Tag: Tapings

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Featured News Taping Announcement

Taping announcements: Delta Spirit, Gary Clark, Jr. and Esperanza Spalding

As leaves turn brown and the weather grows cooler, we have more exciting tapings to announce: an ACL debut with Delta Spirit and return visits from Gary Clark, Jr. and Esperanza Spalding.

Formed in San Diego and based in Brooklyn, modern rock quintet Delta Spirit have steadily built a loyal live following over the course of seven years and three records. Originally self-released before being picked up by Rounder Records, the band’s debut Ode to Sunshine gave its earnest, spiritually-inclined guitar pop enough attention to earn it spots on Late Night With Conan O’Brien and Last Call With Carson Daly. The group’s second record History From Below hit the Billboard album chart at #174, while its current self-titled LP entered at #103 and earned the #1 slot on BB’s Heatseekers chart. As likely to include beats hammered out on trashcan lids as sprightly melodies played on the usual rock instruments, Delta Spirit has brought its sound into the light the old-fashioned way: with good records, hard work and steady touring. Come find out on November 2 why the buzz is growing.

photo by Frank Maddocks

Gary Clark, Jr. has been tearing up Austin stages since he was a teenager, and has lately made a name for himself across the country as well. Though known for his driving blues-rock guitar style, there’s more to his music than just twelve bars and guitar solos. As Rolling Stone notes, Blak and Blu, his major label debut, “[owes] as much to Kurt Cobain and the Ramones as Buddy Guy and John Lee Hooker, indebted to hip-hop and psychedelia…grounded in tradition while standing on the brink of change.” Clark has appeared on ACL before, as part of the Tribute to Bluesman Jimmy Reed with Jimmie Vaughan and Omar Dykes, impressing his fellow musicians and our viewers. On November 30, he’s coming to show Austin City Limits what his own music can do.

photo by Carlos Pericas

With one foot in jazz, the other in soul and both hands on her bass, Esperanza Spalding has become a rising star in both critical and commercial circles. A restless creative spirit, the young musician/singer/composer has absorbed everything from jazz to Brazilian pop to R&B to classical music in her creative evolution. Her most recent album Radio Music Society leans most heavily in a soul direction, with a set of original tunes, plus covers of Michael Jackson’s Stevie Wonder-penned “I Can’t Help It” and Wayne Shorter’s “Endangered Species,” featuring lyrics by Spalding herself. The former Berklee School of Music professor first appeared on ACL three years ago, where she wowed an audience unfamiliar with her music, and she continues to do so every time her show is rebroadcast. On December 2, Esperanza Spalding is back, with a whole new program, and we couldn’t be happier.

The usual lottery for taping passes will be announced on our Tapings page as we get closer to the dates. We have more exciting announcements coming soon!

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Featured News

Taping Announcement: Jack White

As charismatic as he is talented, there’s no denying that Jack White is one of the most exciting musicians to hit the scene in the last decade. The Detroit native brought blues-based rock & roll back to the mainstream with the White Stripes and indulged in acclaimed side projects the Raconteurs (who graced our stage in 2006) and the Dead Weather. Earlier this year came Blunderbuss, White’s first album under his own name, which debuted at #1 on the charts in the US, UK, Canada and Switzerland. Q Magazine calls the eclectic record “a concentrated shot of charisma, undiluted and intoxicating,” while Rolling Stone notes that it has “huge riffs, wild ideas, tunes for miles: Jack White has created a classic.” The Guardian asserts that “Blunderbuss is White at his most strange, contradictory and unfathomable, and therefore at his best.” Now White is coming to Austin to headline one night of the Austin City Limits Music Festival, and we couldn’t resist enticing him to bring music from every stage of his career, to our stage for an episode of ACL. Please join us on October 14 for an unforgettable night of rock & roll.

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Featured News Taping Announcement

Taping announcement: Norah Jones

ACL fans need no introduction to Norah Jones – the eclectic singer/songwriter has graced our stage twice before. Her upcoming third taping on October 18, however, comes on the heels of her acclaimed album Little Broken Hearts. Not only is Hearts a classic break-up album, but it also comes with imaginative production and co-writing from the iconoclastic Brian Burton, AKA Danger Mouse, who has himself visited ACL as part of Gnarls Barkley. Combining Burton’s otherworldly textures with Jones’ raw, heart-on-sleeve writing produces what The Boston Globe called “a striking change-up” and The Philadelphia Inquirer deemed “her best album in ages.” Meanwhile NPR notes, “Always more versatile than most people think, Jones fits all of this smart material to perfection, marking her second decade as a star while making her sound cooler and more unflappably sophisticated than ever.” We’re proud to present an ACL veteran moving in new directions. We hope you can join us.

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News Taping Recap

Tim McGraw Enthralls in ACL Debut

“This is a really special night for us,” noted Tim McGraw a few songs into his debut ACL taping. It’s a sentiment echoed by both crowd and crew, as the country superstar blazed through a set of his distinctive brand of rockin’ country music. Opening with his recent country chart topper “Felt Good On My Lips,” McGraw easily placed the willing audience in his hip pocket, hopping off stage and shaking hands with the front row of the crowd. The adoring crowd roared.

McGraw previewed several songs from his upcoming, as-yet-untitled new album for eager fans. From the instantly catchy (and no doubt hitbound) anthem “Mexicoma” and the mid-tempo country pop tune “One of Those Nights” to the emotional ballads “Book of John” and “Friend of a Friend,” McGraw sang the fresh tuneage with as much conviction as with the songs everyone already knew, ensuring their place in his repertoire for years to come.

So you can imagine the groundswell of enthusiasm when McGraw did play some of his classics. The singer’s specialty is singalong anthems, after all, and whether the song was a call for personal empowerment (“Unbroken”), a burst of working class angst (“All I Want is a Life”) or a tribute to man-children everywhere (“A Real Good Man”), McGraw and audience melded into one excited – and exciting – voice. Even when he brought the proverbial lights down low with the regret-filled ballads “Everywhere” and “Red Rag Top,” the energy stayed level and the crowd was right there with him.

McGraw ended the main set with the emotional journey of his massive #1 single “Live Like You Were Dying” – a career-defining hit if there ever was one. But he brought the encore and the show to a close with the heavy riffs and hillbilly humor of his current hit “Truck Yeah,” the kind of lighthearted tune guaranteed to crack a smile on the most jaded face, and the kind of singalong anthem for which arena concerts are made. Viewers at home will get their chances to sing along as well when the episode airs this fall – we hope you tune in and join us!

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News Taping Recap

Kat Edmonson lights up the stage for her ACL debut

“You’ll have to forgive me, I’m finding myself a little bit speechless tonight,” commented Kat Edmonson. She may have been at a loss for words when it came to talking, but when it came to singing, she had no hesitation. Owner of both a soulful tone — somewhere between Billie Holiday and Blossom Dearie — and a sterling set of songs, Edmonson lit up the stage for her Austin City Limits debut.

The singer/songwriter has the amazing ability to produce fresh material that sounds, shall we say, experienced – the jaunty jazz tune “Long Way Home,” for example, or the lullaby-like waltz “I’m Not In Love,” which could have come from a 60-year old Disney film. “What else can I do,” she crooned over a samba rhythm, “I’m still in love with you” from “What Can I Do?” sounded like an old standard, but is, in fact, an Edmonson original.  Even the blues-tinged ballad “Hopelessly Blue,” written by Miles Zuniga of the Austin rock band Fastball, came across as a great tune rediscovered.

Edmonson sang several of her tried and true songs including the sly “Champagne,” the slinky cha-cha “This Was the One” and the string-driven “Lucky.”  Her lauded skills as an interpreter were also on display as she mesmerized the crowd with a pair of gorgeous, melancholy ballads drawn from different decades: the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds classic “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times” and the 1940-vintage Ink Spots slow dancer “Whispering Grass.” She closed the set with the straightforward folk/pop of “I Don’t Know,” a Willie Bobo-associated song written by Sonny Henry, the author of Santana’s “Evil Ways.”

By the end of the show, Edmonson had led the audience back to the start, opening and closing the evening with the same song. She gave her tune “Nobody Knows That” a frothy jazz/pop reading at the beginning, then stripped it down to piano and voice for the encore. It was a perfect way to bookend a stellar evening that celebrated song and voice in equal measure. We can’t wait for you to see and hear the remarkable Kat Edmonson – this fall on PBS.

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News

Southwest Airlines presents the Tim McGraw Live From Austin Sweepstakes

Southwest Airlines, the official airline of Austin City Limits, has set up a drawing for our upcoming Tim McGraw taping on August 6. Winners receive not only a pair of passes to the show, but also roundtrip airfare and two nights at the W Hotel (conveniently located adjacent to ACL Live at the Moody Theater). Go here for more details and the entry form. Don’t wait too long – the contest ends on July 20. And fear not, we’ll also be doing a regular lottery for passes as we get closer to the show.