Austin City Limits sends our congratulations to the winners of last night’s 64th annual GRAMMY Awards, co-produced by ACL executive producer Terry Lickona. Season 47 standouts Jon Batiste and Olivia Rodrigo both won big. New Orleans native and Stephen Colbert bandleader Batiste won Album of the Year for his 2021 LP We Are, as well as Best American Roots Song, Best American Roots Performance, Best Music Video and Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media (for his contributions to the Pixar film Soul). We’ll be encoring his extraordinary Season 47 hour this coming weekend, to remind everyone what a special artist he is. Chart-topping singer-songwriter Rodrigo, who, like Batiste, made her ACL debut last season, scored a trio of honors, including the coveted Best New Artist award, as well as Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Pop Vocal Album. ACL three-timer St. Vincent, who showcased her latest Daddy’s Home in our Season 47, took home Best Alternative Album for the record.
Though still reeling, as are we all, from the heartbreaking passing of beloved drummer Taylor Hawkins, our friends Foo Fighters swept the categories in which they were nominated for their recent Medicine At Midnight: Best Rock Album, Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance. Other threepeater ACL performers included country superstar Chris Stapleton (Best Country Album, Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance) and gospel great CeCe Winans (Best Gospel Album, Best Gospel Performance/Song, Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song). Other alumni who took home statuettes include H.E.R., Los Lobos, Juanes, Esperanza Spalding, Rhiannon Giddens, Andra Day, Angelique Kidjo, Bela Fleck, Kendrick Lamar (as guest of Best Rap Performance winner Baby Keem) and late Pat Metheny Group keyboardist Lyle Mays. Special shout out to fun. guitarist Jack Antonoff, who’s gone from his Season 39 performance to win Producer of the Year for his work on several acclaimed and bestselling albums, including St. Vincent’s Grammy-winning Daddy’s Home.
A complete list of winners and nominees can be found here. ACL congratulates everyone for their hard work.
Taylor Hawkins singing Cheap Trick's "Stiff Competition" with Foo Fighters on ACL, 2014. Photo by Scott Newton.
Being a rock star is about more than just fame or charisma or importance – it’s even about more than talent. The real rock stars, the ones that last, that stay in the hearts and minds of fans for life, are also good human beings. There’s something to be said for cockiness and swagger, sure, especially when it’s married to genuine musical power – but it’s the nice guys that stick with us, that will always be remembered with respect and love.
Taylor Hawkins drumming for Foo Fighters on ACL, 2008. Photo by Scott Newton.
Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins was one of those folks. We don’t just say this because of our interactions with him during the two ACL tapings we did with him and the rest of the Foos in 2008 and 2014. His wide smile in photographs, his good cheer onstage and in interviews, and the countless stories from fans and peers about the rays of sunshine he brought with him to any situation attest to that. His talent was, of course, undeniable – his skill on the drums (and other instruments) was matched only by his voracious appetite for all kinds of music. That made him versatile not only as a skinsbeater, but as a songwriter and performer in his own right, as anyone who’s heard his wideranging side projects Birds of Satan, Chevy Metal and Taylor Hawkins & the Coattail Riders can attest. And let’s not forget the Foos single “Cold Day in the Sun” and Concrete and Gold track “Sunday Rain” – both songs on which he took the lead.
Taylor Hawkins singing with the Foo Fighters on ACL, 2014.
Like everyone else who cares about music, we’re reeling from the news of his sudden death yesterday. We’re proud to have two incredible Foo Fighters shows in our catalog on which he kept time like an expert and radiated enthusiasm and pure rock & roll energy like the rock star he was. We were looking forward to seeing him again when the band returned for their next taping. But mostly we’re sending our thoughts and love out to his family and his bandmates, and we’re mourning our friend. May he rest in peace.
Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters on ACL, 2014. Photo by Scott Newton.
Austin fans can watch Foo Fighters Rock ACL, the Season 46 compilation episode, this coming Thursday on Austin PBS. That episode can also be streamed here.
Austin City Limits is thrilled to announce the first round of tapings for Season 48, featuring a stellar slate of performers. The taping season kicks off with a pair of 2022 GRAMMY Best New Artist nominees, British singer/songwriter Arlo Parks on April 11, and acclaimed Japanese Breakfast on April 20. Newly minted Rock & Roll Hall of Famers and 2022 GRAMMY triple nominees Foo Fighters return to rock ACL for the third time on April 27, while Afro-Cuban Latin funk sensation Cimafunk brings the funk on May 3.
Arlo Parks. Photo by Lillie Eiger.
Arlo Parks had a major 2021 wherein she released her highly-praised debut album Collapsed in Sunbeams, won the BRIT Award for Best New Artist, received the Mercury Prize for album of the year, and won the BBC Introducing Artist Of The Year Award. She also scored a pair of 2022 GRAMMY nominations for Best New Artist and Best Alternative Album. Along with the towering awards, Collapsed in Sunbeams was included on almost every ‘Best Albums of 2021’ list and received critical acclaim from the likes of The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The FADER and many more. This year she shared a new single “Softly” and is currently on a North American tour with Clairo, which will conclude with a performance at this year’s Coachella Festival. Arlo also recently announced high-profile summer stadium dates with Billie Eilish and Harry Styles. Born Anaïs Oluwatoyin Estelle Marinho, the 21-year-old from West London – who burst onto the scene with 2018’s “Cola” — uses poetry as her songwriting compass, weaving vivid imagery and sensory touches throughout the stirring, honest stories that make up her already-rich body of work. In Arlo’s world, words are as useful as photographs. Luscious, expressive vignettes pepper the poetic lyrics in her sweet, ruminative indie pop songs. “I was really interested in the idea of delving into a hyper-specific moment and making it feel universal, making it something that people could connect to,” she says about drawing from poetry in her approach. Arlo recalls a childhood record collection that included classics from Sade, Earth Wind & Fire, and Bob Dylan and choir practice as fundamentals to her musical side. When she was 14, Arlo downloaded Garageband and started making beats to rhyme her poetry to, which over time naturally morphed into singing and the dulce soprano that sets her apart in today’s music climate. In 2017, she took a chance and submitted her recordings to BBC Introducing, which led to her first interview, management and recording contract. Following performances at Glastonbury and Latitude Festivals and a pair of EPs released when she was still a teenager, Arlo released her debut album Collapsed in Sunbeams to critical raves in 2021. Her songwriting has seen her gain new fans in Billie Eilish, Florence Welch, Michelle Obama, Angel Olsen, Phoebe Bridgers, Massive Attack and renowned writer Zadie Smith, amongst many others.
Japanese Breakfast. Photo by Tonje Thilesen.
2021 was a big year for Michelle Zauner. She released Jubilee, her album with her pop-alternative 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 lead 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 YorkTimes 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.
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees and 2022 GRAMMY triple nominees for their much heralded Medicine at Midnight, the mighty, mighty Foo Fighters return for their third appearance on the ACL stage. Produced by Greg Kurstin and the band, and featuring “Shame Shame,” “Waiting On a War” and the bludgeoning “No Son of Mine,” Medicine at Midnight, Foo Fighters’ 10th studio album was released in early 2021 to overwhelming acclaim: Rolling Stone hailed the album as “brighter and more optimistic than anything they’ve ever done,” while The Wall Street Journal quite simply called it “One of Foo Fighters’ best albums of this century.” More recently, Medicine at Midnight earned the sextet a trio of GRAMMY nominations: Best Rock Performance for “Making A Fire,” Best Rock Song for “Waiting On A War,” and Best Rock Album, bringing Foo Fighters’ career total nominations to 32. Foo Fighters—who celebrated their 25th anniversary in 2020—have won 12 GRAMMY Awards, including a record four wins for Best Rock Album, two Best Rock Songs and a Best Rock Performance. On February 25th Foo Fighters will make their feature film acting debut, playing themselves in the horror comedy Studio 666, filmed in the same Encino, California house in which they recorded Medicine at Midnight. Foo Fighters were fortunately able to fit in a visit to ACL in between sold out dates on their North American stadium tour, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Pat Smear and Rami Jaffee back to our stage.
Cimafunk. Photo by Michael Alford.
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.
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 in late 2022 on PBS as part of our upcoming Season 48.
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.
Live music beaconAustin City Limits resumes Season 46 with an electrifying hour: Foo Fighters Rock Austin City Limits, celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the rock superstars and in anticipation of their 10th studio album, Medicine At Midnight, which is set to be released on February 5th. Experience the communal magic of live music with the best, the best, the best of Foo Fighters, featuring a hit parade of classics from the powerhouse band’s two unforgettable ACL appearances, originally broadcast in 2009 and 2015. The must-see hour premieres Saturday, January 9, as ACL’s Season 46 returns with six installments. Check your local PBS listings for broadcast times. The episode will be available to music fans everywhere to stream online beginning Sunday, January 10 @10am ET at pbs.org/austincitylimits.
Get your lighters out for a head-banging, epic, joyous hour as Austin City Limits celebrates Foo Fighters with a silver anniversary salute. The 30-million-record-selling, eleven-time GRAMMY-winning band plays sold-out arenas and stadiums across the globe, but these rock and roll stalwarts took time in Season 34 — then returned for ACL’s milestone Season 40 — to carve their name in ACL history with superstar-caliber performances. The thrilling hour showcases highlights from the pair of programs as Dave Grohl & company make their ACL debut in 2009 with blistering renditions of early Foo favorites including “My Hero,” “Everlong” and “All My Life” in a fevered rock attack that captures the magnetic energy of the band. In their 2015 encore, Foo Fighters return at the height of their powers to deliver a blitzkrieg of anthems from their canon as frontman Grohl playfully ventures offstage to get close to the fans. The hard-driving band play at full tilt and drive it home with their classic “Best of You,” as the pumped-up crowd thrills to iconic riffs and the Foos close out with an epic blitz of guitar bliss in a performance for the ages.
“I’m sure I can speak for every musician when I say that being asked to come play Austin City Limits is practically like getting a medal,” says Dave Grohl. “As a musician it’s something to aspire to and if you actually achieve that then you wear it like a badge.”
Foo Fighters Rock Austin City Limits setlist:
All My Life (2009)
My Hero (2009)
Everlong (2009)
Monkey Wrench (2009)
The Pretender (2009)
Times Like These (2015)
Rope (2015)
Walk (2015)
Best of You (2015)
Season 46 Broadcast Schedule:
January 9Foo Fighters Rock Austin City Limits
January 16The War And Treaty | Ruthie Foster
January 23Ray Wylie Hubbard
January 30The Best of Spoon
February 6Texas Icons: Jerry Jeff Walker & Billy Joe Shaver
February 13Allen Toussaint: New Orleans Legend
ACL’s Season 46 premiered in October with standout performances from2021 Grammy nominee Rufus Wainwright, UK country-soul sensation Yola, rock and country trailblazers The Mavericks, acclaimed Austin standout Jackie Venson, salutes to late ACL legends John Prine and Stevie Ray Vaughan, a celebration of 50 years of Asleep at the Wheel and more.
Tune-in, log on, and let ACL be a trusted sidekick for entertainment during these challenging days. Viewers can visit acltv.com for news regarding live streams, future tapings and episode schedules or by following ACL on Facebook, Twitter, IG and TikTok.Fans can also browse the ACL YouTube channel for exclusive songs, behind-the-scenes videos and full-length artist interviews.
About Austin City Limits
Austin City Limits (ACL) offers viewers unparalleled access to featured acts in an intimate setting that provides a platform for artists to deliver inspired, memorable, full-length performances. Now in its 46th Season, the program is taped live before a concert audience from The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. Austin City Limits is the longest-running music series in television history and remains the only TV series to ever be awarded the National Medal of Arts. Since its inception, the groundbreaking music series has become an institution that’s helped secure Austin’s reputation as the Live Music Capital of the World. The historic KLRU Studio 6A, home to 36 years of ACL concerts, has been designated an official Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Landmark. In 2011, ACL moved to the new venue ACL Live at The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. ACL received a rare institutional Peabody Award for excellence and outstanding achievement in 2012.
Austin City Limits is produced by Austin PBS, KLRU-TV and funding is provided in part by Dell Technologies, RigUp, the Austin Convention Center Department and Cirrus Logic. Additional funding is provided by the Friends of Austin City Limits. Learn more about Austin City Limits, programming and history at acltv.com.
Live music beaconAustin City Limits announces the second half of Season 46, with six new installments to begin airing in January 2021 as part of the program’s thirteen-episode season. ACL has featured some of the most iconic performances in live music for over four and a half decades, and continues to bring viewers a stellar slate of broadcast episodes featuring a mix of new performances (taped during the current Covid-19 pandemic without an audience) and installments featuring highlights from ACL favorites, continuing Austin City Limits’ run as the longest-running music television show in history. The program returns on Saturday, January 9 at 8pm CT/9pm ETwith an epic hour celebrating the 25th Anniversary of rock superstars Foo Fighters.
Season 46 returns in January with a must-see hour, Foo Fighters Rock Austin City Limits, a silver anniversary celebration of the rock superstars, featuring a hit parade of classics from the powerhouse band’s two unforgettable ACL appearances in 2008 and 2014. ACL spotlights one of modern rock’s finest bands, Austin’s own Spoon, with The Best of Spoon, offering a fascinating look at the band’s evolution dating back to their debut on the series in 2003 to the recent present via highlights from the four-time ACL veterans. Blues and soul luminary Ruthie Foster, a 2021 Grammy Award nominee, returns for the first time in nearly two decades. Dynamic husband-and-wife duo The War And Treaty, Americana Music Awards 2019 Emerging Act of the Year, deliver a show-stopping ACL debut.
A season highlight is the long-awaited debut of ‘70s outlaw country legend Ray Wylie Hubbard, currently enjoying one of the greatest second acts in music, in an epic hour. In a year of profound loss, ACL salutes a pair of Texas icons we lost during 2020, Jerry Jeff Walker and Billy Joe Shaver, pioneers of Austin’s cosmic cowboy movement in the mid-1970s, in an hourlong installment featuring historic highlights from the influential troubadours’ multiple appearances on the ACL stage. Season 46 closes out with one of the most-requested episodes in the ACL archive: a vintage hour with the late New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint, performing iconic gems from across his half-century career, originally broadcast over a decade ago during ACL’s Season 35, and remains one of the most enduring, entertaining hours in ACL’s history.
photo by Scott Newton
“In a year like no other, we’re proud that we were able to capture seven brand-new performances for our 46th season,” said ACL executive producer Terry Lickona. “As always, they include a mix that’s eclectic, electric and even a touch eccentric. On top of that, we were able to pull some gems out of the ACL goldmine to celebrate some highlights from the past, and honor those who helped to create the ACL legacy.”
Season 46 Broadcast Schedule:
January 2ACL Hall of Fame: The First 6 Years
January 9Foo Fighters Rock Austin City Limits
January 16The War And Treaty | Ruthie Foster
January 23Ray Wylie Hubbard
January 30The Best of Spoon
February 6Texas Icons: Jerry Jeff Walker & Billy Joe Shaver
February 13Allen Toussaint: New Orleans Legend
A special broadcast, ACL Hall of Fame: The First 6 Years,premieres Saturday, January 2 at 8pm CT/9pm ET. Check local PBS listings for times. Austin City Limits celebrates the first six years of the annual ACL Hall of Fame, from the inaugural induction celebration in 2014 to 2019’s sixth annual ceremony. The 14-song, all-star salute, recorded live in Austin, Texas, features best–in-class performances and collaborations, many never-before-broadcast, from the annual celebrations in a performance-packed hour. Hall of Fame honorees including Willie Nelson, Buddy Guy, Los Lobos, Bonnie Raitt, Rosanne Cash and Kris Kristofferson perform alongside special guests.
ACL’s Season 46 premiered in October with standout performances from2021 Grammy nominee Rufus Wainwright, UK country-soul sensation Yola, rock and country trailblazers The Mavericks, acclaimed Austin standout Jackie Venson, salutes to late ACL legends John Prine and Stevie Ray Vaughan, a celebration of 50 years of Asleep at the Wheel and more. The series will continue to broadcast fan-favorite encore episodes through the end of 2020.
Tune-in, log on, and let ACL be a trusted sidekick for entertainment during these challenging days. Viewers can visit acltv.com for news regarding live streams, future tapings and episode schedules or by following ACL on Facebook, Twitter, IG and TikTok.Fans can also browse the ACL YouTube channel for exclusive songs, behind-the-scenes videos and full-length artist interviews.
photo by Scott Newton
About Austin City Limits
Austin City Limits (ACL) offers viewers unparalleled access to featured acts in an intimate setting that provides a platform for artists to deliver inspired, memorable, full-length performances. Now in its 46th Season, the program is taped live before a concert audience from The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. Austin City Limits is the longest-running music series in television history and remains the only TV series to ever be awarded the National Medal of Arts. Since its inception, the groundbreaking music series has become an institution that’s helped secure Austin’s reputation as the Live Music Capital of the World. The historic KLRU Studio 6A, home to 36 years of ACL concerts, has been designated an official Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Landmark. In 2011, ACL moved to the new venue ACL Live at The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. ACL received a rare institutional Peabody Award for excellence and outstanding achievement in 2012.
Austin City Limits is produced by Austin PBS, KLRU-TV and funding is provided in part by Dell Technologies, RigUp, the Austin Convention Center Department and Cirrus Logic. Additional funding is provided by the Friends of Austin City Limits. Learn more about Austin City Limits, programming and history at acltv.com.