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New tapings: Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, Brittney Spencer, Alanis Morissette, Foo Fighters, and Bonnie Raitt with Sunny War

Austin City Limits is proud to announce a stellar slate of fall tapings to complete our Season 49, featuring multiple Grammy-winning icons and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame legends. On September 24, recent Rock Hall inductees Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo make their ACL debut performing rock gems and highlights from across their near five-decade career. We’re thrilled to welcome a pair of ACL Fest headliners and a highly-anticipated act featured on our namesake festival this October: we present country breakout Brittney Spencer on October 5 in her ACL debut; October 6 brings the first-ever appearance of superstar Alanis Morissette; and on October 12 we’re thrilled to welcome beloved rock giants Foo Fighters back to rock the ACL stage. And finally, on October 15, on the heels of a trio of 2023 Grammy wins, we welcome back an ACL Hall of Fame icon, the legendary Bonnie Raitt, for her first headlining appearance in over a decade, to showcase her triple Grammy-winning album Just Like That… Raitt will also be joined by a special guest, Nashville-based singer-songwriter and guitar virtuoso Sunny War.

Photo by Travis Shinn.

In a pop culture world defined by its perpetual changes, the partnership of singer songwriter Pat Benatar and producer-musician Neil Giraldo has been a potent, steadfast union that has soared to the top of the charts and into fans’ hearts on their own terms. Her staggering vocals and take-no-prisoners attitude, along with his trailblazing artistry as a guitarist, producer and songwriter, forged the undeniable chemistry and unique sound that created eternal rock hits including “We Belong,” “Invincible,” “Love Is A Battlefield,” “Promises In The Dark,” “We Live For Love,” “Heartbreaker” and “Hell Is For Children.” Their stunning achievements are a testament to their vision. Together, Benatar and Giraldo have created two multi-platinum, five platinum and three gold albums, as well as 19 Top 40 hits. They have sold over 36 million records worldwide and have won an unprecedented four consecutive GRAMMY® awards. They have also been feted with three American Music Awards, a People’s Choice Award, a 2008 induction into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame, and capped off 2022 with a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction. 

Photo by Jimmy Fontaine.

Recently named one of Rolling Stone’s “Future 25,” and the only country artist to make the list, Brittney Spencer is known for her free spirit and standout ability to mold life, truth, and wild imagination into songs. “Her unerring honesty and empathy are a big part of what makes her music so appealing,” raves Rolling Stone. With her debut album forthcoming from Elektra Records, the Baltimore native has earned praise from The New York Times and Vanity Fair to name a few, and she’s appeared on CBS Mornings with Anthony Mason, as well as performed on NBC’s Today Show, The Late Show (After Dark), the CMA Awards, ACM Awards and more. Spencer was featured as part of Victoria’s Secret Global “UNDEFINABLE” campaign, and she appeared in Amazon’s “For Love & Country” Documentary. Deemed a “one to watch” by PEOPLE Magazine, Spencer has shared stages with Jason Isbell, The Highwomen, Willie Nelson, Reba McEntire, Bobby Weir, and Maren Morris to name a few. She’s also performed the National Anthem at The 148th Kentucky Derby, the Preakness in 2022 alongside Megan Thee Stallion and Lauryn Hill, and the 2023 NFL Draft. As an outspoken advocate for her community and the planet, Brittney is an active supporter of many causes, including Habitat for Humanity, the Women’s March, CARE, and more. Spencer first-appeared on the ACL stage in 2022, at the 8th Annual ACL Hall of Fame Celebration, performing a sparkling rendition of Sheryl Crow’s “My Favorite Mistake,” to salute the music great’s ACL Hall of Fame induction. We’re thrilled to welcome her back for her headlining debut.

Photo by Dennys Ilic.

Since 1995, Alanis Morissette has been one of the most influential singer-songwriter-musicians in contemporary music. Her deeply expressive music and performances have earned vast critical praise and seven Grammy awards. Morissette’s landmark 1995 debut, Jagged Little Pill was followed by nine more eclectic and acclaimed albums. She has contributed musically to theatrical releases and has acted on the big and small screen. Outside of entertainment, she is an avid supporter of female empowerment, as well as spiritual, psychological and physical wellness. In 2001, Alanis was awarded the Global Tolerance Award by the Friends of the United Nations for her contributions to promoting tolerance through the arts. In 2016, Alanis launched Conversation with Alanis Morissette, a monthly podcast that features conversations with a variety of revered authors, doctors, educators, and therapists, covering a wide range of psychosocial topics extending from spirituality to developmentalism to art. On December 5, 2019, “JAGGED LITTLE PILL” the musical made its Broadway debut at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York City. The show was nominated for fifteen Tony Awards and won two Tony Awards at the 2021 ceremony. In July of 2020, Alanis released her ninth studio album, Such Pretty Forks In The Road, to rave reviews. In August of 2021, Alanis kicked off her sold out world tour celebrating 25 years of Jagged Little Pill. The tour became the #1 female-fronted tour and also one of the Top Worldwide Tours of 2021. Alanis also stars in the Fox sitcom, “The Great North,” which just wrapped its third season, and has been picked up for a fourth season. Most recently, Alanis was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Since the 1995 release of their self-titled first album, no other band has carried the torch for rock & roll like Foo Fighters. Throughout the steady ascent to their indisputable status as the last great American rock band, they’ve raised stadiums, arenas and festival fields of voices in song with anthems like “This Is A Call,” “Everlong,” “Monkey Wrench,” “My Hero,” “Learn To Fly,” “All My Life,” “Times Like These,” “Best Of You,” “The Pretender,” “Walk,” “These Days,” “The Sky Is A Neighborhood,” “Shame Shame” and more. Foo Fighters’ 15-GRAMMY-Award-winning catalogue includes The Colour and the Shape, There Is Nothing Left To Lose, One By One, In Your Honor, Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace, Wasting Light, Sonic Highways, Concrete and Gold and Medicine at Midnight. Following a year of staggering losses, personal introspection and bittersweet remembrances, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers returned triumphantly with But Here We Are, released June 2, 2023 on Roswell Records/RCA Records. A brutally honest and emotionally raw response to everything Foo Fighters have endured in recent years, But Here We Are is a testament to the healing powers of music, friendship and family. Courageous, damaged, unflinchingly authentic and “driven by a fresh sense of pathos and urgency” (The New York Times), But Here We Are opens with the Alternative/Rock radio #1 “Rescued,” the first of 10 songs that run the emotional gamut from rage and sorrow to serenity and acceptance, and myriad points in between — including “a gruff, melodic rocker with bittersweet hooks” (Stereogum) in the form of “Under You,” the “totally unexpected foray into shoegaze and dream-pop territory” (Uproxx) that is “Show Me How,” the 10-minute epic “The Teacher,” and more. Produced by Greg Kurstin and Foo Fighters, But Here We Are is in nearly equal measure the 11th Foo Fighters album and the first chapter of the band’s new life. Sonically channelling the naiveté of Foo Fighters’ 1995 debut, informed by decades of maturity and depth, But Here We Are is the sound of brothers finding refuge in the music that brought them together in the first place 28 years ago, a process that was as therapeutic as it was about a continuation of life.

Photo by Shervin Lainez.

Bonnie Raitt returns for her fourth headlining appearance on the ACL stage. The American original first-appeared in Season 9 in 1984, returned in 2002 and 2012, and performed on the series’ 40th anniversary special in 2014. In 2016, Raitt was inducted into the ACL Hall of Fame by Mavis Staples, with musical salutes from Willie Nelson and Taj Mahal. Raitt is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist whose unique style blends blues, R&B, rock, and pop. After 20 years as a cult favorite, she broke through to the top in the early 90s with her GRAMMY-award-winning albums, Nick of Time and Luck of the Draw, which featured hits, “Something To Talk About” and “I Can’t Make You Love Me” among others. The thirteen-time GRAMMY winner was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000 and Rolling Stone named the slide guitar ace one of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” and one of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time.” 

2023 kicked off with Raitt earning three GRAMMY™ Awards at the 65th Annual ceremony;  Song Of The Year and Best American Roots Song for the title track of her most recent album “Just Like That…”, and Best Americana Performance for “Made Up Mind.” Raitt was as well acknowledged for the Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award she was honored with the year prior.  Raitt has been on tour for most of 2023 with stops in the U.S., Australia, the UK, Ireland, and an upcoming coast-to-coast tour of Canada. View all concert dates here. 2022 was an incredible year for Raitt with a 75-date headlining U.S. tour; the release of her critically acclaimed 21st album ‘Just Like That…,’ on her independent label, Redwing Records; receiving the Icon Award at the 2022 Billboard Women In Music Awards and seeing her breakthrough album, ‘Nick of Time’ added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry. ‘Just Like That…’ was #1 on six Billboard charts the week of release and was perched at #1 on the Americana Radio Album Chart for ten consecutive weeks. The album’s first single, “Made Up Mind” remained in the top three spots on the Americana Radio Singles Chart for 17 weeks. 

As known for her lifelong commitment to social activism as she is for her music, Raitt has long been involved with the environmental movement, performing concerts around oil, nuclear power, mining, water, and forest protection since the mid-‘70s. She was a founding member of MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy), which produced the historic concerts, album, and movie NO NUKES, and continues to work on safe energy issues in addition to environmental protection, social justice, and human rights, as well as creator’s rights and music education.

We’re thrilled to welcome these music greats to the ACL stage. Want to be part of our audience? We will post information on how to get free passes a week in advance of the taping. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for notice of postings. The broadcast episodes will air on PBS as part of our upcoming Season 49.

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Featured News Taping Announcement

New tapings: Parker Millsap, CeCe Winans and Alejandro Escovedo

Austin City Limits closes out a remarkable Season 42 on a high note with the final artist tapings: Parker Millsap on November 9, CeCe Winans on November 20 and Alejandro Escovedo on November 30.  St. Paul and the Broken Bones will also tape a show on November 20, as previously announced.

Following a triumphant appearance on this year’s Americana Music Festival special, singer/songwriter Parker Millsap makes his Austin City Limits debut in support of his third album The Very Last Day. The 23-year-old grew up doing congregational singing in church and listening to old blues albums in his room, not realizing that howling like a Delta blues ghost readying the world for rock & roll isn’t how a skinny white boy from Purcell, Oklahoma usually sounds. The Very Last Day proves an ideal vehicle for Millsap’s message, delivered via gospel-tinged rock & roll poetry. In the midst of a world fond of condemnation as entertainment, Millsap offers open-armed love of people and their stories. Whether he’s singing about the experience of a gay friend, longing for his evangelical father’s acceptance, or as the King of the Underworld wild with passion, his character-driven songs mine deep wells of joy and despair to create gut-punching narratives that are sometimes hellish, sometimes heavenly, and always human. We’re happy to welcome Parker Millsap to his first Austin City Limits taping.

Part of gospel’s first family the Winans, CeCe Winans is the best-selling female gospel artist of all time. The Detroit native made her performing debut with her brother BeBe in 1982 as part of the PTL Singers. The pair launched their career as a duo in 1987, releasing bestselling albums that earned them gold and platinum albums, three Grammy awards, nine Dove awards and numerous hit singles on the R&B charts. CeCe began her solo career in 1995 with the Grammy-winning platinum album Alone in His Presence, scored a top 10 single in “Count On Me,” a duet with close friend Whitney Houston, and has continued to have an impact on gospel and R&B music ever since. She comes to the ACL stage bearing latest single “Never Have to Be Alone,” as well as new songs from a forthcoming record to be released in 2017. We’re thrilled to welcome the great CeCe Winans to her first Austin City Limits, where she will share the stage with dynamic Alabama soul outfit St. Paul & the Broken Bones.  

photo by Nancy Rankin Escovedo

Veteran Austin singer/songwriter Alejandro Escovedo returns to our stage in support of Burn Something Beautiful, his twelfth solo album. Recorded in Portland with R.E.M.’s Peter Buck and the Minus 5’s Scott McCaughey as co-writers and producers, Burn Something Beautiful is at once a celebration of the rock & roll life, a contemplation of mortality and a tribute to the healing power of love. The project coalesced beautifully with the help of an esteemed group of musicians who give the album a band feel, including ACL vets Steve Berlin (Los Lobos), Kelly Hogan (Neko Case), John Moen (the Decemberists) and Corin Tucker (Sleater-Kinney). Connecting repeatedly with his soulful heart and voice at its core, Burn Something Beautiful is Alejandro Escovedo at his very best. The San Antonio native is, of course, no stranger to ACL – he has been on the show four times previously, starting as a member of Rank & File when they appeared on the show in 1983. We’re thrilled to welcome back Alejandro Escovedo.

Want to be part of our audience? We will post information on how to get free passes about a week before the taping. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for notice of postings.

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Featured News Taping Announcement

New tapings: Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats and Heartless Bastards

Austin City Limits is thrilled to announce the final tapings of our 41st season, including the debut of Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats on November 22 and the return of Heartless Bastards to our stage on November 23.

Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, the self-titled LP by the Denver, CO based band, practically explodes with deep, ecstatic soulfulness. “The born-again spirit of vintage soul music poured out of the man, measurable mostly in gallons,” raves NPR of the group’s powerful front man. So it’s entirely fitting that the release arrived on Stax Records, because at certain moments Rateliff seems to be channeling soul greats like Otis Redding and Sam & Dave. Delve beneath the rawboned surface of the new album’s deep-gut grooves, snaky guitars, churning Hammond and irresistible horns, and you’ll find a sensitive, introspective artist who tells it like it is. Yet even as Rateliff honors the gritty, rapturous sound of the legendary Memphis label, he’s also setting out into audacious new territory. “Nathaniel Rateliff is a passionate performer with a gift for singing and winning over an audience,” noted Consequence of Sound, “and that comes through on this record.” “I’m trying to do something that’s emotionally charged and heartfelt,” Rateliff says, “and I want the experience to be joyous. I can remember dancing around to some song that was breakin’ my heart, dancin’ with tears in my eyes. I love that feeling, and I wanna share it with people, and hopefully they’ll feel it too.” Join us on Nov. 22 and experience one of 2015’s finest new arrivals.

photo by Courtney Chavenel

Heartless Bastards have spent the past decade in motion, boldly pushing their unique brand of rock ‘n’ roll into new shapes over four acclaimed albums and nearly non-stop roadwork. Now, with Restless Ones, the band sets out once again, blazing a path to a place of shifting moods, seasoned songcraft, and unbridled spontaneity. The Austin-based band’s fifth studio recording finds singer/songwriter Erika Wennerstrom exploring as-yet-unvisited avenues of sound and sensation, her bravery and ambition readily apparent in the emotional timbre and the sheer physicality of her songs. “We took a lot of chances,” Wennerstrom says, “taking the sounds in different directions in order to grow. I don’t ever want to make the same album twice.” Tracked in August 2014 during a 10-day session at El Paso’s renowned Sonic Ranch, Restless Ones “is a statement of collective confidence and ambitious vision,” says Magnet. “These songs capture an outstanding band hitting its stride,” says AllMusic, “and growing more comfortable with the craft of record-making along with singing and playing great, passionate music.” Rich with purpose, passion, and commanding musicianship, Restless Ones captures an idiosyncratic band exploring their craft and soul in an effort to reach a place that’s both true and transcendent. Heartless Bastards continue to drive their monumental music ever forward, towards hidden vistas and horizons still unseen. Follow their journey with us on Nov. 23 – and don’t miss their show at the Mohawk in Austin on Nov. 21!

Want to be part of our audience? We will post information on how to get free passes about a week before the taping. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for notice of postings.

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Featured News Taping Announcement

New tapings: Miranda Lambert, The Head And The Heart, Norah Jones

Our 43rd season on PBS is getting off to a great start! We’ve already announced the Pretenders on March 13th, and we’re thrilled to report we’ll be taping Miranda Lambert on April 19th, The Head and the Heart on May 22nd and Norah Jones on June 11th.

Miranda Lambert makes her third appearance on ACL on April 19th in support of her sixth album The Weight of These Wings. Since the Lindale, Texas native’s first appearance in 2006, she has earned widespread acclaim, including two Grammy Awards, thirteen Country Music Association Awards, and an astonishing twenty-five Academy of Country Music Awards. Lambert is the reigning ACM Female Vocalist of the Year, having been bestowed this honor for seven consecutive years. A sprawling double-album, The Weight of These Wings debuted at #1 on Billboard’s country albums chart, as well as at #3 on the Billboard 200 chart, and spawned the current hit singles “Vice” and “We Should Be Friends.” Rolling Stone calls The Weight of These Wings Lambert’s “most ambitious LP…the sort of Great Album rock acts used to spit out regularly back in the day,” while the Boston Globe says the album “matches the take-no-prisoners attitude of her lyrics with music that travels unexpected routes but often winds up touching the soul.” The record ended up on over a dozen Best of 2016 lists, including those from Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Billboard, Spin and more.

photo by James Minchin

When Seattle band, The Head and The Heart, who first appeared on ACL in Season 37, regrouped in 2016 to start writing together again after a sabbatical, “it almost felt like we were a new band, trying things we hadn’t tried,” bassist  Chris Zasche recalls. “We stayed at a bungalow on the beach. We’d wake up, have coffee and go boogie boarding. We were ready and excited to be back together.” That renewed sense of purpose can be felt throughout Signs of Light, the group’s third album and first release for Warner Bros. Records. “This album isn’t about us now having achieved our dreams,” says vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Charity Rose Thielen. “The day we started being able to live off our art was the day we achieved our dreams, in my mind. This is the album where we really fell into our true voices as those artists.” Recorded in Nashville with producer Jay Joyce (Eric Church, Cage The Elephant), Signs of Light crackles with the upbeat, singalong energy of the band’s finest work. Throughout, the colors are brighter, the electric guitars are louder and the musical touchstones more universal. Lead single “All We Ever Knew,” written during the Let’s Be Still era but never captured to the band’s satisfaction until now, is sure to be a crowd-pleaser, while “Turn It Around” seems primed to be a future concert staple, matching its inspirational message with a lush and multi-layered soundscape. Blurt say the album “fulfills the aim the band’s handle appears to indicate. This is after all, music that connects with the head and the heart, and imparts a dual sense of resilience and delight in its wake.” Join us on May 22nd for The Head and The Heart’s second ACL taping.

photo by Danny Clinch

Norah Jones made her first appearance on the ACL stage in 2002, just prior to the release of her landmark debut Come Away With Me, which propelled her to the world stage, sweeping the 2003 Grammy Awards and signaling a paradigm shift away from the prevailing pop music of the time. Since then, Jones has sold 50 million albums worldwide and become a nine-time Grammy-winner, returning to ACL in 2007 and again in 2013. But when the Texas native first moved to New York City in the Summer of 1999,  it was with the hope of being a jazz singer and pianist, and her jazz influences — from Bill Evans and Miles Davis to Billie Holiday and Nina Simone — have always remained. Now Jones has come full circle with Day Breaks, her sixth album which finds her returning to the piano and her jazz roots, while still retaining her unmistakably unique sound that weaves together several bedrock styles of American music: country, folk, rock, soul, jazz. Day Breaks is a kindred spirit to Come Away With Me, though it is unquestionably the work of a mature artist who has lived life and grown immensely in her craft. The album features jazz luminaries including saxophonist Wayne Shorter, organist Dr. Lonnie Smith, and drummer Brian Blade, who played on Norah’s debut and became the backbone of the new album. Rolling Stone calls it “A marvelous consolidation, floating buoyantly between past tradition and her own unique present,” while MOJO declares “Small-hours jazz perfection … her masterpiece to date … inspired and breathtaking.” Jones returns to the ACL stage on  June 11th.

Want to be part of our audience? We will post information on how to get free passes about a week before the taping. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for notice of postings.

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New tapings: Margo Price and MUNA

MARGO PRICE 2022. Photo by Alysse Gafkjen.

Austin City Limits proudly announces the first tapings of Season 49 with a pair of highly-anticipated tapings showcasing American originals. On March 19, acclaimed author/singer/songwriter Margo Price returns to our stage for the first time since Season 42. Fast-rising trio MUNA take time from their US headlining tour and stadium dates opening for Taylor Swift to make their ACL debut on April 24.

Margo Price returns to the ACL stage with Strays, her “strongest, most cohesive record yet” (Rolling Stone). Featuring “volcanic vocal performances and sharp character studies” (Vulture), as well as Sharon Van Etten, Lucius, and The Heartbreakers’ Mike Campbell, the record “struts through big-hearted indie country, honky-tonk stomp and ’70s guitar-explosion psychedelia” (The New York Times). The new album serves as a resilient proclamation of freedom for Price, who surmounts a lifetime of loss, lies, trauma and substance abuse (as chronicled in her best-selling memoir Maybe We’ll Make It, hailed one of the best books of 2022) with ten new songs that prove her place as an independent artist, singular storyteller and endlessly experimental explorer, with so much to say but nothing to prove. While much of Strays was written in a South Carolina cottage – during six days that the Nashville-based Price spent eating psychedelic mushrooms with her husband and musical partner Jeremy Ivey – the album was primarily recorded in California’s Topanga Canyon. There at producer Jonathan Wilson’s studio in the summer of 2021, Price and her longtime band of Pricetags channeled their telepathic abilities into their best recording sessions and most ambitious array of sounds, styles and arrangements to date. Having been together since the days before Midwest Farmer’s Daughter, her breakthrough 2016 debut that Rolling Stone named one of the Greatest Country Albums of All Time, Price and her band tracked live in the same room, simultaneously expanding upon and completely exploding the notions of every other album they have made together. Price sings unabashedly about self-worth, bodily autonomy and a woman’s right to choose. Across the rest of the LP, she writes about losing herself in sex, overcoming marital conflict, tuning out haters, the aftermath of quitting drinking and more, as “Strays bursts with easy confidence and kind, stoic pearls of wisdom” (Pitchfork). “I feel this urgency to keep moving, keep creating,” says Price. “Maybe it’s getting older, or the years the pandemic stole from us all. I feel more mature in the way that I write now, I’m on more than just a search for large crowds and accolades. I’m trying to find what my soul needs.”

MUNA. Photo by Isaac Schneider.

Working the source code of pop, MUNA is magic. Coming up on ten years of friendship, singer/songwriter Katie Gavin and guitarists Naomi McPherson and Josette Maskin began making music together in college, at USC, and released an early hit in the 2017 single “I Know a Place,” a pent-up invocation of LGBTQ sanctuary and transcendence. Now in their late twenties, the trio has become something more like family. Their now viral single “Silk Chiffon,” 2021’s life-affirming, queer anthem, which features MUNA’S new label head Phoebe Bridgers, hit the gray skies of the pandemic’s year-and-a-half mark like a double rainbow. For Naomi McPherson, MUNA’s guitarist and producer, it was a “song for kids to have their first gay kiss to.” “Silk Chiffon” leads off MUNA, their self-titled third release and a feat of an album — the forceful, deliberate, dimensional output of a band who has nothing to prove to anyone except themselves. The synth on “What I Want” scintillates like a Robyn dance-floor anthem; “Anything But Me,” galloping in 12/8, gives off Shania Twain in eighties neon; “Kind of Girl,” with its soaring, plaintive The Chicks chorus, begs to be sung at max volume with your best friends. MUNA earned widespread acclaim and the album landed on multiple best of 2022 year end lists including Billboard, Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, Stereogum and TIME Magazine. The band was also hailed as Consequence’s 2022 Band of the Year. MUNA sold out shows all over the world in 2022 and were handpicked by Taylor Swift for a coveted opening slot on her upcoming “Eras” 2023 stadium tour in between their own US headlining “Life’s So Fun” tour and festival slots at 2023’s Coachella and Bonnaroo. “What ultimately keeps us together,” Maskin said, “is knowing that someone’s going to hear each one of these songs and use it to make a change they need in their life.” McPherson added, “I hope this album helps people connect to each other the way that we, in MUNA, have learned to connect to each other.” What MUNA does, in the end is carve out a space in the middle of whatever existential muck you’re doing the everyday dog-paddle through and transports you, suddenly — you who’ve come to music looking for an answer you can’t find anywhere else — into a room where everything is possible. We’re thrilled to welcome MUNA to the ACL stage.Want to be part of our audience? We will post information on how to get free passes a week in advance of the taping. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for notice of postings. The broadcast episodes will air on PBS as part of our upcoming Season 49.

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Featured News Taping Announcement

New tapings: Maggie Rogers, Kacey Musgraves, The War And Treaty, Gracie Abrams

Austin City Limits is proud to announce new summer tapings from a stellar slate of American originals for our golden anniversary Season 50: critically acclaimed producer/songwriter/performer Maggie Rogers returns on May 30 with songs from her new album Don’t Forget Me; celebrated singer-songwriter Kacey Musgraves returns for her third headlining appearance on June 3 to showcase her acclaimed new release Deeper Well; powerhouse act The War And Treaty return to the ACL stage on June 28 for their second feature slot; and 2024 Grammy Best New Artist nominee Gracie Abrams makes her ACL debut on July 30 with new music from her upcoming sophomore album The Secret of Us.

Maggie Rogers. Photo by Maddy Rotman.

GRAMMY® Award-nominated producer/songwriter/performer Maggie Rogers recently shared her third studio album, Don’t Forget Me, out now via Capitol Records.  Rogers co-produced her new album with Ian Fitchuk (Kacey Musgraves, Maren Morris) at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, writing eight of its 10 songs with him and penning two alone. Shawn Everett (Brittany Howard, The War on Drugs) mixed and the album was mastered by Emily Lazar (Beck, Coldplay), who has mastered all of Rogers’ albums to date. Praising the album’s “transcendent songwriting,” SPIN said, “with Don’t Forget Me, Rogers sounds fully confident.” Rolling Stone said, “For such a heavy emotional lift, the album is an easygoing listen, perfect for a Sunday-afternoon drive.” In this feature, The New Yorker praised the album as “the loosest and most elemental music she’s made…burly, coltish, tender, fun,” while Pitchfork declared, “the singer-songwriter’s third album is her strongest yet, the sounds of a wise, clear-eyed melodious prodigy coming into her own voice.  Originally from Maryland, Rogers released her breakthrough EP Now That The Light Is Fading in 2017. Widely hailed as an artist to watch, Rogers released her critically acclaimed Capitol Records debut album Heard It In A Past Life in January 2019 and immediately found tremendous success: entering Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart at No. 1 and debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The album earned praise from the likes of NPR, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, TIME Magazine, Vogue, and many more. Heard It In A Past Life also landed Rogers a nomination for Best New Artist at the 62nd GRAMMY® Awards and led to performances on major TV shows including Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Austin City Limits, Today, and more. The album, which contains the platinum hits “Light On” and “Alaska,” has amassed over one billion combined global streams and is certified Gold in the U.S. In 2022, Rogers released her follow up album, Surrender, to widespread acclaim and embarked on two sold-out headline tours across Europe and North America including her Summer of ’23 Tour, which included stops at legendary venues like Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, Forest Hills Stadium in NYC and the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.  Rogers kicks off her “Don’t Forget Me Tour, Part 1” May 23 at Gallagher Square at Petco Park in San Diego, CA, and will perform two nights at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado (May 27 + May 28). The “Don’t Forget Me Tour, Part II” — Rogers’ first-ever arena outing — will launch on October 9th at Moody Center in Austin, TX and include shows at New York City’s Madison Square Garden (October 19) and the Kia Forum in Inglewood, CA (November 2).

Kacey Musgraves. Photo by Kelly Christine Sutton.

Kacey Musgraves has always been a little bit magic. From the tumbling sparkle of Laurel Canyon acoustics that cascade into “Cardinal,” the swirling opener on the seven-time Grammy winner’s fifth album, Deeper Well, the metaphysical and incandescent are even more present and powerful from a woman whose songs have cast a glow on how evolved people live since her first single “Merry Go ‘Round” charmed the world over a decade ago with its hypocrisy-skewering appeal. If there’s one thing Musgraves has done across one of modern music’s most expansive and adventurous creative journeys, it’s trust her gut. Glistening folk-pop and country explorations with just enough bluegrass to spin the modern arrangements organically, she wears these songs like a second skin. For Deeper Well, the introspective writer found herself drawn to NYC’s legendary Electric Lady studio. Working with longtime co-producers Ian Fitchuk and Daniel Tashian, the music on Deeper Well is almost chimeric: rolling acoustic guitars, puffy clouds of strings and synth, warm bass punctuations, layered harmonies, moments of Celtic melody and plenty of room on the tracks for Musgraves’ silvery vocals. On the bright, almost folky title track, the 30-something songstress surveys her life and priorities, recognizing what feeds her, drains her and even examines the Texas childhood she’s left behind on her way to now. “Sonically, I’ve been craving classic American songwriting,” she says. “Real songs. No gimmicks. The color palette of where those songs came from was everything I felt pulled to. New York is one of the places that kind of record came from. Simon & Garfunkel, the Greenwich Village clubs, fingerpicking and James Taylor. Social commentary. Storytelling. I always look for honesty in terms of the songs, and this record is no different. Unconsciously, I think that’s part of what drew us to taking our stories to New York City.” Deeply personal, universally true, Deeper Well is a coming of enlightenment song collection that embraces fear, vulnerability and the joy found beyond the doubt most sentient people wrestle. “Love is the prism,” says the sloe-eyed songwriter, “and my role in it. I make sense of the world around me by looking for balance and I’d like to think this album is for anyone who’s living life and paying attention.”

The War And Treaty. Photo by Austin Hargrave.

Founded in 2014 by the husband-and-wife duo Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter, The War And Treaty has emerged as one of the most electrifying new acts in American music. The Nashville-based pair recently garnered their first-ever GRAMMY nominations for Best American Roots Song and the all-genre Best New Artist, along with a 2024 Duo of the Year nomination from the Academy of Country Music. This follows an exciting year of honors for the pair including their first-ever Duo of the Year nomination from the Country Music Association and nominations for this year’s CMT Music Awards for Duo/Group Video of the Year and for CMT Performance of the Year. Further recent recognition has come from the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Grand Ole Opry, and the Americana Music Association. With a lionhearted sonic blend, both roaring with passion and tender to the touch, The Tennessean notes, “they are unlike any other act in music.” The War And Treaty’s 2023 major label debut album Lover’s Game (Mercury Nashville) was met with critical praise, with the Associated Press claiming, “The colossally talented pair continue their commando, no-limits journey to the top of the music world.” Drawing respect across the board, they have gone on to appear as top-flight collaborators, including the latest “Hey Driver” with Zach Bryan. The group also just released their first new single of 2024, “Stealing A Kiss” – a seductive envelope of country soul that they are becoming well known for. The War And Treaty has captivated audiences across the globe from North America to Europe, Australia and beyond, while headlining their own shows and opening for a diverse group of living legends: Al Green, Brandi Carlile, Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, John Legend, Lauren Daigle, and Van Morrison among them. The War And Treaty made their ACL debut in Season 46 in 2020 during ACL’s limited audience pandemic tapings, and we are thrilled to welcome them back to light up the ACL stage, this time with a full live audience.

Gracie Abrams. Photo by Abby Waisler.

Gracie Abrams returns with the highly-anticipated new album, The Secret of Us, out June 21st on Interscope Records. The album’s newly-released lead single “Risk” was met with an outgoing of support and excitement from fans online as well as raves from Rolling Stone, Billboard, Nylon and more. The 24-year-old songwriter co-wrote the bubbly yet incisive new track with longtime friend Audrey Hobert and took a hands-on role producing the new single alongside her friend and frequent collaborator, the National’s Aaron Dessner.  The Secret of Us will come nearly a year since her debut album, Good Riddance, which Gracie released in February 2023 and Rolling Stone hailed “one of 2023’s Best Debuts.” Good Riddance earned Gracie her first ever Grammy nod at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards with a nomination for the highly coveted Best New Artist. Since making her debut in 2019, Gracie Abrams has emerged as one of the most compelling singer-songwriters of her generation, earning the admiration of such like minded artists as Taylor Swift, Lorde, Billie Eilish, and Olivia Rodrigo. A consummate songwriter who names Joni Mitchell as her most formative influence, she penned her first song at age eight, then went on to amass a devoted following on the strength of her emotionally intimate lyrics and DIY sensibilities. With the arrival of her breakout debut project minor in summer 2020, she received glowing reviews from the likes of NME, who praised her “painfully honest tales of heartbreak draped in delicate melodies that carry much more intrigue than the usual run-of-the-mill singer-songwriter.” The seven-song effort features her beloved singles “21,” “I miss you, I’m sorry,” and “Long Sleeves.” In late 2021, Abrams returned with This Is What It Feels Like, a 12-track project exploring such complex emotional experiences as self-betrayal, insecurity, and failed attempts at connection. Soon after completing her sold-out North American headline tour for This Is What It Feels Like, she set to work on her debut album. Abrams kicked off 2022 with a headline tour of North America followed by a support slot on Olivia Rodrigo’s tour and reconnected with Dessner to release two songs “Block me out” and “Difficult.” In early 2023, Abrams released her debut album, Good Riddance, followed by a North American headline tour that sold out in under one hour. Gracie toured with Taylor Swift as the opening on select dates of her blockbuster Eras Tour and will continue as direct support when the Eras Tour returns to North America later this year. 

We’re excited to welcome these stellar acts to the ACL stage for our milestone 50th season. Want to be part of our audience? We will post information on how to get free passes a week in advance of each taping. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for notice of postings. The broadcast episodes will air on PBS this fall as part of our anniversary Season 50.