Austin City Limits will be taping a performance by H.E.R. on Monday, July 8 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 noon on Wednesday, July 3rd.
Winners will be chosen at random and a photo ID will be required to pick up 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. No cameras computers or recording devices allowed in venue.
Austin City Limits is thrilled to announce that we will be live streaming a highlight of our milestone Season 45, a rare double-bill taping with Texas-rooted artists Patty Griffin and Steve Earle & The Dukes on July 2, starting at 8 pm CT on our YouTube channel.
On her sixth appearance on our stage, Patty Griffin is among the most consequential singer-songwriters of her generation, a quintessentially American artist whose wide-ranging canon incisively explores the intimate moments and universal emotions that bind us together. The Grammy®-winning Austinite’s recent, self-titled LP (her tenth studio album), represents an extraordinary new chapter for this incomparable artist and stands among the most deeply personal recordings of her storied two-decade career. The album – which follows 2015’s Grammy® Award-nominated Servant of Love – collects songs written during and in the aftermath of several years in which she battled – and ultimately defeated – cancer. Yet as always, like very few others, Griffin’s power lies in how, as music critic Holly Gleason observed, “her songs seem to freeze life and truth in amber.” It’s in how Griffin can express the strikingly intimate while never making it about herself, all wrapped in sparse arrangements that breathe an incomparable force and import into her songcraft. NPR raves, “One quality that’s distinguished Griffin’s body of work throughout her nearly quarter-century career is her gift for imagining the untamed forces of people’s inner lives.”
For his fifth appearance on ACL, the legendary Steve Earle presents Guy, his acclaimed tribute to his songwriting mentor and ACL Hall of Fame legend Guy Clark. Earle first met Clark after hitchhiking from San Antonio to Nashville when he was 19, becoming the older songwriter’s bass player and maintaining a lifelong friendship after striking out on his own. “No way I could get out of doing this record,” says Earle. “When I get to the other side, I didn’t want to run into Guy having made the TOWNES record and not one about him.” “Guy wasn’t really a hard record to make,” Earle says. “When you’ve got a catalog like Guy’s and you’re only doing sixteen tracks, you know each one is going to be strong.” Earle and his five-piece band The Dukes take on Clark classics including “Desperados Waiting For a Train,” “LA Freeway,” “New Cut Road” and “Heartbroke” with a spirit of reverent glee and invention. Earle’s raw, heartbreaking vocal on the sweet, sad “That Old Time Feeling” sounds close enough to the grave as to be a duet with his departed friend. Guy is a saga of friendship, its ups and downs, what endures. Like old friends, Guy is a diamond.
Join us on July 2 here for both full live sets of these iconic singer/songwriters. The broadcast episodes will air on PBS later this year as part of our upcoming Season 45.
Austin City Limits will be taping a performance by both Patty Griffin & Steve Earle on Tuesday, July 2 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 noon on Thursday, June 27.
Winners will be chosen at random and a photo ID will be required to pick up 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. No cameras computers or recording devices allowed in venue.
After ten years of writing and producing music, Maggie Rogers’ career has culminated in her bestselling major label debut Heard It In a Past Life, boasting the hits “Light On” and “Burning.” ACL is always thrilled to welcome fast-rising young artists, so we were happy to host the young Easton, Maryland singer/songwriter for her debut taping.
The crowd greeted executive producer Terry Lickona’s announcement with big cheers as the band took the stage, before the star herself bounded onstage to kick off “Give a Little,” her high energy stage presence matching the song’s caffeinated bounce. Her voltage doubled for “Burning,” as she ranged all over the stage like she wanted to cover every centimeter before the song was done. “This is a song about a crush,” Rogers said by way of introduction to “Say It,” a tune that entered ballad territory to allow everyone to catch a collective breath. Though it stayed with a slower tempo, “On + Off” adopted a slinky R&B groove that built to near-anthemic spirit. After expressing how thrilled she and the band were to be there for ACL’s 45th anniversary, they launched into the shimmering “Dog Years,” which she described as “a song about friendship.” She showed off her funky side again with “The Knife,” an undulating tune that really got her moving. On “Retrograde,” Roger and band grabbed a winsome pop melody and didn’t let go until extracting every ounce of emotional strength.
By way of once again giving band and crowd a break, Rogers expressed her gratitude at being allowed “to do this thing that I love more than anything,” seguing from stating her thanks to singing it with the pop anthem “Light On.” Her audience responded with a loud outpouring of love. She kept the powerful feel going with “Past Life,” which would’ve no doubt gotten lighterwaving if we allowed them into the theater. The band dug back into groove for “Overnight,” another tune that got Rogers’ feet moving, with the energy continuing for the airy “Alaska.” Then the ensemble jumped back into anthem territory for the emotional “Back in My Body,” before ending the main set with the lovely, almost gospel-tinged “Falling Water,” giving the crowd a chance to clap along before cheering their lungs out.
Rogers returned to the stage alone, eschewing backing for the ghostly, a cappella “Color Song,” a highlight from her 2017 EP Now the Light is Fading. At one point she even abandoned the mic, her voice still carrying across the crowded theater. It was a wonderful way to end this high-energy show, and we can’t wait for you to see it when it airs on your local PBS station during ACL’s 45th season.
Austin City Limits will be taping a performance by Maggie Rogers on Friday, June 21 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 noon on Wednesday, June 19th.
Winners will be chosen at random and a photo ID will be required to pick up 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. No cameras computers or recording devices allowed in venue.
Austin City Limits announces an all-star slate of guest performers for the 2019 ACL Hall of Fame Inductions & Celebration on October 24, 2019. Music greats Jackson Browne, Shemekia Copeland, Jimmie Vaughan, Bruce Hornsby, Sarah Jarosz, Willis Alan Ramsey and blues phenom Christone “Kingfish” Ingram will take part in saluting the newest class of inductees: singer-songwriting legends Shawn Colvin and Lyle Lovett and blues giant Buddy Guy. Texas troubadour Robert Earl Keen takes the reins for the first time as host of the star-studded night filled with performances and collaborations from music’s finest as the three beacons of American music enter the ACL Hall of Fame. “The Austin City Limits Hall of Fame is my Academy Awards,” says Robert Earl Keen. “I don’t think there is a higher honor than to be asked to host the ACL Hall of Fame and as a bonus, I don’t have to wear a tux!” More information about additional guest stars and presenters will be announced prior to the event.
The event will be open to the public and tickets are on sale at acltv.com/hall-of-fame. Sponsor packages are available now at acltv.com/hall-of-fame. All proceeds benefit KLRU-TV, Austin PBS. The ceremony will be held at ACL’s studio home, ACL Live at The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. Musical highlights and inductions from the celebration will air on PBS as a special Austin City Limits New Year’s broadcast.
The sixth class of inductees features a diverse group of music legends and collaborators with longtime ties to Austin City Limits: Lyle Lovett has shared a musical kinship with the series, notably appearing on ACL more than any artist with the exception of Willie Nelson. Living legend Buddy Guy has made three classic headlining appearances on ACL, starting in Season 16 in 1991 and returning this year in Season 44. Shawn Colvin debuted on ACL the same season as Buddy Guy in 1991, going on to make two additional standout headlining appearances as well as frequent guest spots.
Shemekia Copeland; photo by Mike White
“Lyle, Shawn and Buddy share not only a long history with ACL, but a musical kinship with each other,” said long-time executive producer Terry Lickona, “so I’m sure we can expect some one-of-a-kind musical collaborations. They are each uniquely talented, and together they represent the legacy that has helped ACL thrive for four and a half decades.”
Established in 2014, the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame honors the legacy of legendary artists and key individuals who have played a vital part in the pioneering music series remarkable 40+ years as a music institution. The inaugural induction ceremony in 2014 honored Willie Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, Lloyd Maines, program creator Bill Arhos and Darrell Royal. The second annual ACL Hall of Fame ceremony in 2015 honored Asleep at the Wheel, Loretta Lynn, Guy Clark, Flaco Jiménez and Townes Van Zandt, along with the original crew of the show’s first season in 1974-75. The 2016 Hall of Fame honored Kris Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt and B.B. King, alongside former ACL executive producer Dick Peterson. 2017’s Hall of Fame honored Roy Orbison, Rosanne Cash and The Neville Brothers, and the 50th Anniversary of the Public Broadcasting Act. Last year’s fifth anniversary class featured the inductions of Ray Charles, Marcia Ball and Los Lobos.
