy-nominated singer / songwriter from Jacksonville, NC has released such critically acclaimed and commercially successful LPs as Heartbreaker (2000), Gold (2001), Love Is Hell (2004), Cold Roses (2005), Easy Tiger (2007), Ashes & Fire (2011) and his self-produced, self-titled 14th album, recently released on his own Pax Am label in cooperation with Blue Note. Adams returns to ACL in support of that eponymous disc, which has been generating arguably the best critical notices of his prolific career. Featuring the singles “Gimme Something Good” and “My Wrecking Ball,” Ryan Adams has moved Entertainment Weekly to hail its namesake as “one of the truly great roots-rock troubadours left.” On Oct. 22, the ACL TV audience will see why.
Austin City Limits will be taping a performance by Future Islands on Thursday, Sept. 25th, at 8 pm at ACL Live at The Moody Theater (310 W. 2nd Street, Willie Nelson Blvd). We will be giving away a limited number of space available passes to this taping. Enter your name and email address on the below form by 9 am on September 22nd. Winners will be chosen at random and a photo ID will be required to pickup tickets. Winners will be notified by email. Passes are not transferable and cannot be sold. Standing may be required.
No photography, recording or cell phone use in the studio.
Austin City Limits is pleased to announce that we will be streaming our taping with Eric Church live on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 8pm CT/9pm ET. The taping will webcast in its entirety via our YouTube channel.
North Carolina native Church got his start playing Jimmy Buffett covers in hometown bars, but quickly transitioned to original material. After graduating from college with a marketing degree, Church moved to Nashville, recording demos and placing songs with other singers before releasing his debut Sinners Like Me in 2006. His second release Carolina included “Love to Love You the Most” and “Hell On the Heart,” his first top 10 country hits. That set the stage for the platinum-selling Chief, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart and boasted the massive hits “Drink in My Hand” and “Springsteen,” his first single to cross over to the pop chart. This year’s follow-up The Outsiders also debuted at No. 1, throwing “Give Me Back My Hometown” and the title track up the charts. Church’s distinctively hard-rocking brand of country, influenced as much by AC/DC and Metallica as Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings, has earned him a huge audience outside the confines of country radio, prompting him to tell CMT, “I think genres are dead. There’s good music. There’s bad music.” Eric Church does not play bad music, as you’ll find out at his debut ACL taping on 9/23.
The broadcast version of this show will air this fall on PBS as part of ACL’s 40th anniversary season. Join us for this live webcast of the Austin City Limits debut of Eric Church.
The Austin band Spoon is certainly no unknown quantity for Austin City Limits – the modern rock act has been on the show three times, in 2003, 2005 and 2010. Read more
The wide (wild?) world of indie rock has so many disparate roads to travel it’s dizzying. But the best indie rock artists, like the best musicians in any genre, have one thing in common: good songs. And on this weekend’s encore you can see two of the best song-centric indie rock bands on Austin City Limits: The Head and the Heart and Gomez.
Seattle sextet The Head and the Heart exploded out of the Pacific Northwest with an eponymous debut that sold 10,000 copies as a self-released disk before being picked up by indie label giant Sub Pop. The group’s upbeat, harmony-rich folk pop has garnered a large, deeply dedicated fan base in a surprisingly short amount of time. Come hear why as the band plays fan favorites “Down in the Valley” and “Lost in My Mind,” among others.
U.K. quintet Gomez have fifteen years of experience behind them and show no signs of slowing down. The band’s eclectic mix of roots rock, pop, psychedelia, electronica and whatever else crosses the members’ radar has gained them a loyal worldwide audience of discerning music fans. Gomez’ seventh LP Whatever’s On Your Mind received the near-universal acclaim all their records earn, and the band shows why with performances of “I Will Take You There” and “Just As Lost As You,” as well as old favorites “Get Miles” and “In Our Gun.”
This weekend, music legends Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell return to Austin City Limits and share the stage to celebrate their shared history, their collaborative album Old Yellow Moon and the continuing power of the song.
Friends for forty years, Harris and Crowell have an entwined four-decade history of music-making. ACL veterans, both artists have each appeared on the program seven times, although this episode marks the first time the pair have performed together on the ACL stage. The Americana icons perform favorites and songs from their acclaimed duets album Old Yellow Moon. The collaboration was chosen as album of the year at this year’s Americana Music Awards and the pair was honored as duo of the year. American Songwriter says of the album, “On Old Yellow Moon, Harris and Crowell embrace the entire range of life and music they’ve experienced, from the reckless passions of youth to the reflectiveness of age, from loose-limbed hillbilly boogies to graceful balladry.”
“It’s great to be back at the world’s greatest and longest-running music show,” says Harris as she takes the ACL stage with Crowell. The breathtaking performance includes the two longtime kindred spirits joining their voices on Crowell originals as well as revivals of songs by Roger Miller, Matraca Berg and Kris Kristofferson. Harris opens with some of her earlier Gram Parsons-era hits, and the duo fast-forwards to a more recent era for Harris’ “Red Dirt Girl” and Crowell’s “Rock of My Soul,” their voices wrapping the songs in the kind of harmonies only old friends can generate. Special guest Shawn Colvin joins in the finale for a spirited take on Crowell’s “Stars On the Water.” The episode celebrates a longtime friendship and collaboration, and the pleasure the two music legends take from singing some of their favorite songs is palpable.
photo by Scott Newton
“Emmylou and Rodney are an important part of the history of ACL – going all the way back practically to the beginning,” says executive producer Terry Lickona. “But it goes deeper than that – they reflect the heart and soul of what ACL is all about. And the two of them together is a perfect example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts!”
