Tag: Season 39

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Taping Recap

Dawes’ upward momentum

Here at Austin City Limits, we love to showcase artists on the rise. Dawes is definitely that – the Los Angeles quartet made waves almost immediately with its 2009 debut album North Hills, and has kept its upward momentum going since.

Taking the stage to a subtle organ bed, Dawes launched into “From a Window Seat,” the first single from its latest LP Stories Don’t End. The sharply melodic, harmony-rich tune set the standard for the rest of the set, which draws from the folk/country rock of the 70s. “If I Wanted Someone” and “Fire Away” rode a midtempo groove, emphasizing the song’s natural tunefulness, while “Someone Will” added a fingerpicked country & western vibe. “Just Beneath the Surface” added some classic pop melodicism, while “Most People” highlighted the brotherly harmonies of leader Taylor Goldsmith and drummer Griffin Goldsmith for some stunning counterpoint vocals. The band was at its best when it folded an epic feel into its songs – the widescreen “Time Spent in Los Angeles” and “When My Time Comes.”  The slow-burning “A Little Bit of Everything” brought the show to a close with a conversational saga that crossed narrative storytelling with stadium folk rock.

Though Dawes left the stage following that crowd-pleaser, it wasn’t done yet. Encore “From the Right Angle” multiplied the grandeur times ten, maintaining the epic feel and letting some unruly rock & roll take the performance into the stratosphere. The crowd understandably went wild. We can’t wait for the rest of you to see how Dawes got the audience fired up when this episode airs this fall. Stay tuned!

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Taping Recap

Jason Isbell’s blurred lines

“I try my best to have a lot of fun playing really sad songs,” declared singer/guitarist/songwriter Jason Isbell from the Austin City Limits stage.”It’s kinda what I do.” Brooding melancholy isn’t usually a recipe for onstage success, but in the hands of Alabama native and former Drive-By Trucker Isbell, it’s the fuel for a mighty musical engine – what Facebooker Odam Hunt calls “an unstoppable force.” That talent powered a cool ACL debut, as Isbell brought his soulful voice, stinging guitar and acclaimed catalog of tunes to ACL in celebration of his stellar new record Southeastern.

Isbell and his band the 400 Unit opened with blasts of loud, Crazy Horse-style rock & roll, as “Flying Over Water” and “Go It Alone” served notice that this wasn’t going to be an easygoing country/folk show. Then it was straight into “Alabama Pines,” a wistful walk down memory lane that won the 2012 Americana Music Association Song of the Year award. He travelled that lane even further into the past, resurrecting his DBT classics “Decoration Day” and “Outfit,” the latter’s gorgeous waltz-time meditation on fatherly advice reiterating how early Isbell fulfilled his songwriting promise.

Once Isbell strapped on his acoustic guitar, the creeping darkness came to full flower. “Live Oak” and “Different Days” looked back at shameful days gone by with the hope that current loved ones won’t notice the craggy lines left on the character’s face. The jaunty but subtly disturbing country rocker “Codeine” (“One of my friends has taken you in and given you codeine”) induced shivers of unease as much as two-stepping. But the most poignant piercing of our collective heart came from the lovely, quietly devastating “Elephant,” a recollection of death and the difficulty of facing its facts. Despite its somber subject matter “Elephant” brought the biggest crowd response – acknowledgement of an amazing song beautifully performed.

It wasn’t all sad songs and waltzes, though. The atmospheric ballad “Cover Me Up” and yearning folk song “Traveling Alone” invited new love into a hard life, acknowledging the good influence a partner would have – apt, given the presence in the 400 Unit of Isbell’s wife, singer/violinist (and Lubbock native) Amanda Shires. He ended the main set with the sardonic “Super 8,” a greasy rocker in the Stones/Faces mode. Isbell and the band encored with “Danko/Manuel,” another of the songwriter’s noteworthy DBT tracks, and a blazing, guitar-fueled take on the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers gem “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking.” “Unreal ending,” noted John Raffaele on Facebook, “I am shivering.”

Blurring the lines of country, rock and folk, Isbell proved that he’s earned every inch of ink spilled on behalf of his excellent songwriting and confident performance. “Jason’s not just a musician, he’s a wordsmith…and a new favourite,” Stacye Carroll declared. “So glad you showcased him here!” We can’t wait for ACL fans to see this show and experience it for themselves.

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Featured Live Stream News

ACL to stream Jason Isbell, Dawes and Black Angels tapings

We’re pleased to announce that Austin City Limits will be live streaming our upcoming tapings with Jason Isbell, Dawes and Austin’s own Black Angels around the world. Tune in to the ACL YouTube channel at 8 pm CT on Aug. 19 for Isbell’s rocking literary Americana, Aug. 25 for Dawes’ shimmering folk rock and Aug. 28 for the Angels’ rumbling psychedelia. See you there!

 

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Featured News Taping Announcement

New tapings: Dawes and fun.

Summer may be pounding Austin with triple-degree temperatures, but we’re still excited to have new ACL tapings to announce. First up is Dawes on August 25. Currently touring in support of their recently released third album, the acclaimed Stories Don’t End, Dawes are evolving into one of America’s most beloved young bands working today. Having already toured with the likes of Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne and Mumford & Sons, among others, and gracing the stages of the country’s most prestigious festivals, Dawes’ appeal crosses all age barriers and has no boundaries. To make Stories Don’t End, the band traveled to North Carolina and worked with producer Jacquire King (Tom Waits, Kings of Leon, Norah Jones), resulting in their most diverse and accomplished record yet. Both Relix and American Songwriterput the band on their recent covers and Rolling Stone called the album “quietly gripping,” and “deceptively gleaming.” Paste noted that it’s full of “their most intricate music to date, full of colorful detours and surprising instrumental flavors” and the NY Daily News declared that it “both recalls a classic era and speaks to any.”

photo by Lindsey Byrnes

On Sept. 13 we welcome fun. The New York trio had a whirlwind year last year, releasing an inescapable brace of singles, the success of which contrasts with the band’s humble beginnings. Singer Nate Ruess formed fun. after the demise of his previous band, the well-regarded but commercially unsuccessful The Format, inviting Andrew Dost of Anathallo and Jack Antonoff of Steel Train to join him. Aim & Ignite, fun.’s first LP, received critical nods, but it was their second album that put the band over the top. Some Nights boasts the massive hits “Some Nights,” “Carry On” and the monster “We Are Young,” singalongs that ably demonstrate what The New York Times called “grandiose pop tunes with complex structures, soaring hooks, and pensive verses.”  The group also won its first Grammys, for Best New Artist and Song of the Year for “We Are Young,” earlier this year.

Two great artists, two great tapings – we hope you can join us.

 

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News Taping Recap

Emeli Sandé’s version of events at ACL

Far more than just the latest British import, Emeli Sandé reiterated why she’s a rising star during her first Austin City Limits taping. The Scottish singer/songwriter has already conquered her native soil with a brace of hit singles and her debut album Our Version of Events. Given her strong songs, ability to connect immediately with a crowd and, of course, her fabulous voice, it quickly became clear why the States are swiftly falling under her spell.

Sitting at the piano after taking the stage, Sandé launched into one of her hits – the dramatic, bitter ballad “Daddy.” The song’s brooding tone was a bit of a feint, however – once she stood up and took her mic in hand, Sandé dispelled the clouds with a brace of upbeat anthems. “This song is all about good intentions,” she remarked by way of preface to her huge U.K. single “Heaven, “and I hope that you woke up with them this morning.” The gospel-tinged “Free” – another British hit, with electronic band Rudimental – and the quiet, piano-and-strings ballad “Clown” continued her themes of empowerment. A reggae beat wove through the romantic “Where I Sleep,” which also became the first song to include call and response with the crowd. Indeed, audience participation is clearly a must for Sandé – she engaged the house to clap along with “Breaking the Law” and made the people her backing choir on the defiant declaration “My Kind of Love.” Only the sparse heartbreak ballad “Suitcase” – performed almost solely by Sandé and her bass player – contrasted with her messages of honesty, inclusion and a positive attitude. It was a contrast the audience obviously didn’t mind, given the enthusiastic reception it gave the song.

Sandé closed the main set with her biggest anthems yet, all originally collaborations. A number one U.K. hit with British producer/rapper Professor Green, “Read All About It” started as a piano ballad, before the rest of the instruments crashed in to make it a real lighter-waver. She closed with her two collaborations with producer Naughty Boy: the new single “Lifted,” which folded in elements of electrobeat dance and segued directly into the British top 10er “Wonder,” which rode an Afrobeat groove and the chorus “We are full of wonder” into the biggest call-and-response with the audience yet. By the end of the performance, the crowd had joined Sandé and her band in making the “W” sign with their hands – a true sign of her ability to remind us that we’re all in this world together.

Of course, it wasn’t truly over – Sandé and her band came back to encore “Next to Me,” her platinum Stateside single that had the audience on their feet and in the palm of her hand before it was halfway over. It was a stunning end to a stunning set. We’re eager for everybody to see it when this episode airs in the fall. Stay tuned.

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Featured Live Stream News

ACL to stream Emeli Sande taping on 7/7

Scottish singer-songwriter Emeli Sande makes her highly anticipated Austin City Limits debut on Sunday, July 7th, and we’re happy to announce the taping will be live streamed worldwide at 8pm Central Time.  Fans can log on to ACL’s YouTube Channel to watch live video of Sandé’s entire ACL taping from The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. We hope to see you there, literally or virtually!