Austin City Limits

We at Austin City Limits are greatly saddened to learn of the passing of the great singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen at the age of 82.

Transcending genre, the Montreal native was one of the most unique figures in all of popular music. Many songwriters are credited with bringing literary acumen to their work, usually without any real justification. But for Cohen it’s true – he’d already had a career as a poet and a novelist before turning to music as his main artistic outlet, and he brought his full authorial weight to the songs he recorded. His lyrics reveal a craftsman’s eye, knowing exactly what words to include and what to leave out, and his melodies strip down to support the libretto without becoming forgettable backdrops. While often accused of dwelling too often in the darkness, his songs travel a wide range of emotional terrain, from anger to joy to confusion to, yes, depression, exploring them all with an intellectual’s wit and a poet’s sensitivity. Cohen had a special affinity for navigating that mysterious space between the sacred and the secular – unsurprising for this grandson of a rabbi and follower of Buddhism. His ability to blur the lines between the sensual and the divine highlighted the truth in unbridled passion and the grace in a sense of wonder – not for nothing did Cohen once claim he “Came So Far For Beauty.”

Cohen had a special connection to Austin. On the 1979 tour captured on the live album Field Commander Cohen, he used the Austin jazz fusion group Passenger as the core of his road band, and guitarist Mitch Watkins, keyboardist Bill Ginn, saxophonist Paul Ostermayer and, especially, bassist Roscoe Beck would be off-and-on staples of his backup groups from then on. (Longtime backing singer Julie Christensen also did time in Austin prior to joining Cohen’s troop.) Perhaps it was this connection that led to his decision to make his major U.S. television debut on Austin City Limits. Recorded on Halloween night in 1988 and broadcast in 1989, Cohen’s hour-long episode was and is one for the ages, a tour-de-force of songcraft and performance that has become one of our most beloved and requested shows.

“Leonard was not much aware of ACL until his Austin friends and cohorts convinced him to do the show,” remarks Executive Producer Terry Lickona. “The band played a late show in L.A. the night before and took the red-eye straight to Austin, arriving just in time for rehearsal. They were all wearing the same clothes (Leonard never did change), and his only request was for a bottle of tequila, which the band easily dispensed with. The show was mesmerizing, as was the reaction from viewers who had never heard or seen anything quite like him. Leonard told me some years later that that Austin City Limits performance ‘saved his career in America’ at a time when he had all but been forgotten.”

Cohen returned in 1993 in support of his trailblazing record The Future. The maestro was so pleased with the results he included two of the songs on his 1994 concert record Cohen Live. We’re honored to have these two classic appearances to document his unforgettable legacy.  You can watch the first one below. 

Austin City Limits mourns the passing of enigmatic and eclectic singer and song stylist Leon Redbone. He was 69, though, in typical Redbone fashion, his death announcement gave his age as 127.

Little is known about Redbone’s background, and he liked it that way. (One story goes that his desire for privacy was so intense that he gave legendary music talent scout John Hammond the phone number to a dial-a-joke service instead of his own.) It was eventually revealed that he was born Dickran Gobalian in Cyprus in 1949, emigrating to Canada in the mid-sixties. He first began performing in Toronto in the early 1970s with an unusual repertoire consisting of pre-World War II – sometimes pre-twentieth century – tunes from the vaudeville, Tin Pan Alley, blues and jazz traditions. His distinctive mumble-mouthed growl, superb guitar work, Panama hat, trademark bushy mustache and sunglasses caught the attention of Bob Dylan, who recommended him to Rolling Stone in 1974, garnering the singer a full-length feature in the magazine a year before he released an album. He released his debut On the Track in 1975, featuring beloved Warner Bros. cartoon character and kindred spirit Michigan J. Frog on the cover, the first in a string of albums resurrecting American songs long forgotten in the post World War era. “Leon introduced a whole new generation to some great American classics,” notes ACL producer Jeff Peterson. 

Though he never sold huge amounts of records or singles, Redbone became a familiar voice through commercials for Chevrolet, All laundry detergent, Ken-L dog food and, most memorably, Budweiser beer, singing “This Bud’s for you” while relaxing on a surfboard. He also provided the theme songs to television shows including Mr. Belvedere and Harry and the Hendersons. He was a favorite of Johnny Carson, appearing regularly on The Tonight Show, and was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live twice in the show’s first season. He vaulted back into popular culture after duetting with Zooey Deschanel on “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” for the soundtrack to the now-classic Christmas film Elf, also providing the voice for the character Leon the Snowman. He retired in 2015, after which fan Jack White reissued both his debut album and an LP of early recordings on his Third Man imprint.

“He seemed like a novelty act to some, and he loved to play up the mystique, but when you heard him sing and play, you knew Leon was the real deal,” says ACL executive producer Terry Lickona. “When I booked him for ACL during my first year as producer, he was part of a ‘package’ tour with Tom Waits, so we were able to tape that legendary show with Tom on the same night. Among his many other contributions, we can thank Leon Redbone for bringing Tom Waits to the ACL stage!”

Redbone appeared on ACL in 1979 in support of his third album Champagne Charlie. Here he is putting his own distinctive spin on Blind Blake’s “Diddy Wa Diddy.”

Austin City Limits #406: Leon Redbone – “Diddy Wa Diddy” from Austin City Limits on Vimeo.

We here at Austin City Limits are saddened to learn of the death of Western swing legend Leon Rausch.  The Texas Playboys singer passed on May 14 in Fort Worth. He was 91.

Born in Billings, Missouri in 1927, Rausch grew up in the Show-Me State, singing with the family trio. After serving in the armed forces during the Korean War, he and his wife Vonda moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, with Rausch finding work in a glass factory and singing on the weekends with Johnnie Lee Wills, the younger brother of Western swing titan Bob Wills. The elder Wills recruited Rausch to the Texas Playboys in 1958 for a partnership that lasted until 1963, when Rausch left to form his own band.

The singer reunited with Wills for the latter’s final album, 1973’s For the Last Time. After Wills passed in 1975, leadership of the Playboys passed on to Rausch and steel guitarist Leon McAuliffe. Rausch continued to be the voice of Western swing, with and without the Playboys, until his death. He will be greatly missed.

“Leon was not only the voice of The Texas Playboys in their final days, he pretty much personified what made their music so much fun to listen – and dance – to,” remarked ACL executive producer Terry Lickona. “Western Swing has lost a real champion.”

Rausch appeared on Austin City Limits four times, including the debut episode of ACL’s first season, and most recently with Asleep At the Wheel in Season 41. Below are a pair of clips from those appearances: “San Antonio Rose,” the first song from the Playboys’ first appearance on the show in 1976, and “Milk Cow Blues,” in collaboration with the Wheel in 2015.  

Austin City Limits #101: Texas Playboys – San Antonio Rose from Austin City Limits on Vimeo.

Austin City Limits #4102: Asleep at the Wheel With Leon Rausch – Milk Cow Blues from Austin City Limits on Vimeo.