Music legend Leonard Cohen has a new record, Old Ideas, coming out on January 31. To celebrate, we’re bringing back Cohen’s classic 1989 episode of Austin City Limits as the latest installment of Reel Rarities, our monthly series of screenings at the venerable Alamo Drafthouse. Recorded during the tour for his acclaimed comeback I’m Your Man, this hour-length show features Cohen and his skilled band performing a range of tunes from that brilliant record, as well as dipping into his back catalog. Given the scarcity of Cohen tours and TV appearances at the time, this episode was a boon to Cohen fans and is easily the most requested episode of ACL outside of Tom Waits.
But that’s not all. Cohen did another episode with us in 1993 during the tour for The Future, and we’re happy to present that half-hour alongside his original appearance. Plus our friends at Sony will be on-hand with some advance music from the new album and some special prizes. So if you’re an Austin-based Leonard Cohen fan, come check it out at the Alamo Ritz at 7 p.m. on January 23 – you can find more details here.
Reel Rarities: Handpicked Gems from the ACL Vault is an ongoing series at the Alamo Drafthouse. Tickets are $5 and the sales benefit our friends at the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians.
Austin City Limits was disheartened to learn of the death this weekend of Raymond D. Smith, AKA Son Geezinslaw of ACL three-timers the Geezinslaw Brothers, nearly a year after the passing of his partner-in-crime Sammy Allred. He was 77.
The Geezinslaws were one of Austin’s first breakout acts, with a career going back to the fifties and stints on the Louisiana Hayride with Elvis Presley. The pair released twelve albums over the course of forty-plus years, starting in 1963 with The Kooky World of the Geezinslaw Brothers and concluding with 2005’s Eclectic Horseman. The duo scored with cuts like “Five Dollar Fine,” “I Wish I Had a Job to Shove,” “Help I’m White and I Can’t Get Down” and unique takes on classic tunes like the Eagles’ “Take It to the Limit” and Judy Garland’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Besides ACL, the band appeared on The Tonight Show, The Smothers Brothers Show and The Roger Miller Show. “As a boy. Son would walk down the streets of old south Austin to guitar lessons,” noted his obituary in the Austin-American Statesman. “As a man, he played before presidents, across the screens of America’s televisions, and with some of the greatest legends of Country and Western Music.”
Unlike Allred, whose radio career continued apace after the final Geezinslaws record, Smith stayed out of the spotlight once the band had run its course. “Son was easily characterized by his thorny exterior,” says the Statesman. “Perhaps we would call him the perpetual diamond in the rough, but after being preceded in death by his wife and daughter, those that really knew him could see that bashful self that had been singing us truths for the past sixty some odd years.”
“Son had the voice, Sammy brought the schtick,” says ACL executive producer Terry Lickona. “But seriously, Son was a great country singer, and combined with Sammy’s offbeat comedy, there’s been nobody quite like them ever since. In their own way, they were ‘keeping Austin weird’ even before there was such a thing.”
The Geezinslaws performed on ACL in 1982, 1986 and 1989. Below is a clip of the duo putting their own spin on My Fair Lady’s “On the Street Where You Live,” preceded by Allred paying tribute to his poker-faced compadre in his own unique way.
Austin City Limits is proud to present the long-awaited debut of cult hero Ray Wylie Hubbard in a thrilling new hour. The ‘70s cosmic-country legend is currently enjoying one of the great second acts in music and he entertains with songs and banter, sharing tunes and tales from his legendary career. The installment premieres Saturday, January 23 as part of the iconic series Season 46 and will be available to music fans everywhere to stream online beginning Sunday, January 24@10am ET at pbs.org/austincitylimits. The broadcast, recorded in October 2020, reflects a rare no-audience taping due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With live music on hold, ACL continues to provide viewers a front-row seat to the best in performance. The program airs weekly on PBS stations nationwide (check local listings for times) and full episodes are made available online for a limited time at pbs.org/austincitylimits immediately following the initial broadcast. Viewers can visit acltv.com for news regarding future tapings, episode schedules and select live stream updates.
When F. Scott Fitzgerald issued his classic conclusion ‘There are no second acts in American lives,’ he failed to envision the career of Ray Wylie Hubbard, a willing conspirator in the late seventies Cosmic Cowboy revolt that ushered in the mythical Outlaw era. Hubbard, alongside colleagues such as Willie Nelson and Jerry Jeff Walker, was a catalyst in the cultural upheaval that led to the peaceful coexistence of Lone Star music fans at opposite ends of the social and political spectrum of the time. Hell-bent for truth and texture in capturing the way outlaws live, the Texas treasure relaunched his career in the 1990s and has been recording critically-lauded work ever since. Legions of fans in his home state and beyond have requested an ACL appearance by Hubbard for years and he now kicks up some cosmic dust in this long-awaited set, amplified by first-class musicians including his son, guitarist Lucas Hubbard and longtime drummer Kyle Schneider, joined by ace Austin musicians Bukka Allen on keyboards and bassist Gurf Morlix.
“There’s no good excuse for why it took Ray Wylie to finally make his debut on Austin City Limits after 46 years,” offered ACL executive producer Terry Lickona, “but like a fine whiskey, some things just keep getting better with age. Ray Wylie is in his prime right now, and also like a fine whiskey, there’s no better antidote to a year-long pandemic!”
“I hope you’re ready for this,” teases Hubbard after opening with a pair of numbers from his 2006 release Snake Farm, including the title track, a dirty-blues anthem celebrating a Texas roadside attraction. “If this is the first time you’ve seen me perform, you’re probably a little bit nervous after those first two songs,” jokes Hubbard. Passion for the man whose outlier bona fides have made him a roadhouse saint hasn’t waned as he is revered by a new generation of performers; he explores recent songs written with Eric Church and Hayes Carll. Hubbard presents highlights from his recent, acclaimed major label debut, Co-Starring, which features an impressive array of guests, including Ringo Starr, Joe Walsh, Chris Robinson and Don Was, and showcases the new gem”Rock Gods,” a salute to one of his own heroes, Tom Petty.
photo by Scott Newton
Addressing ACL viewers, Hubbard remarks with a sly smile, “You might get the idea that I’m an acquired taste — so this song should weed you out.” The renegade poet closes the set with the swamp rocker “Mother Blues” from 2012’s The Grifter’s Hymnal – the story of a stolen Les Paul Gold Top, romances rooted in an afterhours gig, and the wisdom of keeping your gratitude higher than your expectations.
Ray Wylie Hubbard setlist:
Rabbit
Snake Farm
Drunken Poet’s Dream
Bad Trick
Rock Gods
Fast Left Hand
Wanna Rock and Roll
Desperate Man
Mother Blues
Season 46 Broadcast Schedule:
January 9Foo Fighters Rock Austin City Limits
January 16The War And Treaty | Ruthie Foster
January 23Ray Wylie Hubbard
January 30The Best of Spoon
February 6Texas Icons: Jerry Jeff Walker & Billy Joe Shaver
February 13Allen Toussaint: New Orleans Legend
ACL’s Season 46 premiered in October with standout performances from2021 Grammy nominee Rufus Wainwright, UK country-soul sensation Yola, rock and country trailblazers The Mavericks, acclaimed Austin standout Jackie Venson, salutes to late ACL legends John Prine and Stevie Ray Vaughan, a celebration of 50 years of Asleep at the Wheel and more.
Tune-in, log on, and let ACL be a trusted sidekick for entertainment during these challenging days. Viewers can visit acltv.com for news regarding live streams, future tapings and episode schedules or by following ACL on Facebook, Twitter, IG and TikTok.Fans can also browse the ACL YouTube channel for exclusive songs, behind-the-scenes videos and full-length artist interviews.
About Austin City Limits
Austin City Limits (ACL) offers viewers unparalleled access to featured acts in an intimate setting that provides a platform for artists to deliver inspired, memorable, full-length performances. Now in its 46th Season, the program is taped live before a concert audience from The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. Austin City Limits is the longest-running music series in television history and remains the only TV series to ever be awarded the National Medal of Arts. Since its inception, the groundbreaking music series has become an institution that’s helped secure Austin’s reputation as the Live Music Capital of the World. The historic KLRU Studio 6A, home to 36 years of ACL concerts, has been designated an official Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Landmark. In 2011, ACL moved to the new venue ACL Live at The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. ACL received a rare institutional Peabody Award for excellence and outstanding achievement in 2012.
Austin City Limits is produced by Austin PBS, KLRU-TV and funding is provided in part by Dell Technologies, RigUp, the Austin Convention Center Department and Cirrus Logic. Additional funding is provided by the Friends of Austin City Limits. Learn more about Austin City Limits, programming and history at acltv.com.
We here at Austin City Limits were saddened to learn that country music legend Ray Price passed away yesterday at the age of 87. The Texas native, whose hits included “Crazy Arms,” “Heartaches By the Number,” “Night Life” (written by his pal Willie Nelson) and the immortal Kris Kristofferson song “For the Good Times,” appeared on ACL three times. Price’s first appearance came in a 1980 songwriters special which was followed by memorable solo appearances in 1981 and 1999.
“I remember Ray as a class act, a true gentlemen,” says ACL executive producer Terry Lickona. “He blazed his own trail, gave Willie his first gig, and left an indelible mark on country and pop music.” Our sincerest condolences to his family, friends and fans.
Watch Ray Price’s 1981 ACL segment below. *Note that only the first 20 minutes will play on this page; to watch the entire 28-minute segment, please click through and watch it at video.pbs.org. Thanks.
Austin City Limits mourns the loss at 89 of a true musical giant: Ralph Stanley. The Virginia native was not only a bluegrass titan as a performer, but as an innovator. Along with Flatt & Scruggs, his brother Carter and Bill Monroe, Stanley could lay claim to helping create one of America’s most distinctive musical forms. His high, lonesome singing, virtuoso clawhammer banjo picking and vast repertoire had a tremendous influence on bluegrass, folk, country, gospel and Americana. Though he didn’t write them, Stanley’s renditions of old-timey tunes “Little Maggie,” “Pretty Polly,” “O Death,” “Angel Band” and “Man of Constant Sorrow” (re-popularized by the film O Brother Where Are Thou) made them standards in the American songbook.
“Ralph Stanley was the last of the living bluegrass legends, after Bill Monroe and Earl Scruggs,” remarked ACL Executive Producer Terry Lickona. “Like the others, he invented his own sound, his clawhammer banjo style came straight out of the hills, and his voice sounded like it had been around since the beginning of time itself. He was a gracious gentleman, with a gentle spirit. His appearance on ACL with Bill Monroe in 1986 was historic, a rare performance by the two bluegrass giants. Another important part of America’s musical past is gone.”
Here is Stanley with his Clinch Mountain Boys in 1980 with his signature song “Little Maggie.”
Radiohead taped Austin City Limits last night. It almost feels like that’s all we need to say. This was a highly anticipated show, not only amongst the fans, but for us as well. Radiohead has been highon our wish list for years, so that rush of “When’s it gonna happen? It’s gonna happen! Now it’s happening!” has been buzzing through all of our veins for a long time.
Needless to say, the band delivered. Not the hits, necessarily – Oxford’s favorite sons have never been the pandering kind. A progressive rock band in the purest sense, Radiohead is always pushing itself forward, deconstructing and reconstructing its own aethestic, experimenting with its sound and presenting its latest iteration, rather than falling back on old habits and familiarity. In Thom Yorke’s words prior to launching into one of the several brand new songs played during the night: “This is why we press on.”
In that sense, Radiohead gave us one hell of a show. “My face was melted at @radiohead” remarked @zee_funk on Twitter. Drawing almost exclusively from their last three albums Hail to the Thief, In Rainbows and The King of Limbs, the band blazed through some of its most daring material, adding drummer Clive Deamer (last on our stage with Robert Plant, who was in the audience) for extra polyrhythmic emphasis. “Little By Little” made perfect use of the band’s distinctive three-guitar attack, the interlocking six-string lines slithering in and out of the skittering rhythms. “Myxomatosis” and “Morning Mr. Magpie” were jittery rockers seemingly influenced as much by caffeine as the electronica the band weaves into its rock tapestry. “The Gloaming” hit a unique balance between dissonant and ethereal, the instrumental parts almost fighting each other while singer Thom Yorke floated over the top. “Arpeggi” and the new song “Identikit” built a generous amount of tension into their swirling arrangements, smartly ending before the anticipated Big Rock Climax could happen.
We love it when artists play brand new material, and Radiohead graced us with the atmospheric, rhythm-heavy “Staircase,” the piano-heavy “The Daily Mail” and the lovely “Skirting On the Surface,” as well as “Identikit.” The band also resurrected the odd, intriguing “The Amazing Sounds of Orgy,” an old B-side that Yorke described as having “disappeared like a wet fart in the wind.”
The band ended the main set with the bizarre “Feral,” a strange but compelling mix of dub and Latin rhythms, and the frenetic “Idioteque,” a Kid A gem that got a huge response from the crowd. But not as huge as the final song of the encore – the towering “Paranoid Android” still stands as one of modern rock’s greatest achievements, and everybody gave the band’s fiery performance the love it deserved.
“After Radiohead tonight, I don’t feel the need to RSVP to any more sxsw events,” claimed @chu16 on Twitter. “My experience has already peaked.” While we’d never claim that a single show summarized an entire concert-going career, once the rest of the world sees this performance on PBS in the fall they’ll understand the hyperbole. Radiohead’s show represents what can be achieved by an artist determined to dive deep into the heart of its muse. Or, as @HeatherCuriel put it more simply and breathlessly, “passion, life changing, beautiful. rock and roll is alive.”
