Tag: Ray Wylie Hubbard

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Episode Recap Featured New Broadcast News

Ray Wylie Hubbard triumphs on ACL

photo by Scott Newton

Austin City Limits is proud to present the long-awaited debut of cult hero Ray Wylie Hubbard in a thrilling new hour. The ‘70s cosmic-country legend is currently enjoying one of the great second acts in music and he entertains with songs and banter, sharing tunes and tales from his legendary career. The installment premieres Saturday, January 23 as part of the iconic series Season 46 and will be available to music fans everywhere to stream online beginning Sunday, January 24@10am ET at pbs.org/austincitylimits.  The broadcast, recorded in October 2020, reflects a rare no-audience taping due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With live music on hold, ACL continues to provide viewers a front-row seat to the best in performance. The program airs weekly on PBS stations nationwide (check local listings for times) and full episodes are made available online for a limited time at pbs.org/austincitylimits immediately following the initial broadcast. Viewers can visit acltv.com for news regarding future tapings, episode schedules and select live stream updates. 

When F. Scott Fitzgerald issued his classic conclusion ‘There are no second acts in American lives,’ he failed to envision the career of Ray Wylie Hubbard, a willing conspirator in the late seventies Cosmic Cowboy revolt that ushered in the mythical Outlaw era. Hubbard, alongside colleagues such as Willie Nelson and Jerry Jeff Walker, was a catalyst in the cultural upheaval that led to the peaceful coexistence of Lone Star music fans at opposite ends of the social and political spectrum of the time. Hell-bent for truth and texture in capturing the way outlaws live, the Texas treasure relaunched his career in the 1990s and has been recording critically-lauded work ever since. Legions of fans in his home state and beyond have requested an ACL appearance by Hubbard for years and he now kicks up some cosmic dust in this long-awaited set, amplified by first-class musicians including his son, guitarist Lucas Hubbard and longtime drummer Kyle Schneider, joined by ace Austin musicians Bukka Allen on keyboards and bassist Gurf Morlix. 

“There’s no good excuse for why it took Ray Wylie to finally make his debut on Austin City Limits after 46 years,” offered ACL executive producer Terry Lickona, “but like a fine whiskey, some things just keep getting better with age. Ray Wylie is in his prime right now, and also like a fine whiskey, there’s no better antidote to a year-long pandemic!”

“I hope you’re ready for this,” teases Hubbard after opening with a pair of numbers from his 2006 release Snake Farm, including the title track, a dirty-blues anthem celebrating a Texas roadside attraction. “If this is the first time you’ve seen me perform, you’re probably a little bit nervous after those first two songs,” jokes Hubbard. Passion for the man whose outlier bona fides have made him a roadhouse saint hasn’t waned as he is revered by a new generation of performers; he explores recent songs written with Eric Church and Hayes Carll. Hubbard presents highlights from his recent, acclaimed major label debut, Co-Starring, which features an impressive array of guests, including Ringo Starr, Joe Walsh, Chris Robinson and Don Was, and showcases the new gem”Rock Gods,” a salute to one of his own heroes, Tom Petty.

photo by Scott Newton

Addressing ACL viewers, Hubbard remarks with a sly smile, “You might get the idea that I’m an acquired taste — so this song should weed you out.” The renegade poet closes the set with the swamp rocker “Mother Blues” from 2012’s The Grifter’s Hymnal – the story of a stolen Les Paul Gold Top, romances rooted in an afterhours gig, and the wisdom of keeping your gratitude higher than your expectations. 

Ray Wylie Hubbard setlist:

Rabbit 

Snake Farm

Drunken Poet’s Dream

Bad Trick

Rock Gods

Fast Left Hand

Wanna Rock and Roll

Desperate Man

Mother Blues

Season 46 Broadcast Schedule:

January 9 Foo Fighters Rock Austin City Limits

January 16 The War And Treaty | Ruthie Foster

January 23 Ray Wylie Hubbard

January 30 The Best of Spoon

February 6 Texas Icons: Jerry Jeff Walker & Billy Joe Shaver

February 13 Allen Toussaint: New Orleans Legend

ACL’s Season 46 premiered in October with standout performances from 2021 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. 

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Featured New Broadcast News Uncategorized

ACL announces 2nd half of Season 46

photo by Scott Newton

Live music beacon Austin 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 ET with 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 2 ACL Hall of Fame: The First 6 Years

January 9 Foo Fighters Rock Austin City Limits

January 16 The War And Treaty | Ruthie Foster

January 23 Ray Wylie Hubbard

January 30 The Best of Spoon

February 6 Texas Icons: Jerry Jeff Walker & Billy Joe Shaver

February 13 Allen 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 from 2021 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.

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Featured News Taping Recap

Taping recap: Ray Wylie Hubbard

photo by Scott Newton

Forty-six years in the making, the long-awaited taping of the great Texas songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard was worth the wait. One of the original Texas outlaws, Hubbard is arguably best known for his early ‘70s composition, the much-recorded anthem “Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother.” The Oklahoma native/longtime Lone Star resident relaunched his career in the nineties, and in one of music’s most remarkable second acts, has been prolifically recording critically-lauded work ever since. So we were thrilled to finally have the revered Texas troubadour on our stage for his first-ever headline appearance in a rousing performance that was livestreamed around the world. 

Hubbard and his ace four-piece band, which includes his son Lucas on guitar, drummer Kyle Schneider, Bukka Allen on keyboards and Gurf Morlix on bass, kicked things off with the bluesy “Rabbit,” on which he declares that, while he doesn’t know what “between the devil and the deep blue sea” mean, “maybe it means I’m funky and cool – maybe it means I’m on Austin City Limits!” “So that’s what a smattering of applause sounds like,” said the jovial raconteur, noting the lack of a live audience due to the pandemic. The songwriter drove his band even deeper into the swamp with “Snake Farm,” the title track to his 2006 album. After band intros, Hubbard launched into “Drunken Poet’s Dream,” a co-write with Hayes Carll the pair performed together during Carll’s ACL appearance in Season 36. Hubbard then turned his attention to Co-Starring, his acclaimed recent major label debut, featuring guest appearances from titans Joe Walsh, Ringo Starr, Chris Robinson and more. He showcased a trio of tracks from the record in a row, including the bluesy grind of “Bad Trick,” a song penned with his wife Judy. He donned a 12-string for “Rock Gods,” a heartfelt tribute to Tom Petty and his peers who’ve entered the Pearly Gates, and a meditation on how death comes to us all. After those sobering thoughts, Hubbard led the band into the funky rocker “Fast Left Hand,” highlighted by earthy solos from Allen’s Hammond organ and the younger Hubbard’s guitar.

“If this is the first time you’ve seen me on Austin City Limits, you might get the idea that I’m an acquired taste,” Hubbard remarked. “So this song should weed you out.” That bon mot dropped, the singer/songwriter pulled out the outlaw swamp rocker “Mother Blues” from 2012’s The Grifter’s Hymnal – the story of a stolen Les Paul Goldtop, two romances rooted in an afterhours gig, and the wisdom of keeping your gratitude higher than your expectations. He and the band launched into his 2017 classic “Tell the Devil I’m Gettin’ There As Fast I Can,” a “kind of rock & roll fable” that, as Hubbard explained with a wink in the intro “hopes God grades on a curve.” Longtime drummer Schneider then thumped out the rumbling groove of an anthem, “Wanna Rock and Roll,” the album closer from 1992’s Lost Train of Thought, a tune later recorded by the red dirt rockers Cross Canadian Ragweed that earned Hubbard enough royalties “to buy a fence. That’s very important where I live.” 

Hubbard ended the show with “Desperate Man,” a song he co-wrote with country superstar Eric Church (and the title track of Church’s 2018 LP) – a bluesy rocker that encapsulates as well as any his characters’ outlaw ethos. It was a great way to end a great show, and we can’t wait for you to see it when it airs early next year as part of our Season 46 on your local PBS station. 

photos by Scott Newton
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Featured Live Stream News Taping Announcement Uncategorized

New tapings: Ruthie Foster 11/1, The War And Treaty 11/5

photo by Ricardo Piccirillo

Austin City Limits is proud to announce a pair of highly-anticipated tapings showcasing acclaimed artists who blur the lines between soul, gospel, folk and blues. On November 1, an Austin treasure returns to our stage, as Ruthie Foster tapes her second appearance; on November 5, we welcome one of Nashville’s hottest acts, The War And Treaty, in their ACL debut. Austin City Limits is delighted to announce we will live stream both these tapings along with the previously announced long-awaited taping of Texas songwriting legend Ray Wylie Hubbard on October 21. With live music still on pause, ACL continues to provide viewers a front-row seat to the best in live performance. ACL offers fans a unique opportunity to watch the trio of tapings live in their entirety from the safety of their homes and screens at this location on each date at 7pm CT/8pm ET. ACL has taped before a live audience for its entire 45-year history, and recently resumed tapings without a live audience. The broadcast version of these tapings will air later this season as part of our Season 46 on PBS.

In the tight-knit musical community of Austin, Texas, it’s tough to get away with posturing. You either bring it, or you don’t. If you do, word gets around. And one day, you find yourself duetting with Bonnie Raitt, or standing onstage with the Allman Brothers at New York’s Beacon Theater and trading verses with Susan Tedeschi. You might even wind up getting nominated for a Best Blues Album Grammy — three times in a row. And those nominations would be in addition to your seven Blues Music Awards, three Austin Music Awards, the Grand Prix du Disque award from the Académie Charles-Cros in France, a Living Blues Critics’ Award for Female Blues Artist of the Year, and the title of an “inspiring American Artist” as a 2018 United States Artists Fellow.

There’s only one Austinite with that résumé: Ruthie Foster. Drawing influence from legendary acts like Mavis Staples and Aretha Franklin, Foster developed a unique sound unable to be contained within a single genre. That uniqueness echoes a common theme in Ruthie’s life and career – marching to the beat of her own drum. Ruthie’s latest album Live at the Paramount, swings back to the days (and nights) when Lady Ella sang Ellington and Sinatra blasted off with Count Basie and Quincy Jones. Ruthie refers to her live shows as “hallelujah time,” and we are thrilled to welcome her back to the ACL stage for her first headlining appearance since her 2003 debut. 

photo by David McClister

Since forming in 2014, dynamic duo The War And Treaty have won critical acclaim and amassed a following as eclectic as their sound itself, a bluesy but joyful fusion of Southern soul, gospel, country, and rock-and-roll. Known for a live show nearly revival-like in intensity, the husband-and-wife team of Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Blount-Trotter endlessly create an exhilarating exchange of energy with their audience, a dynamic they’ve brought to the stage in opening for the legendary Al Green, touring with the likes of Brandi Carlile and Jason Isbell and taking the stage at the 2020 Grammy Awards earlier this year, performing alongside icons like Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, Gary Clark Jr., and Common.

So when it came time to choose a title for their recently released sophomore album, The War And Treaty quickly landed on Hearts Town—the couple’s affectionate nickname for their ardently devoted fanbase. “Hearts Town is a neighborhood strictly made up of people who all share the same kind of heart: hearts that love, hearts that heal, hearts that don’t see division,” says Michael. “There’s all different types of people within that neighborhood, but they’re still somehow all working together—which is exactly the kind of town we want to live in.” Their full-length debut for Rounder Records, Hearts Town arrives as the follow-up to 2018’s Healing Tide, a widely acclaimed effort that saw The War And Treaty named 2019’s Emerging Act of the Year by the Americana Music Association. 

While the new album unfailingly harnesses the thrilling vitality of their live set, each song spotlights The War And Treaty’s heart-on-sleeve storytelling and poetic simplicity with greater impact than ever before. The War And Treaty drive home their impassioned plea for unity in times of division. “We were seeing so much anger in the world as we were making this album, so we wanted to give people something that told them, ‘Stop looking for the next Dr. King or Malcolm or Mother Teresa, and start looking for the first you,’” says Michael. “Right now a lot of people are feeling so deeply engulfed in pain and surrounded by negativity, and sometimes you just need to hear that you’re good,” says Tanya. “That’s the whole idea behind Hearts Town: no one’s trying to change what you think or how you talk or anything else about you. You’re just fine the way you are.” We’re proud to welcome The War and Treaty to the ACL stage.

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Featured News Taping Announcement

New taping: Ray Wylie Hubbard 10/21

photo by David McClister

We here at ACL are excited to announce a long-awaited new taping for Season 46: the great Texas songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard comes to our stage on October 21.

Austin City Limits is thrilled to welcome legendary Texas troubadour Ray Wylie Hubbard to the stage in his long-awaited ACL debut. When F. Scott Fitzgerald issued his classic conclusion that ‘There are no second acts in American lives,’ he failed to envision the career of this willing conspirator in the late seventies Cosmic Cowboy revolt that ushered in the mythical Outlaw era. The secret handshake amongst those who know, his records have been swapped and played on the road — “Snake Farm” alone could be the red-blooded touring male’s reality-based point of connection. That passion for the man who’s as much a prolific writer as a roadhouse saint brought together an eclectic mix of guests for Co-Starring, his first-ever high-profile label release. Ringo Starr, Joe Walsh, the Black Crowes’ Chris Robinson, Ronnie Dunn, Don Was, Larkin Poe, Pam Tillis and The Cadillac Three were just a few who clamored to jam, sing and generally be in the studio with the wizened icon. The Austin Music and Eric Church-inducted Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Famer exudes earthy, real, funky and unabashed art. Hell-bent for truths and textures in writing about the way outlaws live, it’s all added to his outlier bona fides that he made 16 albums without ever signing to a major label. Hubbard was a catalyst in the cultural upheaval that led to the peaceful coexistence of Lone Star music enthusiasts who comprised each end of the social and political spectrum of that troubled time. In the stellar company of iconic colleagues like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Doug Sahm and Jerry Jeff Walker, Hubbard was an architect of the musical legacy that continues to inspire subsequent generations of up-and-coming talent. Whether it’s bluegrass/folk legend Peter Rowan on the tender “Hummingbird,” emerging Nashville renegade Ashley McBryde on the tough girl homage “Outlaw Blood,” SiriusXM femme fatales Paula Nelson and Elizabeth Cook on the randy “Drink ‘Til I See Double” or the trippy rocker Aaron Lee Tasjan on the elegiac “Rock Gods,” Co-Starring is a supple, musky affair. The cult hero is the subject of 2019’s “The Messenger: The Songwriting Legacy of Ray Wylie Hubbard” and his 2015 autobiography, “A Life…Well, Lived” traces his remarkable journey from folk gypsy to wizened architect of grit ’n’ groove. Always entertaining in both song and banter, we’re happy to welcome Wimberley’s renegade poet to the ACL stage to kick up some Texas dust.