Tag: Tapings

Austin City Limits announces 2018 Hall of Fame honorees

Post author By michael
Post date May 14, 2018

Austin City Limits announces the fifth anniversary class of Austin City Limits Hall of Fame inductees, recognizing three American originals: blues stalwart Marcia Ball, the legendary Ray Charles and pioneering rockers Los Lobos. The 2018 ACL Hall of Fame inductees will be saluted at a star-studded ceremony to be held October 25th, 2018 at ACL’s studio home, ACL Live at The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. Music great Chris Isaak is back by popular demand to host the celebratory evening, which will feature an all-star line-up of guest performers including rock superstar Dan Auerbach, New Orleans soul queen Irma Thomas and powerhouse vocalist Tracy Nelson. More information about performances, presenters and additional guest stars will be announced prior to the event. Musical highlights and inductions from the ceremony will air in a special New Year’s Eve broadcast of Austin City Limits as part of the program’s Season 44 which premieres in the fall on PBS.

The event will be open to the public and tickets are on sale May 18th at 10am CT at acltv.com/hall-of-fame. Sponsor packages are available now at acltv.com/hall-of-fame. All proceeds benefit KLRU-TV, Austin PBS.

The fifth class of inductees features a diverse group of music legends with longtime ties to Austin City Limits: celebrated blues pianist and vocalist Marcia Ball debuted on the program’s first season in 1976, making three more standout appearances in 1979, 1990 and 1998. The one and only Ray Charles made two classic appearances on ACL starting in Season 5 in 1980 and again in 1984, playing an instrumental role in validating the nascent show’s reputation as a live music beacon. Los Lobos’ musical kinship with ACL includes six appearances on the series, debuting in Season 14 in 1989, and returning to celebrate their milestone forty years as a band during ACL’s own 40th anniversary season in 2014.

The honorees and their legacies shared their reactions to joining the ranks of outstanding artists who have been inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame:

Marcia Ball: “Austin City Limits put Austin on the map all over the country. Whenever we are touring, when I say where we are from, the immediate response is, “Austin City Limits.” People in outlying towns would drive to major cities, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Atlanta, because they had seen us on the show. In the years when my broadcasts were current, I could have filled a 90 minute tape with the words, “I never heard of you before, but I saw you on Austin City Limits.” ACL opened the door into millions of homes for us and other regional bands. It is, as far as I know, the longest running and only hour-long pure music performance outlet with major national distribution. Some of my most memorable musical moments have been as a performer or in the audience at an Austin City Limits show. I was always honored to be asked to play ACL and I am thrilled and grateful to be inducted into the Hall Of Fame.”

“Ray Charles’ life force was to create and perform ever-lasting great music,” said Valerie Ervin, President, The Ray Charles Foundation. “Austin City Limits shares this philosophy, which is the reason it is one of the most enduring shows ever. Mr. Charles enjoyed appearing on the show twice and he would be touched with this honor.”

Los Lobos: “We could not be more honored to receive this award from the Austin City Limits folks. We have effectively grown up together and it’s remarkable what we have seen in the 40+ years that we have both been plowing our field, so to speak. We look forward to a wonderful time in Austin with our good friends at ACL and hopefully with some old friends all along for the ride as well.”

“Our 2018 Hall of Fame honorees clearly show how diverse our talent choices were even back in the early years of ACL,” says executive producer Terry Lickona, “as well as the priority we’ve always given to artists who stand out as originals in their genres.”

The Austin City Limits Hall of Fame was established in 2014 to celebrate the legacy of legendary artists and key individuals who have played a vital part in the pioneering music series remarkable 40+ years as a music institution. The inaugural induction ceremony in 2014 honored Willie Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, Lloyd Maines, program creator Bill Arhos and Darrell Royal. 2015’s second annual ACL Hall of Fame ceremony honored Asleep at the Wheel, Loretta Lynn, Guy Clark, Flaco Jiménez and Townes Van Zandt, along with the original crew of the show’s first season in 1974-75. The 2016 Hall of Fame honored Kris Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt and B.B. King, alongside former ACL executive producer Dick Peterson. Last year’s Hall of Fame honored Roy Orbison, Rosanne Cash and The Neville Brothers, and the 50th Anniversary of the Public Broadcasting Act.

The 5th Anniversary Austin City Limits Hall of Fame Induction and Celebration is presented by NetApp and is sponsored in part by AXS, Dell, Keller Williams, Stratus Properties and Texas Monthly.

About the 2018 Austin City Limits Hall of Fame Honorees:

Marcia Ball

In a remarkable career spanning 50 years, Marcia Ball—the official 2018 Texas State Musician— has earned worldwide fame and countless fans for her ability to ignite a full-scale roadhouse rhythm and blues party every time she takes the stage. Her rollicking Texas boogies, swampy New Orleans ballads and groove-laden Gulf Coast blues have made her a one-of-a-kind favorite with music lovers all over the world. Born in Orange, Texas and raised across the border in Vinton, Louisiana, Ball began piano lessons at age 5, falling under the spell of blues and soul music at 13 after witnessing a performance by New Orleans great Irma Thomas. Moving to Austin in 1970, Ball led progressive country band Freda and the Firedogs until 1974, when she began her solo career. Debuting on Austin City Limits during the first season in 1976, Ball has gone on to appear on the show three more times, and has released sixteen albums (including 1998’s Grammy-nominated Sing It! with fellow blues/soul enthusiast Tracy Nelson and inspiration Irma Thomas). Ball has won 10 Blues Music Awards, 10 Living Blues Awards, and is a five-time Grammy nominee. Her love of the road has led to gigs from roadhouses to the White House, and the living legend shows no signs of slowing down, releasing her seventeenth album in 2018, the critically-acclaimed Shine Bright (produced by Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin).

Ray Charles

Singer, songwriter, pianist, producer and visionary, Ray Charles is one of the most important and influential musicians in American history. In five decades of recording, the music of the man nicknamed the Genius encompassed blues, jazz, R&B, country & western, pop and every permutation in between. His landmark 1954 single “I’ve Got a Woman” combined elements of gospel, jazz and blues to create what we now call soul. His list of hits is seemingly endless – “What’d I Say?,” “Hit the Road Jack,” “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” “Georgia On My Mind,” “Busted,” “Drown In My Own Tears,” “I Don’t Need No Doctor,” “Let’s Go Get Stoned” and his immortal version of “America the Beautiful” are merely the tip of the iceberg. Albums like Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, Genius Loves Company, True to Life and The Genius Sings the Blues are considered classics. With multiple Grammys, an Oscar-winning biopic (Ray, starring Jamie Foxx), millions of records sold and everyone from Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin and Van Morrison to James Taylor, Billy Joel and Norah Jones citing him as an inspiration, Charles is one of the titans of American song. His 1980 appearance on Austin City Limits helped break the show’s talent roster wide open, and his 1984 episode has become equally lauded. Fourteen years after his death, Ray Charles remains a musical icon.

Los Lobos

One of America’s great bands, Los Lobos have carved out their own distinctive space in a career that’s spanned over 40 years. Formed by David Hidalgo, Louis Perez, Cesar Rosas and Conrad Lozano in the early seventies in East Los Angeles, the band started out playing rock & roll, before transitioning to traditional Mexican cumbia, norteña and corridos. The postpunk explosion in L.A. encouraged them to shift back to rock while retaining their Mexican-American heritage, giving them a unique sound in the American underground. With the addition of multi-instrumentalist/producer Steve Berlin, Los Lobos released a steady stream of LPs now considered classics, including 1985’s How Will the Wolf Survive, 1992’s Kiko and 2006’s The Town and the City, and scored a number one hit with its 1987 cover of Ritchie Valens’ “La Bamba.” The band’s wide-ranging musical vision and dedication to expanding their craft has earned widespread acclaim, with over 20 albums, three Grammy Awards and tours with Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead and U2. Los Lobos has brought catalog favorites like “Don’t Worry, Baby,” “One Time, One Night,” “La Pistola y El Corazon” and “Mas y Mas” to the ACL stage six times starting in Season 14, including five headlining slots and as part of the Season 24 Mexican Roots Music Celebration show.

Austin City Limits and the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame are produced by KLRU-TV, Austin PBS. KLRU is a non-profit organization providing public television and educational resources to Central Texas as well as producing quality national programming.

Tags Hall of Fame, Season 44, Tapings

New tapings: John Prine, Kacey Musgraves, Wild Child and Anderson East

Post author By michael
Post date April 24, 2018

Austin City Limits announces four new Season 44 tapings to kick off the summer of 2018: legendary songwriter John Prine on June 5, contemporary country queen Kacey Musgraves on June 6, Austin indie rockers Wild Child on June 21 and soulful singer/songwriter Anderson East on June 22.

Hailed “the Mark Twain of American songwriting” by Rolling Stone, John Prine (who made his ACL debut on Season 3 in 1978) makes his highly-anticipated eighth appearance on ACL with a new batch of songs from his just-released The Tree of Forgiveness, his first album of originals in thirteen years, and the highest-charting album of his 47-year career, debuting at #5 on the Billboard 200. Produced by Dave Cobb in Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A, Tree features guest appearances by Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires and Brandi Carlile, as well as co-writes with Dan Auerbach, Pat McLaughlin and Phil Spector. But it’s Prine and his distinctive vision that hold the spotlight, what the New York Times calls “a handful of folky chords, a melody that sounds like it’s always been around, a grainy and understated vocal and lyrics that summon complex emotions in a rigorous minimum of syllables.” Pitchfork praises the “virtuoso at understatement” for “finding the joy in the mundane, and writing about what it means to be alive,” trying, as the Nashville Scene notes, to help us “tolerate the bitter taste left by bewildering, painful experiences like death and love.” “Prine’s heart is all human,” says The Tennessean, “It beats in every song on The Tree of Forgiveness …the most personal record of his 47-year recording career.” He may be singing about going to heaven,” proclaims NPR Fresh Air, “but his earthiness keeps his music alive.”

Kacey Musgraves dazzled in a standout ACL debut in 2014, and the now two-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter makes her return appearance celebrating her acclaimed third album Golden Hour. The new album is generating glowing reviews, with NPR stating, “she’s relaxed into the sound she’s already designed, going deeper beneath its sparkly, vintage-tinted surface and further cultivating her innate commitment to clarity and craft,” and Noisey proclaims “it’s clear that the Texan is still the most talented songwriter in mainstream pop-county.” Co-writing and producing with Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk, the Golden, Texas native created an album that marks a more personal, emotional chapter for a songwriter who has been celebrated for her piercing observations and finely-hewn storytelling. “I had a different mindset this time, which was feeling rather than thinking— leading heart first, rather than brain first,” the newly-married artist says. “I was feeling genuinely happy for the first time in a long time, and it started pouring out in ideas and songs.” In this window of creative exploration, she and her collaborators offer strikingly new musical directions, with inspirations ranging from Neil Young to Sade, even dipping lightly into disco. “You won’t find anybody on this earth more inspired by traditional country music more than me,” she says, “but there are all these other facets of music that inspire me, too. I was wondering what it would sound like if those influences could live cohesively.” Pitchfork calls the record “an assured, artful snapshot of a particular rush of feelings, but its wisdom speaks volumes to Musgraves’ ongoing evolution.” Consequence of Sound calls Golden Hour “an honest, cohesive musical experience that will linger in your mind and heart long after the final notes have faded.”

Austin’s Wild Child make their ACL debut in support of Expectations, the band’s most creative, colorful and intellectually engaging album to date. The Austin-American Statesman raves, “Four albums in, the Austin indie-folk band-that-could has become increasingly confident without losing the sense of childlike wonder that’s so central to the spirit of their music.” The septet’s new release rose out of a desire to take a multispectral approach to writing and recording that went beyond simply trying to engineer success. The band made a list of their favorite musicians who were also producers, choosing ones they thought would shine a new light on specific compositions, and then set about chasing their album from studio to studio all over the world. That route took them to Chris Walla’s (Death Cab For Cutie) studio in Tromsø, Norway, to a home-built warehouse studio in Philadelphia with Dr. Dog’s Scott McMicken, and back to Wimberley, Texas, as Matthew Logan Vasquez (Delta Spirit) set up a makeshift studio in Wild Child lead singer and violinist Kelsey Wilson’s childhood home. The group also tapped the talents of frequent tour mate Chris Boosahda (Shakey Graves), Atlantic Records recording artist Max Frost, and Grammy-winning producer Adrian Quesada (Black Pumas, Brownout). The result is a theater of possibilities, with arrangements that reflect the range of tastes of the producers, from scruffy lo-fi tape hiss to smoothed out precision-cut electronic pop sounds. “Without sacrificing Wild Child’s signature pop swell, Expectations emerges soulful and serious,” says the Austin Chronicle.

Called “an exciting singer-songwriter effortlessly able to blend elements of rock, blues, country and soul” by Associated Press, Anderson East steps on our stage for the first time with his latest album Encore, produced by longtime collaborator Dave Cobb. The album’s title is derived from East’s steadfast belief: that every song on his new album must be worthy of closing out one of his notoriously epic live shows. The Athens, Alabama native broke onto the music scene with “Satisfy Me” from his 2015 major label debut Delilah, followed by a breakout series of years that included appearances on Cobb’s Southern Family compilation, Brandi Carlile’s Cover Stories benefit LP and the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack, as well as spending much of 2017 on the road with Chris and Morgane Stapleton as part of their All-American Road Show. The New York Times calls Encore “an often lustrous revisiting of raucous Southern soul, rousingly delivered and pinpoint precise,” with NPR Music claiming that it “draw[s] inspiration from the sophistication of Donny Hathaway’s compositions and arrangements, the grandness of Van Morrison’s Caledonia Soul Orchestra and the dashing song interpretation of Joe Cocker.” American Songwriter says, “This remains a sharp, soul-drenched, organically based set that solidifies the R&B roots at the heart of East’s talents,” adding that it’s “poised to push the talented singer-songwriter over the top and into the mainstream.”

Want to be part of our audience? We will post information on how to get free passes about a week before each taping. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for notice of postings. The broadcast versions will air on PBS later this year as part of our Season 44.

Tags Season 44, Tapings

Taping Recap

Brandi Carlile triumphs in her return to Austin City Limits

Post author By michael
Post date April 11, 2018

Since Brandi Carlile first visited Austin City Limits on the original stage back in 2010, the Seattle singer and songwriter has moved from rapidly rising up-and-comer to a highly respected star in her own right. Following up successful albums Bear Creek and Grammy-nominated The Firecatcher’s Daughter with this year’s critically acclaimed By the Way, I Forgive You, an album of which she is extremely and justifiably proud, Carlile brought her esteemed catalog to ACL once again for an impressive, fiery show, which we streamed live around the world.

A string quartet joined drummer Chris Powell and keyboardist Jacob Hoffman for some moodsetting ambience, before twin brothers Phil and Tim Hanseroth took up the bass and guitar respectively. The woman of the hour arrived as Tim began fingerpicking “Every Time I Hear That Song,” her country twang perfect for a tale of heartbreak and redemption. Then the band kicked the tempo into the raging “Raise Hell,” a turbocharged take on galloping Johnny Cash chickaboom. After shouting out the Hanseroth brothers – her musical partners for seventeen years – Carlile led the gorgeous three-part harmonies of “The Eye,” with only Tim’s guitar for accompaniment. The twins then left the stage to Carlile alone – at least at first, as her four-year-old daughter Evangeline joined her onstage for a quick kiss. It was an appropriate visit, given that the next song was “The Mother,” in which Carlile grapples with parenthood with honesty and love.

The band arrived back onstage for “The Joke,” a room-filling anthem in support of anyone who’s ever felt marginalized or attacked for their choices. Her country rhythms returned even as the anthemic feel remained for “Harder to Forgive” (“than to forget”), and the lighters stayed out for the powerful “Sugartooth,” a song for those struggling with addiction. Carlile then strapped on an electric guitar and chopped out the chords to “Mainstream Kid,” a hard country rocker that earned the wildest applause so far. After that much reaching for the sky, the band brought the mood to a more reflective place with “Most of All,” Carlile’s salute to her parents. She followed that crowd-pleaser with a real surprise: a spectacular cover of Elton John’s deep cut “Madman Across the Water,” a bold and unusual choice that allowed the musicians to stretch their wings.

“They’ve heard me sing this song a million times,” Carlile stated after introducing her hardworking band. “I wanna hear Austin, Texas sing it!” Then it was into “The Story,” her 2007 breakthrough song, given the widescreen treatment it deserves. “Whatever You Do” followed, before the main set ended with Carlile at the piano belting out the show-stopping ballad “Party of One,” the strings playing her offstage. They played her back on again, too, as a loud crash during the first performance of “Every Time I Hear That Song” meant a redo. An earlier misplaced capo caused a redo of “The Eye” as well, the harmonies even sharper than before. Carlile and the band brought the show to a close and the house down with “Hold Out Your Hand,” an anthem that connected Woody Guthrie to twenty-first century rock, dedicated to a generation of kids fighting to make the world a better place. The audience went nuts, ending the show on the highest of high notes. It was an incredible show, and we can’t wait for you to see it when it airs this fall as part of our upcoming Season 44 on your local PBS station.

Tags Season 44, Tapings

New taping: St. Vincent

Post author By michael
Post date March 5, 2018

Austin City Limits is pleased to announce an exciting new taping for Season 44, featuring the groundbreaking St. Vincent on May 14, 2018. First appearing on ACL in 2009, the singer, songwriter and guitarist–born Annie Clark–returns to our stage in support of her highly acclaimed fifth album MASSEDUCTION. The release has earned some of the biggest raves of her career, with Jon Pareles of The New York Times naming it his #1 album of 2017, and Billboard hailing the record as “At once epic and intimate, fusing the myth of the legend-like St. Vincent with what it means to be simply Annie Clark.”

Following 2014’s Grammy-winning Alternative album of the year, MASSEDUCTION reaffirms St. Vincent’s standing as one of the most innovative presences in modern music. The mass seduction of the album’s title is a bold, emotional reckoning, largely themed around power—or as Clark specifies, “All the forces that can swallow you whole.” These include notoriety and beauty, as well as intoxicating distractions such as pills, sex, and sorrow. Richly melodic and vividly produced, MASSEDUCTION scales up from its predecessor, and marks her first collaboration with co-producer Jack Antonoff (Taylor Swift, Lorde, Sia, ACL alumni Fun). Their work occupies a fertile space between pop and art rock, with narratives that pivot from sentimental to savage. MASSEDUCTION is, most accurately, a mosaic of St. Vincent’s own experiences: “You can’t fact-check it, it’s not a diary entry, but if you want to know about my life, listen to this record.”

One of music’s most thrilling live acts, St. Vincent’s recent shows have wowed fans and critics alike, with Variety citing, “Annie Clark’s ownership of the stage felt like fearless evidence that rock’s future might actually be female… she’s got enough style, ambition, chops, and complications for a half-dozen rock auteurs.”

Want to be part of our audience? We will post information on how to get free passes about a week before each taping. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for notice of postings. The taping will also be livestreamed on the Austin City Limits YouTube channel. The broadcast version will air on PBS later this year as part of our Season 44.

Tags Season 44, Tapings

News Taping Recap

Mac DeMarco opens ACL’s 44th taping season with soft jams

Post author By michael
Post date February 28, 2018

A new season of Austin City Limits begins, and we were happy to open Season 44 with a rising artist making his debut on our stage: singer and songwriter Mac DeMarco. Celebrating his acclaimed fourth LP This Old Dog, the Canadian-turned-Californian by way of Far Rockaway, Queens, graced his loyal fans with an interactive set of his distinctive soul-flavored soft rock, which we streamed live around the world.

Taking a stage artfully cluttered with fake fruit, real pound cake, plenty of red wine, a Michael Jackson mask and assorted bric-a-brac, DeMarco and his four-piece backing band launched into the smoothly flowing “On the Level,” from This Old Dog. Switching to acoustic guitar, DeMarco revisited his second LP Salad Days via the poppy title track. Then it was back to the new album, as the creamy sound of an electric grand piano signalled the drift into “For the First Time,” a very eighties-sounding soft rocker that thrilled the under twenty-something crowd and prompted livestream viewer Pierce Hannah to rave “Mac Daddy rocking the yacht rock vest with these smooth, smooth tunes.” “We’ve never played this song as a band,” DeMarco noted, introducing the lightly rocking “One Another,” “but we’re gonna try to play it for you.” That successfully pulled off, he and the band cheekily kicked into its opposite number “Another One,” highlighted by a twangy guitar solo. Following a brief interlude in which the engaging rocker shared parmesan cheese (the powdered stuff, that is, not freshly grated) from one of the Italian restaurant-style tables adorning the stage, to the delight of the grateful front row, DeMarco essayed the title track of This Old Dog, a spell-binding dreamy pop tune.

“Now we’re gonna play a song we haven’t played in…four years?” DeMarco noted. “Fifteen years,” quipped guitarist Andy White. “The last time we played this song I was thirteen.” This was the intro to the easygoing “Brother,” from Salad Days. “So take it slow now, brother/Let it go,” the singer crooned over a languid, soul-influenced groove. Keeping it casual, DeMarco explained the next song was about his father, with the genial host again offering pound cake to his guests as the band went into a piano-heavy soft pop tune. He invited a couple of exuberant young fans to join him onstage, and after a quick lesson in shakers, the duo added to the percolating percussion. The band then reached back to his second album, the appropriately titled 2, for “Ode to Viceroy,” another easygoing pop song with harmony Stratocaster licks at the end. After sharing some red wine with another fan (whose ID he checked first), it was back to TOD, for the languorous “Dreams From Yesterday.”

One rendition of “Happy Birthday” to a fan later, DeMarco rode a jazzy, soul-pop vibe into “Chamber of Reflection,” powered by clapping from the crowd. He closed the show with the sugary romance of “Still Together,” on which he showed off a striking falsetto. Before the song was over, however, drummer Joe McMurray switched places with DeMarco to lead the crowd in the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Under the Bridge.” Then DeMarco reclaimed the mic for another couple of choruses of “Still Together,” before quitting the stage. It was a refreshing ending to the show, letting the audience down easy instead of overwhelming them with bombast. We can’t wait for you to see it when his show airs this fall on your local PBS station.

Tags Season 44, Tapings

New tapings: Mac DeMarco and Brandi Carlile

Post author By michael
Post date February 5, 2018

Austin City Limits is happy to announce the first new tapings for 2018’s Season 44, with the debut of fast-rising singer/songwriter Mac DeMarco on February 27 and the return of acclaimed singer/songwriter Brandi Carlile on April 10 at ACL Live at the Moody Theater. The DeMarco taping will also be livestreamed around the world.

Mac DeMarco (aka 27-year old MacBriare Samuel Lanyon DeMarco) released This Old Dog, his third album and first full-length since 2014’s Salad Days, on May 5th, 2017, via Captured Tracks. It was a little space—in time, location (he moved from Queens to Los Angeles), and method—that inspired the Canadian native while making This Old Dog. Arriving in California with a grip of demos he’d written in New York, he realized after a few months of setting up his new shop that the gap was giving him perspective. “I demoed a full album, and as I was moving to the West Coast I thought I’d get to finishing it quickly,” DeMarco says. “But then I realized that moving to a new city, and starting a new life takes time. Usually I just write, record, and put it out; no problem. But this time, I wrote them and they sat. When that happens, you really get to know the songs. It was a different vibe.” DeMarco wrote demos for This Old Dog on an acoustic guitar, an eye-opening method for him. “The majority of this album is acoustic guitar, synthesizer, some drum machine, and one song is electric guitar. So this is a new thing for me.” This Old Dog is rooted more in a synth-base than any of his previous releases, but he is careful not to let that tactic overshadow the other instruments and overall “unplugged” mood of the work. “This is my acoustic album, but it’s not really an acoustic album at all. That’s just what it feels like, mostly. I’m Italian, so I guess this is an Italian rock record.”

Having first appeared on ACL in 2010 and most recently paid tribute to Roy Orbison in the 2017 ACL Hall of Fame New Year’s Eve celebration, Brandi Carlile comes back in celebration of her seventh album, By The Way, I Forgive You, produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb and acclaimed musician Shooter Jennings. Already receiving widespread acclaim, NPR Music’s Ann Powers asserts, “By The Way, I Forgive You takes Carlile and her longtime bandmates, Phil and Tim Hanseroth, into a new space of risk-taking—as well as the emotional stratosphere. A country-rock aria dedicated to the delicate boys and striving girls born into—and, Carlile insists, destined to triumph over—this divisive time, ‘The Joke’ offers a stunning vocal performance from Carlile, swathed in warm piano, big drums and a perfect string arrangement.” Additionally, The New York Times praises, “Motherhood is disruptive, messy, inconvenient, enlightening and triumphant in ‘The Mother’…Its fingerpicking folk-rock unfurls from a blurry awakening to unabashed pride and joy,” while XPN The Key calls it, “an achingly heartfelt and quietly powerful track.” Recorded at Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A, By The Way, I Forgive You includes ten new songs written by Carlile and longtime collaborators and bandmates Tim and Phil Hanseroth. Of their close relationship, Carlile comments, “The Twins and I have been in a band for so long now. And not just a band, we are literally a family. When you create art with twins, it becomes unclear when I end and where they begin.” Over the course of their acclaimed career, the band has released six albums, including 2015’s The Firewatcher’s Daughter, which garnered a Grammy nomination for “Best Americana Album.”

Tags Season 44, Tapings