Tag: Tapings

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.   

The final taping of a season is always the setting for a blowout, and that’s what we got with the Austin City Limits debut from Turnpike Troubadours. The Oklahoma country rockers hit our stage in support of their highly acclaimed fifth LP A Long Way From Your Heart – a title that proved ironic, as there’s obviously a short distance to that organ in their devoted fans’ chests.

The Americana stars took the stage to huge applause, launching into “The Housefire,” the opener of A Long Way. The band then started mining its extensive back catalog with the rocking “Every Girl,” a song co-written by guest keyboardist John Fullbright, the danceable “Kansas City Southern” and passionate “1968,” all from the 2010 album Diamonds and Gasoline. The Troubadours then reached all the way back to their 2007 debut album, with the Cajun-flavored dancefloor filler “Bossier City,” before returning to the new album for the electric folk of “The Winding Stair Mountain Blues,” inspired by a true story from singer/songwriter Evan Felker’s Southeast Oklahoma past. After six skillet-lickers in a row, the band slowed down a tad for “Pay No Rent,” an earnest ballad in tribute to a friend of Felker who passed away. “Good Lord Lorrie” worked a similar groove to even more anthemic effect.

The red-dirt anthems continued with the widescreen rocker “A Tornado Warning.” Felker then strapped on a banjo for the folk-rocker “Gin Smoke & Lies,” its melody a clever variant on the old folk song “Shady Grove.” That led into the blazing “Before the Devil Knows We’re Dead,” which had the buzzing audience clapping along from the start. Steel guitarist Hank Early switched to a Dobro for an acoustic duet with Felker on “Diamonds and Gasoline,” much to the crowd’s delight. The band returned for a romp through “Whole Damn Town,” before the penultimate, lighter waving waltz “The Bird Hunter. The Troubadours closed the show with “Something to Hold On To,” a track co-written by Kevin Russell, beloved leader of Austin’s own Shinyribs and the Gourds. The song ended in a three-way solo frenzy from Early, lead guitarist Ryan Engleman and fiddler Kyle Nix, which made the audience go wild.

The show wasn’t quite over yet, however. As is an artist’s prerogative, the Troubadours decided to redo a few numbers, starting with “The Housefire.” The band ripped through another take on “The Winding Stair Mountain Blues” before finishing with a new version of “A Tornado Warning.” Fortunately, the audience were perfectly happy to enjoy those songs again. It was a great show and a nice way to close out the season, and we can’t wait for you to see it when it airs early next year as part of our Season 43 on your local PBS station.  

Singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer Dan Auerbach is no stranger to the ACL stage – his band The Black Keys have appeared twice on the show. This was his debut solo taping, performed with his Easy Eye Sound band and special guest Robert Finley, in support of his first solo album in eight years, the acclaimed Waiting on a Song. The record’s bright, countrified pop/rock contrasts nicely with the Keys’ grungy blues rock, and the show, which we streamed live around the world, followed suit.

Wielding an acoustic guitar, Auerbach and his band of legendary Nashville session players opened with the title track, a folk rocking welcome to a night of music. “Livin’ in Sin” followed, its country rock groove highlighted by the harmony guitars of Russ Pahl (who last appeared on ACL in 1993 with Great Plains) and Cage the Elephant’s Nick Bockrath. Auerbach switched to a Telecaster and Pahl to an electric sitar for “Malibu Man,” a soul-inflected tune with prominent harmonies from mandolinist Pat McLaughlin, another ACL vet, having visited in 2005 as a member of John Prine’s band. The frontman introduced members of the band, specifically “Memphis boys” Gene Chrisman (drums) and Bobby Wood (electric piano), both of whom have Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin on their extensive resumés. The group then romped through the darkly funny pop tune “Stand By My Girl” (“because she’ll kill me if I don’t”). Auerbach noted that many of the bandmembers had also played on songwriting god John Prine’s first album, before going into the sweet country rock of the unreleased “Somewhere Between Eau Claire and East Moline,” a song Auerbach co-wrote with Prine. Next up, the grooving “Pull Me Under Love” is another unreleased song that featured a Pahl/Auerbach duel on guitar. Auerbach introed the rest of the band before launching into the psychedelic swamp rock of “Cherry Bomb.”

Auerbach noted that he and his Easy Eye crew also make records for other people, bringing on one of those folks: Louisiana soul singer Robert Finley. Resplendent in his black leather cowboy hat and shades, the silver-haired, smoky-voiced Finley wasted no time going into the slinky “Medicine Woman.” “Let’s do one more with Robert,” said Auerbach, which cued the Southern soul of “Get It While You Can,” a classic in waiting. That was unfortunately all the time we had with Finley, but Auerbach made up for his absence with the lovely ballad “Never in My Wildest Dreams.” The band stayed with the easygoing vibe for “Tangled Love,” yet another unreleased song, and the album’s breezy “Show Me.” Auerbach ended the show with “Shine On Me,” the sprightly pop song that’s the first single from Waiting on a Song. The audience loved it, dancing along from the first bar. It was a sharp, memorable end to a great show, and we can’t wait for you to see it when it airs in early 2018 as part of our Season 43 on your local PBS station.