Austin City Limits

Thanksgiving approaches, Halloween recedes into the background and Season 37 of Austin City Limits keep on truckin’ right along. Tune in this weekend on Saturday, November 5 to kick back and enjoy a pair of modern-day country rockers with stories to tell: Miranda Lambert and Jeff Bridges.

Miranda Lambert has been kicking tuchis and taking names for the past few years now, scooping up awards and racking up hit singles like crazy. Before fame beckoned, though, she appeared on Austin City Limits back in Season 31, when her major label debut was new and she was still known for her stint on the reality competition Nashville Star. (She appeared on the first season and came in third.) She’s definitely blasted past the old days, though, as you’ll see when she rocks the stage with the fiery “Kerosene,” the funky “Baggage Claim” and the fierce “Gunpowder and Lead.”

As a special treat, Lambert’s also brought along her self-described “girl band” Pistol Annies.  This trio, with her buds Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley, is “Hell On Heels,” to quote the song they perform on the show.

Lambert shares this episode with multi-talented actor/singer Jeff Bridges, who we all know from too many great movies to count – True Grit, Crazy Heart, The Big Lebowski, The Last Picture Show, Iron Man, Tron, etc, etc. You may not have known Bridges also leads a band in addition to acting. He’s pretty darn good at it too, starting at a young age and hooking up with super-producer T Bone Burnett and late Austin singer/songwriter Stephen Bruton in 1980 on the set of the notorious film Heaven’s Gate.

Bridges released the indie record Be Here Soon in 2000, but this year’s self-titled opus (produced by Burnett and featuring songs from Bruton) serves as his musical coming out party. Listen to him channel both Bad Blake and the Dude on “Fallin’ and Flyin’,” “The Quest” and “What a Little Bit of Love Can Do” and you’ll hear that this is no busman’s holiday – Jeff Bridges makes serious music.

As usual, you should head over to the episode page for more info, photos and clips. Be sure to chat it up with us on Facebook and Twitter during the episode, and check out our Tumblr and newsletter too, just because they’re awesome.

Check back with us next week for the skinny on the next all-new episode of ACL featuring the one and only Randy Newman.

All Hallow’s Eve is upon us, and as we get ready to put on our costumes, touch up our makeup and beg strangers for candy, we’ve got some news to pass on about the latest brand new episode of Austin City Limits.

We love to present new music and show off current artists hitting their prime. But we’re happy to honor the veterans and the lifers – the folks whose work has stood the test of time. In that light, we welcome Steve Miller Band and Preservation Hall Jazz Band to the ACL stage this Saturday, Oct. 29.

Steve Miller Band don’t need an introduction, do they? Lauded rock guitarist Steve Miller and his various partners-in-crime have been knocking around since the late 60s, leaving a string of indelible hits in their wake. Remember “Abracadabra?” “Fly Like An Eagle?” “Space Cowboy?” Of course you do, and you’ll hear them all on Saturday in front of an enthusiastic crowd that fills ACL Live at The Moody Theater to the gills.

Speaking of The Moody, we’d like to point out that the SMB show was the first-ever ACL taping in our new home. Thanks to the fantastic audience for coming out and making our maiden Moody voyage so memorable! Feel free, home viewers, to join the on-screen audience in singing along, which you’ll be doing it under your breath anyway, right?

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band has been around even longer than Miller – the group’s genesis coincides with the founding of the Hall itself back in 1961, and the style of New Orleans jazz the band plays goes back even further than that. History lives on in PHJB’s performances.

But don’t think that just because this group gets traditional means that they’re preserved in amber. Joining the band onstage this evening are Yim Yames from My Morning Jacket, James Petralli from White Denim and the ever-elegant Del McCoury Band to add their inimitable contemporary mojo. Once you hear “St. James Infirmary” sung by a high-voiced indie rock frontdude, you’ll realize it’s what you’ve always wanted.

Tune in this Saturday for your classic rock ‘n’ jazz fix – as always, check your local PBS listings for the broadcast time in your area. Toggle over to the episode page for biographical info, clips and photos.

Don’t forget to click over to our Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr pages for more Austin City Limits-flavored candy, or sign up for our newsletter. You don’t even have to say “trick or treat” to get it.

Here at ACL HQ we’re basking in a benevolent cold front. Fall weather prompts giddy excitement as the cool wind sweetly sings the words, “new episodes” in our ears.

It’s with great pride that we welcome every featured artist to our hallowed halls, be they up-and-comers or grizzled veterans. This weekend’s new, primo episode of Austin City Limits fits in the latter category. Please tune in this Saturday to join us in welcoming back ACL veterans The Decemberists and Gillian Welch.

Portland’s finest take our stage for the second time, having last visited in Season 33 supporting The Crane Wife. Now they’re back with a terrific set highlighting their most excellent LP The King is Dead. Highlights include a rousing “Calamity Song,” a lovely “Rise to Me” and a cheeky “The Rake’s Song” (the sole non-King track, for those keeping score). And just to add to the folk rock goodness, the Decemberists perform a countrified “All Arise!” and the ridiculously catchy “Down By the Water” with Welch and her partner David Rawlings singing and stringing along.

Speaking of Welch and Rawlings, they make their third appearance on ACL in the second half of this episode. Brandishing the brilliant new record The Harrow & the Harvest, the duo take us back to a timeless place where superior songcraft and hushed emotion rule. Whether it’s the elegiac “Look at Miss Ohio,” the lively “Six White Horses” or the defiantly beautiful “Hard Times” (song of the year, we’re tellin’ ya), the performance presents an artist hitting her stride and still moving forward. The pair’s uplifting take on the bluegrass standard “I’ll Fly Away” brings it all back home.

Make sure to tune in Saturday to catch this instant classic. In the meantime head on over to the episode page for a gaggle of clips, photos, additional information and for your local PBS listings.

While you’re at it, hit us up on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr or sign up for our newsletter for the latest happenings in the wonderful world of ACL. That’s where we’ll be posting about next week’s episode: some classic rock and old-school jazz with the Steve Miller Band and Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

Get outside; go on a walk and tune in this weekend!