Categories
Featured Live Stream News

Live stream announcement: Parker McCollum 9/7

Austin City Limits is thrilled to announce we will be live streaming the debut appearance of fast-rising Texas singer/songwriter Parker McCollum on Sept. 7 at 8 pm CT. ACL offers fans worldwide the unique opportunity to watch this taping here in its entirety on our ACLTV YouTube Channel. The broadcast episode will air this fall on PBS as part of our upcoming Season 48.  

Singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Parker McCollum released his highly-anticipated major label debut album, Gold Chain Cowboy, becoming the highest-charting first week debut album of 2021. The Jon Randall-produced album follows his Hollywood Gold EP which was met with widespread critical acclaim and became the top-selling debut Country EP of 2020. McCollum earned his first-ever No. 1 hit with Gold Chain Cowboy’s double platinum-selling premiere single, “Pretty Heart,” and his follow-up single “To Be Loved By You” also hit No. 1 on the charts. McCollum has been named an ‘Artist to Watch’ by Rolling Stone, Billboard, SiriusXM, CMT, RIAA, and more, with American Songwriter noting, “The Texas native teeters on the edge of next-level superstardom.” MusicRow listed McCollum as their 2021 Breakout Artist of the Year and Apple also included him as one of their all-genre “Up Next Artists” Class of 2021. A dedicated road warrior, McCollum made his debut at the famed Grand Ole Opry in 2021 and he regularly sells out venues across the country including record-breaking crowds in Dallas (20,000), The Woodlands (16,500), Austin (7500+), Lubbock (7700+), Jackson, MS (5000+), Kearney, NE (3000+), Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, and three nights at Fort Worth’s iconic Billy Bob’s Texas. Earlier this year McCollum made his debut at RODEOHOUSTON to a sold-out crowd with over 73,000 tickets sold. McCollum earned his first ACM award for New Male Artist of the Year in March 2022 in Las Vegas.  McCollum also won his first CMT “Breakthrough Video of the Year” award, a fully fan-voted honor, in April 2022.

Join us here September 7 at 8 p.m. CT for Parker McCollum, and this fall on PBS for the broadcast premiere of Austin City Limits’ upcoming Season 48.  

Categories
Featured Live Stream News

Live stream announcement: Maren Morris

Austin City Limits is thrilled to announce that we will be live streaming our highly-anticipated debut taping with country star Maren Morris on October 31. ACL offers fans worldwide the unique opportunity to watch this taping here in its entirety on our ACLTV YouTube Channel. The broadcast episode will air early 2023 on PBS as part of our new Season 48.

One of country music’s brightest stars, the multi-platinum, award-winning singer-songwriter makes her first-ever appearance showcasing songs from her latest Humble Quest, nominated for Album of the Year at this year’s upcoming CMA Awards. Maren comes to our stage from her current U.S. headline Humble Quest Tour, which kicked off in June with high-profile stops at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, New York’s Radio City Music Hall, Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl, the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheater and more. 

The Nashville-based Texas native is one of the leading voices in music today, armed with incredible vocal stylings and songwriting chops, sheer talent, honest lyrics and an undeniable presence. Her third album Humble Quest was released earlier this year to widespread critical acclaim, with The New York Times praising her as “pocket-size but with alpha presence, like a country music Mighty Mouse.” Humble Quest is Maren’s most genuine collection of songs, tracing her journey to embrace the imperfections in her life through snapshots of her rises and falls, overshares, lullabies, wine-soaked conversations with one old friend and a final goodbye to another one. The album debuted at #2 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart, broke the record for most first day and first week streams globally on Amazon Music for a country album by a female artist and features the irresistible lead single “Circles Around This Town,” which was the most-added single at country radio upon impact and broke Amazon Music’s record for most streams for a country song debut by a female artist. 

Maren and her musician husband Ryan Hurd were nominated for a 2022 Grammy and two 2021 CMA Awards for their chart-topping #1, Platinum-certified first official duet “Chasing After You.” A bonafide hitmaker, Maren’s quadruple Platinum single “The Bones” dominated 2020, catapulted into the Top 40 and topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for 19 consecutive weeks, becoming the first solo female multi-week #1 at country radio since 2012. The single earned Maren Song of the Year and Female Artist of the Year at the 2021 ACM Awards, Female Vocalist of the Year, Single of the Year and Song of the Year at the 2020 CMA Awards, plus Female Artist of the year and Music Event of the Year at the 2020 ACM Awards and a 2021 Grammy nomination for Best Country Song. 

Her 2019 sophomore album GIRL shattered the record for the largest ever debut streaming week for a country album by a woman and was named Album of the Year at the 2019 CMA Awards, where Maren was the most nominated artist. GIRL arrived three years after Maren’s breakout, Platinum-certified debut album HERO, for which she won a Grammy for Best Country Solo Performance, New Female Vocalist of the Year at the 2017 ACM Awards and New Artist of the Year at the 2016 CMA Awards. HERO features the much-lauded singles that launched Maren’s career into the stratosphere— the double Platinum “My Church,” Platinum “80s Mercedes” and “I Could Use A Love Song,” and Gold “Rich.” The genre-bending artist’s 2018 global smash hit collaboration “The Middle” with EDM DJ Zedd is officially six times Platinum-certified. We’re thrilled to welcome Maren Morris to the ACL stage. 

Join us here October 31 at 8 p.m. CT for Maren Morris, and on PBS early next year for the broadcast episode. Tune in to your local PBS station on Saturday nights for brand new episodes of Austin City Limits; watch live on PBS or stream anytime at PBS.org.

Categories
Featured Live Stream News

Live stream announcement: Japanese Breakfast 4/20

photo by Tonje Thilesen

Austin City Limits is excited to announce we will live stream the highly-anticipated debut taping of Grammy-nominated indie-pop rock band Japanese Breakfast on April 20 at 8 p.m. CT. ACL offers fans worldwide a unique opportunity to watch the ACL taping live in its entirety on our ACLTV YouTube Channel. The broadcast episode will air this fall on PBS as part of our upcoming Season 48. 

2021 was a big year for Michelle Zauner. She released Jubilee, her third album with her band Japanese Breakfast, which quickly became one of the most praised releases of 2021, landing her two 2022 GRAMMY nominations for Best New Artist and Best Alternative Album, as well as placement on Best Of 2021 lists from Rolling Stone, People, Pitchfork, Entertainment Weekly, Billboard, NPR, Spin, Wall Street Journal and more. The album was also voted the #1 album of the year on NPR’s Listeners’ Poll, and its hit single “Be Sweet” was voted the #1 song of the year on Pitchfork’s Readers’ Poll. From the moment she began writing her new album, she knew that she wanted to call it Jubilee. After all, a jubilee is a celebration of the passage of time—a festival to usher in the hope of a new era in brilliant technicolor. Zauner’s first two albums garnered acclaim for the way they grappled with anguish; Psychopomp was written as her mother underwent cancer treatment, while Soft Sounds From Another Planet took the grief she held from her mother‘s death and used it as a conduit to explore the cosmos.  Jubilee is an album about processing life and love in the quest for happiness, and how that process sometimes requires us to step outside of ourselves. In addition to Jubilee, 2021 saw Zauner release her New York Times best-selling memoir Crying in H Mart, which she’s currently adapting for the screen for MGM’s Orion Pictures. Crying in H Mart is an unflinching, powerful memoir about growing up Korean American, losing her mother, and forging her own identity. The book has been on the New York Times Best Sellers’ list for 30 weeks. She also released the original soundtrack to the anticipated video game Sable, which Entertainment Weekly compared to David Bowie’s 1977 masterwork Low and Pitchfork said is “a streamlined glimpse into her versatility as a narrative artist.” Michelle Zauner first appeared on our stage at the 2021 ACL Hall of Fame celebration to salute honorees Wilco and we’re thrilled to have her return with Japanese Breakfast.

Join us here on April 20 at 8 p.m. CT for this performance by Japanese Breakfast. Join us this fall on PBS for the broadcast premiere of Austin City Limits’ upcoming Season 48.

Categories
Featured Live Stream News

Live stream announcement: Cimafunk

Photo by Michael Alford.

Austin City Limits is excited to announce we will live stream our upcoming taping with Cuban sensation Cimafunk on May 3 at 8 p.m. CT. Watch one of music’s most talked about live performers, Cimafunk, and his nine-piece band from Havana, take the stage for an electric ACL debut. ACL offers fans worldwide the unique opportunity to watch the taping live in its entirety on our ACLTV YouTube Channel. The broadcast episode will air this fall on PBS as part of our upcoming Season 48.  

Cimafunk is an Afro-Cuban rock star whose name refers to his heritage as a “cimarrón,” Cubans of African descent who resisted and escaped slavery, as well as to the essence of his music that aims to subvert conventional sounds with rhythmic innovation. As innovative funk forefather George Clinton of Parliament-Funkadelic fame says, “he is the one, the next one.” By bringing out the best in Cuban rhythms and traditions and infusing sounds and styles from Africa and the U.S., Cimafunk has created something unique and special, both in terms of music and the values he stands for. His monumental second album El Alimento, released in October 2021, received overwhelming praise: Rolling Stone ranked it #3 of the Best Spanish-Language and Bilingual Albums of 2021 and #23 of the 50 Best Albums of 2021. El Alimento was also among NPR’s Best Latin Music of 2021 and #1 of Le Monde’s Latin Music favorites. Singles also made their way through 2021 lists: “Rómpelo” ft. Lupe Fiasco was among NPR Alt.Latino’s best singles of 2021, and “Funk Aspirin” ft. George Clinton in Remezcla’s 10 Best Indie Pop, Rock, & Chill Songs of 2021. Co-produced by Cimafunk and Grammy-award winning producer Jack Splash (CeeLo Green, Kendrick Lamar, Alicia Keys), the sonically dynamic collection masterfully blends Afro-Cuban sounds and rhythms with global funk, hip hop and soul, resulting in a progressive, head-bopping celebration of black music’s power to eclipse borders and cross-pollinate across cultures. Written and recorded over 2020, the album served as an alimento for the soul, a motivation to persevere through the pandemic, as Cimafunk spent countless hours studying decades of musical influences to help understand who he is musically and culturally, and thus, where he wanted this album to take him. According to The New York Times, Cimafunk is on “Quest to Create One Nation Under a Groove.” Cimafunk became a household name in Cuba with his 2018 hit “Me Voy,” which generated a frenzy, creating a movement in Havana and throughout the island, selling out venues with thousands of fans excited to dance to the groove of Afro-Cuban Funk and millennials replicating his style and appearance, one that draws heavily on his African roots and the black showmen of the 20th century. Named by Billboard as a “Top 10 Latin Artist to watch,” Cimafunk stole the show at the 2019 South by Southwest Music Festival and has toured aggressively in the U.S. and Europe, making a name for himself as one of today’s great showmen, performing an electric live show with his nine-piece band from Havana.

Join us here on May 3 at 8 p.m. CT for this much-anticipated performance by Cimafunk. Join us this fall on PBS for the broadcast premiere of Austin City Limits’ upcoming Season 48.

Categories
Featured Live Stream News

Live stream announcement: Allison Russell

Austin City Limits is excited to announce we will live stream the debut taping of acclaimed singer and songwriter Allison Russell on May 25 at 8 p.m. CT. This truly is one for the record books – the 1000th taping of Austin City Limits! We are thrilled to welcome this exceptional artist to the ACL stage for this historic milestone. ACL offers fans worldwide the unique opportunity to watch the taping live in its entirety via our ACLTV YouTube Channel. The broadcast episode will air this fall on PBS as part of our upcoming Season 48.  

After years of collaborations with like-minded artists, Allison Russell’s first-ever solo project Outside Child was released in 2021 to critical acclaim and earned a trio of 2022 Grammy nominations, including Best Americana Album. Russell, a self-taught singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and co-founder of folk collective Our Native Daughters and duo Birds of Chicago, unpacks her youth in searing detail. Rolling Stone raves, “Russell turned her brutally tough childhood into stunning art.” Raised in Montreal, Russell imbues her music with the colors of her city – the light, the landscape, the language – but also the trauma that she suffered there. It is a heartbreaking reflection on a childhood no one should have to endure, and at the same time a powerful reclamation – asserted from a place of healing, of motherhood, of partnership – and from a new home made in Nashville. The record features many of the artistic family members she has found there including Yola, Erin Rae, The McCrary Sisters, Ruth Moody, Jamie Dick, Dan Knobler and her partner JT Nero. Outside Child, says Russell “is about resilience, survival, transcendence, the redemptive power of art, community, connection, and chosen family.” Singing about this on the double Grammy-nominated “Nightflyer,” Russell ponders the healing power of motherhood, using the track’s wide-open expanse to convey the strength she didn’t know she had. Here, the line “I am the mother of the evening star / I am the love that conquers all” is “the most defiantly triumphant, hopeful line I’ve ever written,” says Russell. “That’s about the birth of my daughter and how that transformed me.” Though she endured a fraught relationship with her own mother, Russell remembers how she’d crawl underneath the piano and listen to her mother play. “I would hum along with her,” Russell recalls. “She said I was humming before I could talk. I was able to feel some kind of comfort or love or connection in a way that she couldn’t verbally or physically express – but I could feel in her music that there was love in her.” Ultimately, Outside Child is not only a radical reclamation of a traumatic childhood and lost home, it is a lantern light for survivors of all stripes – a fervent reminder of the eleventh hour, resuscitative power of art. Fellow songwriter and poet Joe Henry raves, “Outside Child draws water from the dark well of a violent past. The songs themselves ––though iron-hard in their concerns–– are exultant: exercising haunted dream-like clean bedsheets snapped and hung out into broad daylight, and with the romantic poet’s lust for living and audacity of endurance.” Russell’s work has also been recognized with three nominations at this year’s 2022 Americana Music Awards: Artist of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year. We’re thrilled to bring Russell to the ACL stage as we celebrate a landmark occasion with our milestone 1K taping moment.

Join us here on May 25 at 8 p.m. CT for Allison Russell. Join us this fall on PBS for the broadcast premiere of Austin City Limits’ upcoming Season 48.  

Categories
Live Stream News

Live stream: Adia Victoria

Austin City Limits is excited to announce we will be live streaming the debut taping of critically acclaimed singer/songwriter Adia Victoria on Oct. 3 at 8 pm CT. ACL offers fans worldwide the unique opportunity to watch this taping here in its entirety on our ACLTV YouTube Channel. The broadcast episode will air in early 2023 on PBS as part of our upcoming Season 48.  

Adia Victoria is a daughter of the South, a born and bred South Carolinian who now makes her home in Nashville, Tennessee. It’s no surprise, then, that stories of the South find their way into her music, especially her latest, A Southern Gothic, her third full-length release. Sonically, the record is equal parts historical montage and modern prophesy, dark and light, love and loathing. Put simply, it is the musical embodiment of the relationship that so many people, especially Black women, have with the South. Indeed, even as Victoria’s lyrics feel weighted by a Southern heaviness that is so often smothering, the music is also buoyed by rhythm and melody that illuminate the best of what this region has to offer. “You are getting that chill music, that vibe,” she explains, “but I wanted you to also get that ethereal feel of the South. I wanted you to get the humidity of it, the heat, the ways we reach to the pits of hell and the heights of heaven. I wanted this record to encapsulate the extremes of the South.” Much of the recording took place during the early days of the pandemic in Paris, France with Victoria and creative partner Mason Hickman becoming a two-person band of sorts until the world re-opened and they entered the studio with executive producer T-Bone Burnett. The result is a project that fits perfectly into Victoria’s catalogue and the rich legacy of Black Southern storytelling, even as it stands alone as a freshly innovative work. “With this project, I was so anchored in the past and the Black brilliance that came before me that it was kind of a road map,” says Victoria. “They said, ‘Sweetie, we’re gonna locate you, and we’re gonna allow you to move it forward.’”

Join us here October 3 at 8 p.m. CT for Adia Victoria, and on PBS early next year for the broadcast episode. Tune in October 1 for the broadcast premiere of Austin City Limits new Season 48; watch live on PBS or stream anytime at PBS.org.