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News Taping Recap

Sweet Baby James’ sweet ACL debut

It’s been a long time coming. James Taylor has been near the top of our wishlist for years. Now the stars have aligned, and we were thrilled to at last welcome the legendary singer/songwriter to the Austin City Limits stage for a special show full of songs from his new LP Before This World, his first collection of original music in thirteen years, and deep cuts from across his long career.

Taylor and his band (featuring original Saturday Night Live band member Lou Marini and legendary drummer Steve Gadd) opened with “Wandering,” a gentle, reflective song from his 1975 LP Gorilla. He followed with the funky “Me and My Guitar,” another gem from the early 70s, and “Copperline,” a nostalgic folk-popper from New Moon Shine, his first LP of the 90s. Taylor stayed with more recent material for the next pair of cuts, including the new album’s positivity anthem “Today Today Today” and the 90s-era ballad “Line ‘em Up.” Taylor then jumped back to 1970 for his self-described “tree-huggers’ anthem” “Country Road,” a crowd favorite from his breakthrough Sweet Baby James. Then it was back to the present for another pair from New Moon Shine and Before This World:  the rousing, gospel-inflected “Shed a Little Light” and the Boston Red Sox mash note “Angels of Fenway.”

Paying tribute to the state in which he was performing, the perpetually smiling Taylor essayed his 80s-vintage cover of Texas rock pioneer Buddy Holly’s “Everyday.” Then he took a giant leap back in time to 1968, lifting his lilting hit “Carolina in My Mind” from his self-titled debut, originally released on the Beatles’ Apple label. Donning an electric guitar, Taylor shifted gears with 1970’s bluesy, rumbling “Steamroller,” which served to showcase the talents of his band. His iconic take on his friend Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend” unsurprisingly earned him a standing ovation, while “Sweet Baby James,” his variation on cowboy ballads, cooled the crowd back down like a misty rain on the dusty trail. Taylor then invited the adoring audience to join him on a raucous run through his hit cover of Marvin Gaye’s joyful “How Sweet It Is.”

The main set ended as gently as it began with the clarinet/flugelhorn/violin-enhanced Before This World ballad “You and I Again.” But of course it wasn’t over. Taylor reappeared and brought out a surprise guest: Austinite Shawn Colvin, who joined him for a lovely take on his 1971 song “You Can Close Your Eyes.” But it still wasn’t over, as Taylor and his band came back for an unplanned second encore, starting with the frisky “Mexico” and ending with the grooving “Your Smiling Face,” which drove the audience wild. It was a spectacular way to close out a landmark ACL taping, and we can’t wait for you to see the show when it airs November 14th as a full-hour episode as part of our new Season 41 on your local PBS station.  

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Episode Recap Featured News

Superstar Ed Sheeran kicks off new season of Austin City Limits

Austin City Limits launches a new season of must-see performances with a dazzling hour featuring one of today’s most popular artists: Ed Sheeran. The worldwide superstar returns to the ACL stage in a stunning solo performance showcasing fan favorites and hit songs from his blockbuster album ÷ (Divide), the biggest-selling album of 2017.

Next generation singer-songwriter Sheeran shines in a ten-song tour de force, opening with the soaring anthem “Castle on the Hill,” one of the latest classics from his double-platinum Divide, Sheeran’s third studio album. “I feel this is going to be quite fun tonight,” enthuses the 26-year-old British phenom who first appeared on ACL in 2014. The one-man marvel performs solo with only his guitar and a loop pedal to layer his vocals, in a striking, intimate hour. Sheeran thrills with career highlights including his breakthrough hit “The A Team,” “Thinking Out Loud,” (which won him his first two Grammy Awards in 2016), and “Perfect,” a stunner from Divide Sheeran calls “my favorite song I’ve ever written.” The Austin audience is happy to follow his lead for the show-stopping set-closer “Shape of You,” the record-breaking chart-topper which recently became Spotify’s most-streamed song ever with over 1 billion plays. The musical dynamo is transcendent as he jumps from amp to amp, while working his loop pedal, drumming on his guitar and directing the willing crowd in a euphoric sing-along.

photo by Scott Newton

“There aren’t enough superlatives to describe Ed Sheeran’s many successes, but underlying everything is a genuine talent that makes him stand out,” says ACL executive producer Terry Lickona. “What’s remarkable is that at 26 his songs have connected with so many fans literally all over the globe. This is the first time that his unique one-man show has been captured for a full hour on broadcast television.”

Tune in this weekend for this episode, and, as always, check your local PBS listings for the broadcast time in your area. Go to the episode page for more info, and don’t forget to click over to our Facebook, Twitter and newsletter pages for more ACL info. Join us next week for a brand new episode, featuring a full hour with legendary rock & roll band The Pretenders.

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Featured News Taping Announcement

Summer taping announcements: Tim McGraw and Kat Edmonson

Summer keeps heating up for Austin City Limits, as we’ve got two more tapings to announce, both from singers burning up their individual genres: Kat Edmonson on July 10 and Tim McGraw on August 6.

With a vision that’s “equal parts Billie Holiday and Bjork” (All About Jazz), Kat Edmonson seemingly came out of nowhere in 2009 to take the jazz world by storm. The Texas native grew up in Houston with a mother who introduced her to the Great American Songbook. Determined to be a singer, she auditioned for American Idol during its second season, but left Hollywood for Austin. She became a regular at the Elephant Room, Austin’s premier jazz club, building a following and making musical connections that energized her career. Her 2009 debut album Take To the Sky hit the top 20 on Billboard’s jazz charts, adding enough juice that she found herself playing gigs with Boz Scaggs, Smokey Robinson and Willie Nelson. A high-profile duet with fan Lyle Lovett on the Christmas classic “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” put her on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and set the stage for Way Down Low, her second record and first to include her own original songs. Armed with a LP that’s been called “intuitive about melody and handy with a phrase” (The New York Times) and “one of the greatest vocal albums I’ve ever heard” (The Boston Globe), Kat Edmonson now comes to our stage on July 10, ready for what’s sure to be a memorable ACL debut.

photo by Alyson Fox

Also making his debut this season is country superstar Tim McGraw.  Obviously no rookie, the Louisiana native has sold over 40 million units, won three Grammy Awards, 14 Academy of Country Music Awards, 11 Country Music Association Awards, 10 American Music Awards, three People’s Choice Awards and numerous other honors.  With 7.8 million spins at radio, he was deemed “Artist of the Decade” (2000-2010) by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems.  McGraw’s 11th studio album Emotional Traffic debuted at No. one on the Billboard Country Chart, making it his 13th career #1 debut. With 32 #1 singles to his credit and his current single “Better Than I used To be” tracking on the same course, McGraw’s hits include “Felt Good On My Lips,” “Southern Voice,” “Live Like You Were Dying, “Real Good Man” and many, many more. NPR notes, “With a voice that can go from earthy to angelic in a single phrase and a back catalog that shows serious growth over two decades, McGraw is a star with substance.” Come find out for yourself on August 6.

Go here for more information on ACL tapings, and check in on our Facebook and Twitter pages for the ticket announcements for these shows.

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Episode Recap Featured New Broadcast News

Sturgill Simpson and Asleep at the Wheel keep ACL Season 41 twanging

Season 41 of Austin City Limits kicks into high gear with breakout country artist Sturgill Simpson sharing the bill with legendary Western swing institution Asleep at the Wheel.  Two acts steeped in old-school tradition but beamed through a contemporary prism, the must-see episode features rising star Simpson making his full set ACL debut while Texas swing veterans Asleep at the Wheel return for their 11th appearance. Asleep at the Wheel, newly-minted ACL Hall of Fame members, are joined by guest stars The Avett Brothers, Amos Lee and the Quebe Sisters in a special tribute to musical forebear Bob Wills, the King of Western Swing.   

Forty years after Willie Nelson made his iconic debut on ACL on October 14, 1974, country rebel Sturgill Simpson arrives at the top of his game in a standout ACL debut.  With his acclaimed breakthrough Metamodern Sounds In Country Music topping Best of 2014 Album lists and a stack of accolades to call his own—including a Grammy nomination, top honors at this year’s Americana Awards, slots at the year’s biggest music festivals, including Bonnaroo, Coachella and ACL Fest—ACL captures Simpson on the verge of full-blown stardom.  Playing an acoustic guitar, the Kentucky native and his ace four-piece band launch into a scorching seven-song set that makes a believer out of everyone.  He pays tribute to the outlaw country scene that inspired him, acknowledging his debt to Willie, and to Austin cosmic cowboy Steve Fromholz, with an impassioned rendition of “I’d Have to Be Crazy,” a Fromholz song Nelson made famous in the ‘70s, and a perfect showcase for Simpson’s rich baritone.  The full span of Simpson’s influences is evident with the inspired set-closer, a brilliant crossbreed of the Osborne Brothers’ bluegrass classic “Listening to the Rain” to glam-rock band T-Rex’s “The Motivator.”

A national as well as Texan treasure, the nine-time Grammy Award-winning Austin supergroup Asleep at the Wheel has kept the Western swing flame burning for forty-five years.  Still led by larger-than-life founder Ray Benson, AATW appeared in the first official episode of Austin City Limits in 1976, and returns for a remarkable eleventh appearance to perform selections from their recent Bob Wills tribute album Still the King: Celebrating the Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, a salute to the great bandleader.  Wills’ music, born in the 1920s and ‘30s, continues to inspire younger generations, and AATW is joined on the ACL stage by some very special guests, including soul singer Amos Lee, fiddle trio the Quebe Sisters and Americana sensations The Avett Brothers, who put their own spin on Western swing classics.  A highlight of the set comes when two former Texas Playboys—singer Leon Rausch, 88, and 92-year old saxophonist Billy Briggs—take the stage.  The entire ensemble returns for a crowd sing-along of the signature “Texas Playboys Theme,” winding “Happy Trails” into the old chestnut for a perfect close. 

photo by Scott Newton

“This show goes back deep to the roots of where Austin City Limits began,” says ACL executive producer Terry Lickona.  “Sturgill would’ve fit perfectly into the Austin music scene of the ‘70s, and it speaks volumes that his own progressive country sound resonates so strongly and stands in contrast to much of the country pop today.  Asleep at the Wheel appeared on the very first episode of our very first season, and they’re still kicking it 41 years later – just like ACL!”

Tune in this weekend for this episode, and, as always, check your local PBS listings for the broadcast time in your area. Go to the episode page for more info, and don’t forget to click over to our Facebook, Twitter and newsletter pages for more ACL info. Tune in next week for the ACL debut of Don Henley.

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Featured News Taping Cancelled

Sturgill Simpson ACL taping postponed

Due to ongoing concerns related to COVID-19, Sturgill Simpson’s taping for Austin City Limits Season 46 originally scheduled for December 8 is postponed. We hope to reschedule Sturgill’s taping in 2021 for our Season 47.

We are thankful for all our wonderful artists, fans and supporters and wish y’all a safe and healthy Thanksgiving.

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Taping Recap

Sturgill Simpson’s forward-thinking tradition

Country singer Sturgill Simpson is exactly the kind of artist we like on Austin City Limits: mindful of tradition but with a forward-thinking attitude. Inspired equally by Waylon Jennings and Carl Sagan, the Nashville-based Kentucky native makes hardcore country that comes from another place, as his acclaimed breakthrough LP Metamodern Sounds in Country Music proves.  Aaron Taylor, one of our live stream viewers on YouTube, remarked, “No boots like a fake cowboy, no cowboy hat, just pure country.” So we were thrilled to welcome the recent Atlantic Records signee to his debut ACL.

Simpson and his four-piece band wasted no time once they hit the stage, launching into “Sitting Here Without You,” a high-speed burner with plenty of room for skillet-licking guitarist Laur Joamets to shine. Indeed, Simpson often featured Joamets’ picking, letting the Estonian native rip through the trucking “Long White Line,” the hot-rocking “Life of Sin” and the bluegrass-blazing Ralph Stanley cover “Poor Rambler,” on which Simpson traded licks with his lead guitarist. “Found myself stomping my floorboard,” exclaimed theoskeewhoat on our YouTube live stream. As happy as he was to showcase his band, though, Simpson ultimately is about songs, and he has plenty of good ones. From the philosophical “Time After All” and “Water in a Well” and the angry “Some Days” to the romantic cover of synthpop band When in Rome’s “The Promise” and the pitch-black “Living the Dream,” Simpson gave a masterful performance. He and his band closed the main set with the back-to-back killers “Turtles (All the Way Down” and “It Ain’t All Flowers,” which started honkytonkin’ and ended rockin’.

Of course, it wasn’t quite over, as the audience didn’t want the band to leave. Simpson paid tribute to the outlaw country scene that inspires him with a cover of “I’d Have to Be Crazy” by Austin cosmic cowboy Steven Fromholz, before digging into the repertoire of his old band Sunday Valley for a ripping take on the Osborne Brothers’ “Listening to the Rain,” which incorporated T.Rex’s “The Motivator.” With that, Simpson brought down the house, leaving the crowd wanting more. “Hard to believe how absolutely great Sturgill is!” enthused Chris Durand on our Facebook page. It was a great show and a strong debut, and we can’t wait for you to see it when it airs on PBS this Fall.