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Ticket Giveaway: Emeli Sande 7/7

* giveaway is now over.

Austin City Limits will be taping a performance by Emeli Sande on Sunday, July 7th, 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 Wednesday, July 3rd.

Passes are not transferable and cannot be sold. Standing may be required.

No photography, recording or cell phone use in the studio.

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Encore Broadcast Featured News

Encore: Raphael Saadiq and Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears

WARNING: This Saturday’s encore episode may induce the following behavior: dancing/booty shaking, laughter, uncontrollable smiling, clapping, soulful singing, and bass throwing (if you have one nearby).

What are we talking about? This week’s episode featuring multi-instrumentalist and R&B veteran Raphael Saadiq and Austin’s own Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, of course.

Referring to journalists as “lazy” when they try to fit his musical style under genre specific labels (such as neo-soul), it’s clear from this performance and his albums that Raphael Saadiq draws inspiration from a wide array of artists. Featuring special guest Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Saadiq covers hits from his 2011 album Stone Rollin’. Watch when Saadiq performs the title track, a song he initially wrote when he was 11 about a “full-figured, bluesy woman,” as his background vocalists show as much energy as Saadiq himself.

Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears have been such an Austin favorite and “must-see” over the years that it wasn’t a shock when the group starting gaining national attention. In this performance you see the group at its finest, performing a mix of songs from its 2009 debut Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is! and their 2011 release Scandalous. This performance is brimming with energy, soul and flying instruments, and hits its peak at the end, when the group is joined by Dallas gospel group the Relatives for the fervid hit and crowd favorite “You Been Lyin’.”

photo by Scott Newton

Check your local listings for showtimes to see this episode and be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter, or hook up with our newsletter to keep up with updates on tapings and airings! Oh, and please watch out for the bass. Austin City Limits does not condone anyone throwing instruments in the living room, but if you do, let us know because that would be an awesome story worth sharing.

Next week: the Decemberists and Gillian Welch.

 

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Featured News Taping Announcement

New tapings: Jason Isbell and The Black Angels

We’re thrilled to announce a new pair of tapings for Austin City Limits: Jason Isbell on August 19 and the Black Angels on August 28.

Called “one of the greatest young songwriters we’ve got” by Blurt, Alabama native Jason Isbell first came to music fans’ notice in 2001 as a member of the Drive-By Truckers, acting as a major songwriting force  on their acclaimed albums Decoration Day, The Dirty South and A Blessing and a Curse. He departed the Truckers and released his first solo album Sirens in the Ditch in 2007. Forming his own roots-rocking backing band the 400 Unit, Isbell garnered more huzzahs and fans with his next pair of LPs, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit and Here We Rest. His new record Southeastern is his most personal and fulsomely praised yet. “Southeastern is pretty serious business,” notes The A.V. Club. “Then again, so is life and the one that Isbell has lived thus far is certainly worth documenting, especially when the songs supporting it are this stunning.”

photo by Courtney Chavanell

Named in tribute to the Velvet Underground number “The Black Angel’s Death Song,” Austin’s Black Angels found themselves the spearhead of a new psychedelic revival soon after its formation in 2004. The band’s carefully crafted blend of melody and noise won over fans of both modern indie rock and old-school acid rock, and its LPs Passover and Directions to See a Ghost on the hip Light in the Attic label established it as a major force in underground rock & roll. 2008 found the band not only backing its spiritual godhead Roky Erickson for a pair of gigs, but also starting its own festival, the still-running Austin Psych Fest. Signing to the revived legendary label Blue Horizon, the Black Angels signaled a poppier direction with Phosphene Dream and its latest Indigo Meadow. NPR recently said of the band, “The music slunk through the crowd like an iridescent snake wrapping itself around each and every fan in the crowd, rattling its tail and hissing a slew of bittersweet, psychedelic nothings in the process.”

We’re excited to bring these artists to the ACL audience. Ticket details will be forthcoming – watch this space.

 

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News Taping Recap

Jesse & Joy’s crowd-pleasing anthems

Mexico City duo Jesse & Joy is only now starting to break in the U.S., but for their debut ACL taping the sibling singer/songwriters performed their healthy catalog of international hits for a studio audience that knew them well.

After cheekily introing themselves with a recording of Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries,” the pair and their band launched into the reggae-influenced pop of “Aqui Voy,” horns and harmonies flying. “Espacio Sideral” followed, a straightforward pop rocker that was the first, but definitely not the last, tune to have the audience sing part of the chorus unaccompanied. That song set the tone for the rest of the show, as Jesse & Joy rolled out a series of crowd-pleasing anthems and upbeat pop songs. “Me Voy,” “¿Con Quien Se Queda El Perro?” and “Esto Es Lo Que Soy” (complete with Jesse’s Big Rock Jump at the end) ratcheted the excitement up into the red, while the ballads “Me Quiero Enamorar” (“This next song is for anyone who’s in love, or wants to be,” remarked Jesse) and especially “La De La Mala Suerte” effortlessly swelled hearts.

Jesse & Joy left the stage after the rousing single “Llorar,” a duet between the two siblings. That wasn’t the end, however. The demands of the crowd for more brought the band back for three final anthems: “Chocolate,” “Ya No Quiero” and, fueled by call-and-response between Joy and the audience, the huge hit “¡Corre!” After tossing out a stuffed dog wearing an autographed T-shirt to a lucky patron and having their picture taken in front of the crowd, Jesse & Joy and band exited for the final time to the strains of the theme from Raiders of the Lost Ark. If that seems self-aggrandizing, given the excitement level of their fans following this show, we’d say they earned it.

Jesse & Joy may not be as well-known in the States as they are in the rest of the world, but we guarantee that will change when this episode airs in the fall – don’t miss it!

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News Taping Recap

Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell: power of the song

“It’s great to be back at the world’s greatest and longest-running music show,” enthused Emmylou Harris tonight during her latest ACL taping. To say that she and Rodney Crowell aren’t strangers to our stage seems inadequate. Both Texas native Crowell and his current partner and former employer Harris have been on seven times apiece. The pair even shared an episode in 1983, though they didn’t share the stage. Tonight, however, these two old friends celebrated their shared history, their new collaborative album Old Yellow Moon and the continuing power of the song.

The pair opened with “Return of the Grievous Angel,” from Emmylou’s time with her mentor Gram Parsons. The GP connection continued with “Wheels,” a Flying Burrito Brothers-era Parsons tune Emmylou recorded on Elite Hotel, her first major label album and the beginning of her reign over the country music charts. That began the roll of hits, as the pair essayed “Pancho & Lefty,” ‘Til I Gain Control Again,” “I’ll Be Your San Antone Rose” (dedicated to its author, the late Susannah Clark) and “Luxury Liner,” another GP tune set aflame by lead guitarist Jedd Hughes’ turbo-powered chicken-pickin’. The duo fast-forwarded to a more recent era for “Red Dirt Girl” (from Harris’ LP of the same name) and “Rock of My Soul” (from Crowell’s career revitalization The Houston Kid), their voices wrapped the songs in the kind of harmonies only two old friends can generate.

An Old Yellow Moon rose for the next segment of the show, as the pair drew heavily from that LP. The pleasure these two old pals obviously took from singing some of their favorite songs – from Roger Miller’s honky-tonkin’ “Invitation to the Blues” and Matraca Berg’s melancholy “Back When We Were Beautiful” to Allen Reynolds’ elegant “Dreaming My Dreams” and Kris Kristofferson’s cautionary but rocking “Chase the Feeling” – was palpable. Then it was back to the hits, as the pair broke out Emmylou’s lovely take on Townes Van Zandt’s “If I Needed You,” blazed through Crowell’s “Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight” (recorded by both of them at different points) and ended with the peaceful waltz of “Old Yellow Moon.”

Of course, the show wasn’t over. The duo and band returned, Harris and special guest Shawn Colvin dancing their way through Crowell’s “Stars On the Water.” The musicians rocked a blazing “I Ain’t Livin’ Long Like This,” a song not on the original setlist but an addition that drove the crowd wild. After a visit from Harris’ rescue dogs (brought onstage in tribute to Austin’s status as a no-kill city), the pair ended with “Tulsa Queen,” a co-write from Harris’ classic LP Luxury Liner that was a most appropriate way to end this tandem performance.

It was a magnificent show that reminded us that veterans get to that point for good reason. We’re eager for everybody to see it when it broadcasts on PBS in the fall – stay tuned.

Categories
Encore Broadcast Featured News

Encore: Spoon

Austin City Limits is always proud to welcome hometown heroes to our stage, as we do this Saturday with an encore performance by Spoon. It’s difficult to put that label on the band – though Britt Daniel and company have been mainstays of the Austin indie rock scene since the mid-90s, Spoon’s subsequent success on a national scale means the band belongs to everyone now, not just Central Texans.

This show from Season 36 is Spoon’s third appearance on ACL, and likely won’t be their last. The indie rockers invited some friends onstage for their first full hour, including the Honeybears’ horn section and longtime local axe-slingers Charlie Sexton and Craig Ross. The band was supporting its acclaimed LP Transference, gracing the crowd with new Spoon standards like “Trouble Come Running,” “Written in Reverse” and “Got Nuffin,” but also dipped into its vast catalog for fan faves “You Got Your Cherry Bomb,” “Nobody Gets Me But You” and “Don’t Make Me a Target.”

Check out the episode page for more info, and be sure to visit the Facebook, Twitter and e-newsletter sign-up pages to bring more ACL into your life. Next week: R&B magnificence with Raphael Saadiq and Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears.