Categories
Episode Recap Featured New Broadcast News

Episode premiere: Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats/Adia Victoria

Austin City Limits showcases next-generation blues and soul in a new hour with one of music’s finest live acts, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats sharing the hour with soulful Nashville singer-songwriter Adia Victoria. The new installment premieres January 14 at 7pm CT/8pm ET, as ACL’s Season 48 resumes with six new episodes. The Peabody Award-winning program, recorded live at ACL’s studio home in Austin, Texas, continues its extraordinary run as the longest-running music television show in history. ACL gives viewers a front-row seat to the best in live performance as this American music institution nears its remarkable half-century milestone. ACL airs weekly on PBS stations nationwide (check local listings) and full episodes are made available to stream online at pbs.org/austincitylimits following the initial broadcast.  

Denver’s Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats have become one of the premier rock and soul bands of the past decade. The road-tested, highly acclaimed live outfit made a sensational ACL debut in Season 42 in 2016; now, in their return appearance, Rateliff and his mighty seven-piece Night Sweats showcase their bonafides with songs from their latest The Future.  Fueled by a crackling three-piece horn section, the combo turn in a powerhouse performance filled with highlights from the album, including the gut punch set opener “Survivor” and anthemic “Face Down In The Moment,” alongside the fan-favorite soul banger, “I Need Never Get Old” from their 2015 self-titled breakthrough. The band delivers non-stop grooves as frontman Rateliff skillfully switches from electric guitar to keyboards to acoustic, and, to wild, appreciative applause, the ‘Sweats bring things to a rollicking close with the high-energy rouser “Love Don’t.”

Adia Victoria and her band perform on Austin City Limits, Oct. 3, 2022. Photo by Scott Newton.

Next up is Spartanburg, South Carolina native Adia Victoria, making her ACL debut with numbers from the lauded A Southern Gothic, a 2022 Americana Music Awards nominee for Album of the Year, executive produced by T-Bone Burnett. A daughter of the South whose work continues the rich legacy of Black Southern storytelling, the Nashville-based singer-songwriter explores her relationship to the South and the South’s relationship with her as a Black woman. “What we do I consider to be church,” says Victoria, “Because I consider the blues to be sacred.” A captivating performer and storyteller, Victoria shares many of the stories behind her “gothic blues” songs. “This first song is about a young girl from South Carolina who runs away from home, too far, too fast,” says Victoria before sliding into the smoldering burner “Far From Dixie.” Her feral songs capture tension and confront difficult truths, touching on love and anger, for a spellbinding debut.

Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats setlist:

SURVIVOR

I NEED NEVER GET OLD

FACE DOWN IN THE MOMENT

AND IT’S STILL ALRIGHT

THE FUTURE

LOVE DON’T

Adia Victoria setlist:

FAR FROM DIXIE

MAGNOLIA BLUES

MY OH MY

AIN’T KILLED ME YET

SOUTH GOTTA CHANGE

Season 48 Broadcast Schedule (Second Half):

January 7   Austin City Limits 8th Annual Hall of Fame Honors Sheryl Crow

January 14   Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats/ Adia Victoria

January 21   Adrian Quesada Boleros Psicodélicos

January 28   The War On Drugs

February 4   Pavement

February 11   Maren Morris

February 18   Spoon

February 25   Austin City Limits 8th Annual Hall of Fame Honors Joe Ely

Watch live on PBS, or stream anytime. Viewers can visit acltv.com for news regarding episode schedules, future tapings and select live stream updates or by following ACL on Facebook, Twitter and IG. Fans can also browse the ACL YouTube channel for exclusive songs, behind-the-scenes videos and full-length artist interviews.

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 48th 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 Austin PBS 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 and funding is provided in part by Dell Technologies, Workrise, the Austin Convention Center Department, Cirrus Logic and AXS Ticketing. Additional funding is provided by the Friends of Austin City Limits. Learn more about Austin City Limits, programming and history at acltv.com.

Categories
Featured New Broadcast News

Austin City Limits announces full Season 48 broadcast schedule

Iconic television series Austin City Limits proudly announces the second half of Season 48, with six new episodes that start airing in January 2023 as part of the esteemed program’s fourteen-episode season. ACL returns with a stellar slate of all-new broadcast episodes, showcasing magnetic performances that feature some of today’s most talked-about live acts including recent 2023 Grammy Award nominees Spoon, Maren Morris and The War on Drugs. The program returns on Saturday, January 7 at 7pm CT/8pm ET with a special broadcast, Austin City Limits 8th Annual Hall of Fame Honors Sheryl Crow highlighting new inductee Sheryl Crow and featuring all-star performances; a special companion Hall of Fame hour salutes fellow inductee Joe Ely and will close out Season 48 on February 25. The Peabody Award-winning program, recorded live at ACL’s studio home in Austin, Texas, continues its extraordinary run as the longest-running music television show in history. ACL gives viewers a front-row seat to the best in live performance as this American music institution nears its remarkable half-century milestone. ACL airs weekly on PBS stations nationwide (check local listings) and full episodes are made available to stream online at pbs.org/austincitylimits following the initial broadcast. 

Since the inaugural ACL Hall of Fame in 2014 honoring Willie Nelson and Stevie Ray Vaughan, the music-filled salutes have become fan-favorites. For the first time, Austin City Limits takes fans inside the epic celebration with a pair of deep-dive one-hour specials from this year’s Inductions, recorded live in Austin, Texas on October 27, 2022. The special installments, Austin City Limits 8th Annual Hall of Fame Honors, will bookend the second half of the season and salute newly-minted inductees Sheryl Crow and Joe Ely with individual hours, featuring guest performances showcasing each artist’s Hall of Fame tribute, along with extended highlights including memorable induction speeches and vintage clips from the inductees’ appearances on Austin City Limits

The first HOF episode premieres January 7 at 7pm CT/8pm ET, celebrating Sheryl Crow. Music greats Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell, Brittney Spencer and Lucius’ Jess Wolfe salute the nine-time Grammy Award-winning artist in a must-see hour featuring exclusive ACL collaborative performances. Rounding out Season 48 on February 25 st 7pm CT/8pm ET is a Hall of Fame tribute to Texas legend Joe Ely, Austin City Limits 8th Annual Hall of Fame Honors Joe Ely, featuring a musical salute from revered Lone Star musicians and Ely’s longtime collaborators in Texas supergroup The Flatlanders, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock, along with fellow Texans Rodney Crowell and Marcia Ball. The hour features a memorable induction by renowned Texan author Lawrence Wright along with historic highlights from the influential Ely’s eleven appearances on the ACL stage.

Maren Morris performs on Austin City Limits, 2022. Photo by Scott Newton.

Season 48 continues in January with a diverse slate spotlighting multiple 2023 Grammy nominees in full-hour performances: One of modern rock’s premier bands, and first-time Grammy nominees, Austin’s own Spoon, return to the ACL stage for their fifth appearance, showcasing their celebrated tenth album, Lucifer On The Sofa, Grammy-nominated for Best Rock Album; multi-platinum, award-winning country star and Texas native Maren Morris makes a highly-anticipated ACL debut in a radiant, career-spanning hour with the hitmaker showcasing gems from her latest Humble Quest, which earned a trio of 2023 Grammy nominations, including Best Country Album; acclaimed rock act The War on Drugs return for their second appearance with selections from the Grammy-nominated I Don’t Live Here Anymore. Legendary alternative rock pioneers Pavement make their first-ever appearance on the series in a career-spanning hour marking their thirtieth anniversary. Rocking soul act Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats return for their second appearance with their latest The Future in an ecstatic live performance; sharing the hour is soulful Nashville singer-songwriter Adia Victoria, making her ACL debut with numbers from her acclaimed A Southern Gothic, a 2022 Americana Music Awards nominee for Album of the Year.

Adrian Quesada performs with Girl Ultra on Austin City Limits, 2022. Photo by Scott Newton.

A Season 48 highlight is the first solo appearance of multi-hyphenate Adrian Quesada, returning to the ACL stage to bring to life his acclaimed Spanish-language album, Boleros Psicodélicos, a love letter to the psychedelic Latin love songs “baladas” of the sixties and seventies; Quesada performs with a nine-piece band joined by an international line-up of guest vocalists from across the spectrum of contemporary Latin music, including  iLe, Natalia Clavier, Girl Ultra and Clemente Castillo, in a thrilling must-see hour. 

“After a historic kick-off to our new season this Fall, Austin City Limits rolls into the New Year with another round of firsts and favorites,” says ACL executive producer Terry Lickona. “For the first time ever, we’ll split our annual Hall of Fame celebration into two full episodes. We’ll showcase a unique Latin music genre that has never been presented on American television, plus some rock, indie and country music favorites – something for every musical palette.”

Season 48 Broadcast Schedule (Second Half):

January 7   Austin City Limits 8th Annual Hall of Fame Honors Sheryl Crow

January 14   Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats/ Adia Victoria

January 21   Adrian Quesada Boleros Psicodélicos

January 28   The War On Drugs

February 4   Pavement

February 11   Maren Morris

February 18   Spoon

February 25   Austin City Limits 8th Annual Hall of Fame Honors Joe Ely

ACL’s Season 48 premiered in October 2022 with a historic line-up spotlighting an unprecedented number of female artists, including a sterling season opener featuring celebrated singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile, currently nominated for seven 2023 Grammy Awards; and many lauded acts topping 2022 Year-End Best Lists, including synth-pop duo Sylvan Esso, indie-folk singer-songwriter Tamara Lindeman (aka The Weather Station) and Americana singer-songwriter Allison Russell. The season featured ACL debuts from breakout artists including Japanese Breakfast and Arlo Parks along with indie-pop duo Lucius. ACL shone a spotlight on Lone Star country with breakout star Parker McCollum and the swan song of veteran Robert Earl Keen capped by ACL Hall of Famer Lyle Lovett making his first appearance in over a decade. Rounding out the first half of Season 48 was the electrifying ACL debut of Cuban funk sensations and newly-minted Grammy nominees Cimafunk and The Tribe.

Watch live on PBS, or stream anytime on PBS.org. The series will continue to air fan-favorite encore episodes through the end of 2022. Viewers can visit acltv.com for news regarding live streams, future tapings and episode schedules or by following ACL on Facebook, Twitter and IG. Fans can also browse the ACL YouTube channel for exclusive songs, behind-the-scenes videos and full-length artist interviews.

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 48th 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 Austin PBS 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 and funding is provided in part by Dell Technologies, Workrise, the Austin Convention Center Department, Cirrus Logic and AXS Ticketing. Additional funding is provided by the Friends of Austin City Limits. Learn more about Austin City Limits, programming and history at acltv.com.

Austin City Limits Hall of Fame

In 2014, Austin PBS, KLRU-TV — creator and producer of the legendary PBS show Austin City Limits — established the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame to recognize legendary musicians and key individuals who have been instrumental in making television’s longest-running popular music show an institution. Each year a new class of honorees are inducted and celebrated at a live event taped to air on PBS. It is also a historical archive, educational resource and celebration of Austin City Limits —telling the story of the show through photos, a timeline/anthology mural and in the near future, an interactive database of vintage Austin City Limits performances and video footage of interviews, behind-the-scenes and never before seen performances throughout the decades. Honorees to-date include Willie Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, Lloyd Maines, Asleep at the Wheel, Loretta Lynn, Flaco Jiménez, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Bonnie Raitt, Kris Kristofferson, B.B. King, Rosanne Cash, The Neville Brothers, Roy Orbison, Marcia Ball, Ray Charles, Los Lobos, Lyle Lovett, Shawn Colvin, Buddy Guy, Lucinda Williams, Wilco, Alejandro Escovedo, Joe Ely and Sheryl Crow.
Austin City Limits 8th Annual Hall of Fame is produced by Austin PBS and funding is provided in part by AXS Ticketing, American Honda Motor Company, Netspend Corporation and YETI.

Categories
Featured News Taping Recap

Taping recap: Adia Victoria

Though wielding an acoustic guitar and a sultry voice, Adia Victoria isn’t just a singer/songwriter. The South Carolina native’s presence, charisma, expansive musical vision and willingness to confront difficult truths put her on a level beyond folky introspection and comfortable ambience, giving her the rocking sound as projected on her third album A Southern Gothic. Tonight the artist brought her socially conscious acid blues to the ACL stage for her taping debut, live streamed around the world. 

“Good evening, Austin,” Victoria pronounced as she took the stage. “We’ve come all the way from Nashville to play these blues for you.” With a swampy, psychedelic sound, she and her three-piece band kicked the show off with the rumbling “Far From Dixie,” one of the jewels in Gothic’s crown. After commenting “I’m a bundle of butterflies and shaking in my red boots,” she launched into “Magnolia Blues,” a song of reminiscence that drew deeply from her region’s most influential musical export. Victoria really grabbed the blues by the conceptual horn on the slow-crawling “Mean Hearted Woman,” telling the “woman done me wrong” story from that woman’s point of view, and dedicating it to “every woman who’s ever been gaslit by a man in her life.” Victoria continued her guided tour of the South with “My Oh My,” another quietly intense slow burner. Incorporating a jangling strum akin to folk story songs, she explored the life of “lost” Southern girls in the evangelical church in the compelling “Whole World Knows.” 

Victoria introduced “Sea of Sand” as one of the first songs she ever wrote, and the defiant folk rocker proved an audience favorite, especially during the coda of her acoustic guitar contrasting with Mason Hickman’s grunged-out power chords. The songwriter put down her guitar for “Troubled Mind,” a song that began as a prayer, and allowed her band to lay out the music while she stalked the stage, microphone in hand. As the musicians kicked into the next number, Victoria introduced them to the crowd, throwing the spotlight on Hickman, bassist Jason Harris and drummer Daniel Closser. “This is a song about getting dumped,” she noted, as the music evolved into the menacing rumble of “Different Kind of Love.” She then led her boys into paying tribute to a primary inspiration by covering “You Was Born to Die,” a thumping 1933 tune from the catalog of the great bluesman Blind Willie McTell. Closser’s drum pound shored up Hickman’s boogie riff for “Ain’t Killed Me Yet,” a celebration of life through the lens of pure defiance, as represented by the feral howl she unleashed during the breakdown. 

Victoria re-donned her guitar for the final song, telling the crowd that she used to watch ACL with her grandmother, already knowing she would one day tread those boards herself. She then sang “South Gotta Change,” her only release during the year of the pandemic, a passionate protest song inspired by the deaths of George Floyd and Rep. John Lewis and dedicated to everyone who ever told her to shut up and sing. There was no way to follow that, so Victoria and her band took a bow and quit the stage. It was an excellent show, and we can’t wait for you to see when it airs early next year on your local PBS station. 

Adia Victoria on Austin City Limits, Season 48. Photos by Scott Newton.

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.

Categories
Featured News Taping Announcement

Taping announcements: Adia Victoria, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Adrian Quesada, Pavement, The War On Drugs and Spoon

Austin City Limits is thrilled to announce a stellar slate of October tapings for Season 48, including a number of highly-anticipated acts featured on our namesake ACL Festival this fall. On Oct. 3, we present eclectic and imaginative singer/songwriter Adia Victoria in her ACL debut. On Oct. 6, we welcome back rocking soul act Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats for their second appearance. Oct. 9 brings the first solo appearance of multi-hyphenate Adrian Quesada, returning to our stage to showcase his latest release, Boleros Psicodélicos. Oct. 10 brings legendary alternative rock pioneers Pavement to the stage for their ACL debut. On Oct. 16, we throw our doors open once again for Grammy-winning modern rock band The War On Drugs. Finally, on Oct. 19, we welcome Austin’s iconic favorite sons Spoon for their fifth taping. 

Adia Victoria. Photo by Huy Nguyen.

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.’”

Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats. Photo by Danny Clinch.

It took Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats less than five years to become one of the most recognizable new forces in contemporary rock ’n’ roll. Since 2015, Rateliff has led his seven-piece, horn-flanked Night Sweats, supplying the zeal of a whiskey-chugging Pentecostal preacher to songs about this world’s shared woes; their combustible mix of soul and rock quickly cemented them as the rare generational band who balance ecstatic live shows with engrossing and rich records. When the pandemic scuttled the tour for the songwriter’s 2020 solo album And It’s Still Alright, Rateliff returned to his Colorado homestead and penned a set of songs that synthesized his introspection with the Night Sweats’ anthemic inclinations. The result is The Future, the third Night Sweats album but the first to capture this octet’s true depth and breadth. An instant classic of eleven compulsive songs, The Future obviates the boundary between band and bandleader, between old expectations and what comes after. The playing of the Night Sweats mirrors the nuance of Rateliff’s writing throughout The Future. Though Rateliff and his fellow players have long been best friends who chatter constantly on a never-ending group text chain even when they’re off the road, the relationship could sometimes appear hierarchal to outsiders, a singer with his support. But producer Bradley Cook worked to integrate everyone’s ideas and fully harness the abilities of one of rock’s most soulful crews into something seamless and new. For so long, the future of Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats seemed settled and seen—a marquee soul-rock band that always had the best time. But The Future presents something more sustainable, interesting, and indeed open—a songwriter and band growing into bigger questions and sounds, into a future that allows them to remain recognizable and compelling.

Adrian Quesada. Photo by Cesar Berrios.

About 20 years ago, guitarist, producer and Black Pumas co-founder Adrian Quesada was driving in his home base of Austin, Texas when the 1975 balada classic “Esclavo y Amo” by Peruvian band Los Pasteles Verdes played on a local AM station. Quesada was mesmerized by the song’s dark, baroque melodrama. “I swear to God, I had to pull over because I had never heard anything like it,” he recalls with a laugh. “I was like, what the hell is this? Sounds like a romantic breakup on LSD. It completely, literally blew my mind. What Quesada had discovered was the sophisticated – and slightly delirious – cultural movement of balada music that blossomed throughout Latin America between the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. A refined collision of bossa nova smoothness, Beatlesque psychedelia and torrid bolero pathos, balada used art-pop instrumentation and the warmth of analogue recording to maximum effect. It employed songs about heartbreak and longing as a means to transport the listener to an opulent, cinematic fantasy world. Now, Quesada has penned a love letter to that golden era through Boleros Psicodélicos, a stunning album that lovingly recreates the specificity of the balada sound, adding a stellar list of guest vocalists, including Gaby Moreno, Natalia Clavier, Gabriel Garzón-Montano and former Calle 13 singer iLe, as well as intriguing contemporary touches and just a hint of irony. Psychedelic boleros are just one of the many genres that Quesada has touched on during an incredibly prolific career. He has collaborated with the likes of Prince, Los Lobos and Wu-Tang Clan’s GZA, and has been a member of such eclectic bands as Grupo Fantasma, Brownout and Ocote Soul Sounds. Black Pumas, the duo he formed in 2018 with singer/songwriter Eric Burton, has been nominated for six GRAMMYs and performed during the inauguration festivities of President Joe Biden in 2021.

Pavement. Photo by Moses Berkson.

Pavement are Mark Ibold, Scott “Spiral Stairs” Kannberg, Stephen Malkmus, Bob Nastanovich and Steve West. Among the most beloved acts to come out of the American underground in the 1990’s, the band released five era-defining albums – Slanted And Enchanted (1992), Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994), Wowee Zowee (1995), Brighten The Corners (1997) and Terror Twilight (1999) – before disbanding in 1999. The band reunited this year for its first shows in more than a decade, including a headline set at Primavera Sound. This fall they will tour throughout the US, EU, UK, and Japan. Pavement’s 2010 reunion saw them play four sold out shows in Central Park and top the bills of festivals worldwide including Coachella, Primavera Sound, and Pitchfork. 

The War On Drugs. Photo by Shawn Brackbill.

The War on Drugs have steadily emerged as one of this century’s great rock and roll synthesists, removing the gaps between the underground and the mainstream, between the obtuse and the anthemic, making records that wrestle a fractured past into a unified and engrossing present. Led by Adam Granduciel, The New Yorker called them “the best American ‘rock’ band of this decade” in support of their album A Deeper Understanding, for which they won the 2018 Grammy for Best Rock Album and were nominated for a BRIT Award for International Group of the Year. 2020 saw the release of LIVE DRUGS, featuring live interpretations of songs throughout their career, including off their 2014 breakthrough Lost In The Dream. Co-produced by Granduciel and Shawn Everett, their fifth studio album, I Don’t Live Here Anymore, “chips away some of their hazier edges in favor of sharper melodies, broadening the borders of the meticulous yet joyously simple sound [Granduciel] has perfected” (Pitchfork, Best New Music). It landed on numerous 2021 best albums of the year lists and garnered a second BRIT Award nomination. The band headlined Madison Square Garden in support of its release.

Spoon’s tenth album, Lucifer on the Sofa, is the band’s purest rock ’n roll record to date. Texas-made, it is the first set of songs that the quintet has put to tape in its hometown of Austin in more than a decade. Written and recorded over the last two years – both in and out of lockdown – these songs mark a shift toward something louder, wilder, and more full-color. 

Lucifer on the Sofa bottles the physical thrill of a band tearing up a packed room. It’s an album of intensity and intimacy, where the music’s harshest edges feel as vivid as the directions quietly murmured into the mic on the first-take. According to frontman Britt Daniel, “It’s the sound of classic rock as written by a guy who never did get Eric Clapton.” In fall of 2019, Daniel moved back to Austin from Los Angeles. A month later, guitarist/keyboardist Alex Fischel followed him with a car full of gear. The move to Texas added up for a lot of reasons: Daniel was born and grew up there, and his family never left. Drummer Jim Eno has his Public Hi-Fi studio in Austin, which allowed the band the luxury of recording at whatever pace they liked. The return felt less like a homecoming than a jolt to the system. Here was an opportunity to write amidst the creative lawlessness that inspired Daniel to make music in the first place — a city where everything from outlaw country to psychedelic punk have long co-mingled at honky tonks, house shows and backyard barbecues. “We wanted to make a record where we could experience and draw from a scene,” says Daniel. “Where Alex and I could write all day, then go out and see Dale Watson at the Continental, then come back home and write some more.” Halfway through the recording process, the pandemic hit. The studio shut down, but Daniel continued writing. When the band reconvened, Daniel had a new batch of songs and a fresh sense of momentum. “It’s certainly something we didn’t take for granted, that feeling of being in a room with each other. That moment was a once in a lifetime kind of feeling.” Lucifer on the Sofa is the sound of that moment, a record of defiant optimism, the sound of a band cracking things open and letting them spill out onstage. 

Want to be part of our audience? We will post information on how to get free passes as we get a week out from each date. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for notice of postings. The broadcast episodes will air during our upcoming Season 48, which premieres October 1 on PBS.

Please look for safety updates regarding entry to Austin City Limits tapings. Austin PBS will continue to monitor local COVID-19 trends and will meet or exceed protocols mandated by local governments.