Tag: Tapings

Yola opens ACL 46 taping season with buckets of soul

Post author By michael
Post date February 5, 2020

photo by Scott Newton

You’d be forgiven for thinking Yola is from the American South. But singer, songwriter and multiple Grammy nominee (including four nods in the Americana category) actually hails from Bristol, England. She recorded her debut Walk Through Fire with Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach for his Easy Eye Sound label, garnering much love and acclaim, as well as those Grammy noms. Now her path leads her to her debut taping for Austin City Limits, which doubles as our first taping for Season 46, live streamed around the world.

The singer and her band took the stage and immediately began “Lonely the Night,” a midtempo bit of melancholy that near-perfectly inhabits the midpoint between soul and country – a sweet spot Yola owns. Donning her acoustic guitar, Yola’s vision further crystallized in follow-up “Ride Out in the Country,” one of the tunes that brought her to the public’s attention (as evidenced by the crowd’s enthusiasm), and given a tight, simmering reading here. “Shady Grove” took a more relaxed route, alluding to the folk music from which the title is adapted. Her album’s title track came next, with Yola sharing the story of its surprising inspiration: a house fire in which she was caught, which she remarkably translated into a smoldering love song with the help of Auerbach and legendary songwriter Dan Penn. She went back to folk rock for “Love All Night (Work All Day),” a tribute to doing what’s necessary to sustain one’s passion. Acknowledging the inspiration of Graham Nash and the Hollies, she then injected a dollop of soul into the Hollies’ “The Air That I Breathe,” ironically a song on which Nash himself did not perform. The audience loved it anyway. “That was fun, wasn’t it?” she teased.

Yola put down her guitar for “Faraway Look,” perhaps her most well-known hit (so far), giving the ballad the full force of her magnificent voice. After introducing the band, she sang the upbeat, uplifting “Love is Light” and the sadder (but still upbeat) “Still Gone.” Yola then flipped her back pages for the rocking “What You Do,” a track from her 2016 debut EP Orphan Offering. “It Ain’t Easier” followed, a powerhouse ballad that once again unleashed her full vocal power. Yola and her group closed the main set with a song by “my all-time hero,” Elton John – namely the grand ballad “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” which was unsurprisingly right up her alley. The crowd sent her off with a huge roar of applause.

Needless to say, Yola wasn’t done quite yet. She and the band came back onstage with “I Don’t Wanna Lie,” an old-fashioned soul groover that became an audience singalong. She brought the show home with Aretha Franklin’s explosive take on the classic Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell tune “You’re All I Need to Get By.” The audience went wild once again, as Yola walked off in triumph. It was a great show and a great season debut, and we can’t wait for you to see it when it airs this fall on your local PBS station.

Tags season 46, Tapings

ACL Announces Second Half of Landmark Season 45

Post author By calle
Post date December 10, 2019

Peabody Award-winning music series Austin City Limits announces the second half of Season 45, with seven all-new installments to begin airing in January 2020 as part of the program’s fourteen-episode season. ACL has featured some of the most iconic performances in live music for four and a half decades, and continues with a stellar slate of broadcast episodes featuring highly-anticipated debuts from today’s most talked-about live acts, continuing Austin City Limits’ run as the longest-running music television show in history. The program returns on Saturday, January 4th at 8pm CT/9pm ET, ringing in the new decade with a new installment featuring two indie-rock originals, Sharon Van Etten and Lucy Dacus, in a spellbinding double bill that forecasts the genre’s future.

The season returns in January with many 2020 Grammy Award-nominees, including four of this year’s Best New Artist nominees: Billie Eilish, Rosalía, Black Pumas and Tank and The Bangas, all making ACL debuts. Global pop-phenom Billie Eilish dazzles in an epic hour filled with songs from her record-breaking, 2019 double-platinum debut studio album; Spanish singer-songwriter sensation Rosalía showcases her trailblazing fusion of classic flamenco, electronic beats and R&B in a must-see hour; Austin’s breakout Black Pumas perform a thrilling set of their progressive soul; and New Orleans R&B, funk and hip-hop outfit Tank and The Bangas deliver a freewheeling, genre-defying, joyful debut. Kentucky modern rock stars Cage The Elephant perform a showstopping, hit-filled set along with new gems. Two of indie music’s most acclaimed singer-songwriters, Sharon Van Etten and Lucy Dacus, deliver captivating performances in a breathtaking double bill. ACL showcases indie original Mitski in a rare live performance sharing an episode with eclectic North Carolina alt-rockers Rainbow Kitten Surprise. A season highlight is the long-awaited return of powerhouse rockers The Raconteurs, the supergroup featuring Jack White and Brendan Benson, in a performance for the ages, making their first appearance in over a decade.

Season 45 Broadcast Schedule (Second Half):

December 28 Austin City Limits 6th Annual Hall of Fame Honors

January 4 Sharon Van Etten/Lucy Dacus

January 11 The Raconteurs/Black Pumas

January 18 Mitski/Rainbow Kitten Surprise

January 25 Cage The Elephant/Tank and The Bangas

February 1 Billie Eilish

February 8 Rosalía

ACL’s Season 45 premiered in October with standout performances from Gary Clark Jr., Vampire Weekend, Steve Earle & The Dukes, H.E.R., Maggie Rogers, Kane Brown, Patty Griffin and more. The series will continue to broadcast fan-favorite encore episodes through the end of 2019. In what has become an ACL holiday tradition, the program will rebroadcast Tom Waits’ legendary December 1978 performance, one of the most requested episodes in ACL’s four-and-a-half decade archive. Tune-in on December 21st to see this classic Christmas episode.

A special broadcast of Austin City Limits 6th Annual Hall of Fame Honors premieres Saturday, December 28 at 8pm CT/9pm ET. Check local PBS listings for times. The hourlong special will be available to music fans everywhere to stream online beginning Sunday, December 29 @10am ET at pbs.org/austincitylimits. Austin City Limits celebrates the newest class of Hall of Fame Inductees, Shawn Colvin, Buddy Guy and Lyle Lovett, with best-in-class performances and collaborations from the 2019 ACL Hall of Fame induction ceremony, taped October 24, 2019. Performers include Jackson Browne, Jimmie Vaughan, Sarah Jarosz, Shemekia Copeland, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Edie Brickell and Willis Alan Ramsey, joined by special guest, Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn, and hosted by Robert Earl Keen.

Tags Season 45, Tapings

Taping Recap

Tank and The Bangas close out S45 tapings with a soulful blast

Post author By calle
Post date November 19, 2019

There’s no one in music quite like Tank and The Bangas. The New Orleans R&B, funk and hip-hop ensemble impressed ACL with a stunning show at the Austin City Limits Music Festival a couple of years ago, so it was inevitable they would appear on the show. The band made their debut on the ACL stage in support of this year’s acclaimed major label LP Green Balloon, and their presence couldn’t have been any more appropriate – Tank and The Bangas’ joyful performance capped off our 45th taping season on a high note.

The Bangas took the stage to the delight of an already pumped audience – a perfect welcome for a band from the Big Easy. After a rumbling synth intro, singer/rapper/poet Tarriona “Tank” Ball arrived in a fur cape for “Spaceships,” displaying a variety of voices as she parodied hip-hoppers – or anyone, really – obsessed with the green. A classically-inclined piano intro from Norman Spence II brought on “Quick,” a roaring tune that featured two saxophones doubling power chords and ambiguous lyrics that also incorporated work from hip-hop producer extraordinaire 9th Wonder. After Tank enjoined the audience to “make some noise,” the band immediately launched into “Nice Things,” a slinky feast of soul. The ballad “Hot Air Balloon” followed, building to a fiery sax solo from Albert Allenback, before “Smoke.Netflix.Chill,” a sweet come-on if there ever was one.

A funky groove signaled the sardonic “Do Something,” a song that starts out as a riposte to empty platitudes, before becoming an anthem of personal empowerment. The party hit another level with “Boxes and Squares,” a beautifully volatile mix of funk, hip-hop and doubled jazz sax solos. The hard funk continued on “Nile, Den and Latah,” the band bringing their entire bag of tricks to bear on a tune that got the audience hopping. The crowd was able to catch their breath (barely) with “Ants,” which found Tank rapping over a smooth seventies R&B groove. The Bangas kept the music roiling and solos flying as Tank unleashed her powerful vocal chords on “Ripperton,” in tribute to the eponymous R&B favorite, first name Minnie. To say the audience went wild is an understatement.

All that energy had to go somewhere, and that was final song “Brady’s,” in which the band took the audience on a handclapping, swaying, hopping ride through its world: sweet harmonies, crashing drums, rock guitar, relentless groove, singalong “na-na’s” and Tank’s versatile, everywhere-at-once vocal stylings. “Bye!” said Tank, and the show was over, though from the crowd’s reaction they wanted more. It was a titanic way to end our milestone forty-fifth season of Austin City Limits, and we can’t wait for you to see it when this episode when it airs early next year on your local PBS station.

Tags Season 45, Tapings

Rosalía wins big at 2019 Latin Grammys

Post author By michael
Post date November 15, 2019

Austin City Limits extends a hearty congratulations to Spanish singer/songwriter Rosalía on her towering win of five Latin Grammy awards at last night’s star-studded ceremony in Las Vegas. Her acclaimed album El Mal Querer was awarded Album of the Year, making her the first female artist this decade to win the coveted title (since Shakira in 2006). Rosalía also took top honors for Best Contemporary Pop Album, Best Engineered Album, and Best Recording Package, while her smash single “Con Altura,” cut with reggaetón superstar J Balvin, won for Best Urban Song. “When I made that album I made it from the heart. I didn’t think about what would happen later,” Rosalía told the Los Angeles Times backstage at the event. “I can’t control anything that happens after the creative process because after that it’s not yours anymore, it’s everyone else’s.”

Rosalía delivered one of the most distinctive and remarkable shows in ACL history at her recent October taping. Viewers can watch the thrilling performance when it airs February 8, 2019 as a full-hour episode as part of the second half of ACL’s Season 45 on your local PBS station.

Tags Season 45, Tapings, TV broadcast

Hall of Fame Taping Recap

Taping recap: ACL Hall of Fame 6th Annual Honors

Post author By michael
Post date October 25, 2019

Every year the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame Honors feels like a homecoming. This year was no exception, with so many friends and family with us to help celebrate. For this year’s sixth Hall of Fame class, we inducted singer/songwriter Shawn Colvin, blues giant Buddy Guy and Texas icon Lyle Lovett, the man who nearly holds the record for the most appearances on the ACL stage (he’s one behind Willie Nelson), and their pals came out to start the party. It was a night to remember.

Austin drum corps Austin Samba set a festive mood to kick off the evening. KLRU-TV, Austin PBS, CEO & General Manager Bill Stotesbery welcomed the crowd and introduced ACL’s longtime executive producer Terry Lickona. He briefly recapped the show’s iconic history before ceding the stage to the evening’s host, Texas troubadour Robert Earl Keen and the ceremony was quickly underway.

Keen introduced the evening’s first inductee – veteran Austinite Shawn Colvin. The legendary Jackson Browne inducted Colvin with a moving speech about her musical history and the genius that has marked it. “He’s my hero,” said Colvin, “and he just inducted me into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame.” She accepted the honor with a heartfelt speech about what Austin and the show have meant to her, before she and Browne took up their acoustic guitars for the lovely “These Four Walls,” which she called a tribute to her town. Following that, Colvin welcomed Wimberley native Sarah Jarosz, who used her mandolin for the classic lick of Colvin’s Grammy-winning smash “Sunny Came Home.” After Jarosz left the stage, Colvin was joined by guitarist Steuart Smith and bassist Larry Klein, both of whom produced records for her, and formed a touring trio with her in the nineties. “This is the first time we’ve played together in 25 years,” she declared, before the threesome nailed a version of her later-period hit “Polaroids.” Jarosz joined the trio for “Diamond in the Rough,” Colvin’s radio breakthrough – which was also enhanced by fellow inductee Lyle Lovett’s surprise appearance on harmony vocals and a thrilling Smith guitar solo. The musicians quit the stage to grand applause.

Keen came back onstage to introduce the next inductee: the one and only Buddy Guy. The blues legend was inducted by his old friend and Austin blues icon Jimmie Vaughan, who talked about discovering Guy as a kid from the album Folk Festival of the Blues, and how that put him on the path he’s followed since. “Better late than never!” exclaimed Guy as he accepted his award, garnering a big laugh. The Chicago axeman paid tribute to his own influences – Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Lightnin’ Hopkins – before thanking the audience and his fellow artists for helping to keep the blues alive. Guy and Vaughan then joined the former’s band onstage, launching into “Damn Right I’ve Got the Blues,” one of many signature Buddy Guy tunes. Blues singer Shemekia Copeland came next, duetting with Guy on his latest hit “Cognac,” which made getting tipsy absolutely sensual. One of Guy’s recent mentees, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram then took the stage for a rip through “I Just Want to Make Love to You,” one of the classics from Guy’s own mentor Muddy Waters. Closing out his segment, Guy and Ingram welcomed back Copeland and Vaughan and Guy donned an electric sitar for “Skin Deep,” a deep soul ballad in the style of “Feels Like Rain” that reminded us all that we share more than we differ.

After an intermission (which featured another performance from Austin Samba), Keen returned to introduce his old friend Lyle Lovett. Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn surprised the crowd with an unannounced appearance to induct his pal, calling him “a humble maestro,” “the storytelling heir to Faulkner, Rogers and Twain,” speaking eloquently and humorously about the impact his music and friendship has had on his life. After thanking Penn, Lovett delineated how long his history with Austin City Limits goes back, from watching the show since its first season to closing out Studio 6A in 2010, before thanking the show and his family – his mother was in attendance. Then Lovett announced seminal Texas songwriter, and key Lovett influence, Willis Alan Ramsey, who sang, with help from the large band, his friend’s anthem “If I Had a Boat.” Dallas native Edie Brickell was next, taking on Lovett’s tart country ballad “I Loved You Yesterday.” The maestro himself came back onstage, thanking his crew and the Large Band, before paring the latter down to fiddler Luke Bulla, mandolinist Keith Sewell and bassist Viktor Krauss for “12th of June,” inspired by his family past and present. The Large Band returned and Lovett welcomed Keen back to the stage to sing “This Old Porch,” a song the pair of them wrote nearly 40 years ago – a fitting tribute to enduring friendships and a long-running career. Keen then invited the other inductees and guests on stage for the final song. Lovett took the opportunity to introduce the large band, including his longtime backup singer Francine Reed, who garnered the biggest round of applause.

Then it was time for the closing number – “That’s Right, You’re Not From Texas,” one of Lovett’s most famous songs and one perfect for a chorus of famous backup singers. The audience went wild as streamers came down from the ceiling, as another successful Hall of Fame taping came to a close. We can’t wait for you to see it when it airs as a special New Year’s broadcast on your local PBS station.

Tags Hall of Fame, Season 45, Tapings

New taping: Tank and the Bangas

Post author By michael
Post date October 16, 2019

Austin City Limits is happy to announce a final taping for our current Season 45. Breakout New Orleans act Tank and The Bangas make their ACL debut on November 18.

“There’s no record quite like Green Balloon, and no band quite like Tank and The Bangas,” raves NPR Music. The New Orleans five-piece R&B, funk and hip-hop outfit, featuring vocalist Tank Ball, bassist Norman Spence, drummer Joshua Johnson, saxophonist Albert Allenback and keyboardist Merell Burkett is earning numerous shout-outs from national press: “There’s no leaving a Tank and The Bangas performance in a bad mood” (The New Yorker); “Lead singer Tank has an elastic, surprising voice that oozes energy, turning simple lyrics into full stories just with a twist of the syllables” (Time Magazine). Simply put, Tank and The Bangas are a beacon of life. And it’s that life that you hear in their music. That’s what makes them one of the most thrilling, unpredictable and sonically diverse bands on the planet; a unit where jazz meets hip-hop, soul meets rock, and funk is the beating heart of everything they do. Their new album Green Balloon is their first release with major label Verve Forecast – a deal that came together after their standout live performance unanimously won NPR’s 2017 Tiny Desk Contest, beating out hundreds of other acts. That moment changed their lives, catapulting the hard-working band into the national spotlight.

Since 2017, the band has toured non-stop selling out venues both stateside and abroad including festival appearances at Coachella, Bonnaroo, Newport Folk Festival and more. They earned a spot Rolling Stone’s list of the “10 Artists You Need To Know,” who called them, “A secular church experience, with freewheeling improvisational chops and positive vibes.” “We’re really vibe-y as a band,” says the act who came together in 2011 at a NOLA open mic. They’d arrive at sessions with an idea of what they wanted, but it was never strict enough to derail them from jamming and going with the flow. It’s purely organic. “It’s a puzzle and everybody needs to be there to solve it,” says former slam poet and lead singer Tank Ball. They don’t connect with the idea of genre, which is thoroughly modern in itself. “Everything we’re influenced by we don’t have a problem putting on a record because we don’t feel like we’re stuck in one lane. When we’re creating, we are creating. We never say: that sounded too blues-y, that sounded too country, that’s too hip-hop. It’s just that’s what this feels like, so let’s push that feeling to its completion, make it feel good.”

Despite their newfound global focus, Tank and The Bangas remain a New Orleans band at heart. ”You don’t need to do a certain type of music to be connected to New Orleans,” says Tank. “It’s in the culture, it’s in the people, it’s in the fact that we can all find so many common things in the streets.” New Orleans champions its own, which allowed Tank and The Bangas to grow their fanbase by word of mouth and community. “That’s more New Orleans than anything I’ve ever heard. The music in New Orleans isn’t technical, it’s not a bunch of fancy-ass notes. It’s felt and it’s very passionate. It’s real. That’s what people get to take home.”

Want to be part of our audience? We will post information on how to get free passes about a week prior to the taping. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for notice of postings. The broadcast episode will air on PBS early next year as part of ACL’s milestone Season 45.

Tags Season 45, Tapings