Tag: Tapings

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Featured News Taping Announcement

Summer taping announcements: Tim McGraw and Kat Edmonson

Summer keeps heating up for Austin City Limits, as we’ve got two more tapings to announce, both from singers burning up their individual genres: Kat Edmonson on July 10 and Tim McGraw on August 6.

With a vision that’s “equal parts Billie Holiday and Bjork” (All About Jazz), Kat Edmonson seemingly came out of nowhere in 2009 to take the jazz world by storm. The Texas native grew up in Houston with a mother who introduced her to the Great American Songbook. Determined to be a singer, she auditioned for American Idol during its second season, but left Hollywood for Austin. She became a regular at the Elephant Room, Austin’s premier jazz club, building a following and making musical connections that energized her career. Her 2009 debut album Take To the Sky hit the top 20 on Billboard’s jazz charts, adding enough juice that she found herself playing gigs with Boz Scaggs, Smokey Robinson and Willie Nelson. A high-profile duet with fan Lyle Lovett on the Christmas classic “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” put her on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and set the stage for Way Down Low, her second record and first to include her own original songs. Armed with a LP that’s been called “intuitive about melody and handy with a phrase” (The New York Times) and “one of the greatest vocal albums I’ve ever heard” (The Boston Globe), Kat Edmonson now comes to our stage on July 10, ready for what’s sure to be a memorable ACL debut.

photo by Alyson Fox

Also making his debut this season is country superstar Tim McGraw.  Obviously no rookie, the Louisiana native has sold over 40 million units, won three Grammy Awards, 14 Academy of Country Music Awards, 11 Country Music Association Awards, 10 American Music Awards, three People’s Choice Awards and numerous other honors.  With 7.8 million spins at radio, he was deemed “Artist of the Decade” (2000-2010) by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems.  McGraw’s 11th studio album Emotional Traffic debuted at No. one on the Billboard Country Chart, making it his 13th career #1 debut. With 32 #1 singles to his credit and his current single “Better Than I used To be” tracking on the same course, McGraw’s hits include “Felt Good On My Lips,” “Southern Voice,” “Live Like You Were Dying, “Real Good Man” and many, many more. NPR notes, “With a voice that can go from earthy to angelic in a single phrase and a back catalog that shows serious growth over two decades, McGraw is a star with substance.” Come find out for yourself on August 6.

Go here for more information on ACL tapings, and check in on our Facebook and Twitter pages for the ticket announcements for these shows.

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Featured News Taping Announcement

June taping announcements: Bonnie Raitt, Dr. Dog and Mavis Staples

June may be vacation time for most folks, but here at Austin City Limits we’re happy to come to work. Why? Because we have not one, not two but three great artists visiting us: Dr. Dog on June 25 and Bonnie Raitt and Mavis Staples on June 27.

Hailing from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Dr. Dog has had the virtue of developing far away from the music industry. Grown organically through practice and experimentation, the band’s quirky, catchy pop draws equally from the psychedelic 60s and the indie rock 00s. Dr. Dog earned its national break in 2004 after going on the road with ACL veterans My Morning Jacket. The band has since become a well-traveled touring outfit, releasing half a dozen albums and appearing on the late night TV shows of David Letterman, Jimmy Fallon, Conan O’Brien and Craig Ferguson. Armed with its acclaimed seventh LP Be the Void, Dr. Dog records their first episode of Austin City Limits on June 25.

Bonnie Raitt needs no introduction to ACL fans, having appeared on the show twice before, in Seasons 9 and 28.  The veteran musician’s remarkable talents are back in the public eye this year with Slipstream, the first release on her own Redwing Records label and her first since 2005’s Souls Alike. NPR praised Slipstream as “vital and fresh… beautiful,” Rolling Stone gave it a 4-star review, and Entertainment Weekly wrote “Superb… she slips her purring voice into every song like a letter going into an envelope addressed just to you.” The album debuted at #6 on the Billboard 200, marking the nine time Grammy-winner’s highest charting album and best sales week in nearly two decades. We welcome Bonnie Raitt back to the ACL stage on June 27.

But Ms. Raitt is not coming alone. Joining her will be gospel/R&B legend Mavis Staples. The Chicago native began her career in 1950 with the Staple Singers, who became one of the most successful family gospel bands in America with pop hits “Respect Yourself” and “I’ll Take You There.” The Staple Singers represented the musical voice of the Civil Rights movement due in part to their friendship with Martin Luther King and also to their willingness to record material as topical as it was inspirational. Mavis first tested the solo waters in the late 60s, recording sporadically for the next 40 years. Currently signed to hip label Anti-, Mavis is still riding high on the success of 2010’s You’re Not Alone, produced by pal Jeff Tweedy from Wilco. Now she’s bringing her venerated pipes, whose “otherworldly power comes…from a masterful command of phrasing and deep-seated sensuality” (All Music), to the Moody Theater for her Austin City Limits debut.

Stay with us on Facebook, Twitter and this very blog for more news about upcoming tapings, and check out our Tumblr page for blasts from the past.

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News Taping Recap

tUnE-yArDs: a show unlike any other

Some musical artists get known for jumping on trendy bandwagons. Other artists do it by revitalizing a familiar style, or simply doing it really, really well. But a few, a very few, garner attention by doing something no one else is doing, and sounding like no one but themselves. Tonight’s performance by tUnE-yArDs made it clear to which category Merrill Garbus belongs. With a bassist and two sax players joining Garbus’ frontline of drums, amplified ukelele and looping technology, tUnE-yArDs put on a show unlike any other.

Garbus opened with a storm of looped voices and beats from her snare and floor tom.  Joined first by the bassist and then by the sax players, she launched into “Party Can,” a bonus track on the Japanese version of tUnE-yArDs’ hit album w h o k i l l. They followed with a bit of free jazz sax skronk before going into “Gangsta,” one of tUnE-yArDs’ most accessible tunes. “Es-So” was next, as Garbus looped a hip-hop beat out of her drums, layered some wailing vocals and then chopped out some jagged chords on her uke. Add an almost poppy vocal melody to the polyrhythmic tapestry and it’s the tUnE-yArDs sound in a nutshell.

tUnE-yArDs © KLRU photo by Scott Newton

While the group may have a form, it certainly wasn’t formula, as every song sounded different than the one prior. From the Latin-tinged percussion of “Riotriot” and the African vocal melody of “Bizness to the dub ukelele and big-band sax lines of “Killa,” tUnE-yArDs showed an amazing facility to lift bits and pieces from different cultures and genres, and fit them all together like an intricate but smoothly constructed puzzle. It sounds like a worn cliche, but it’s true – tUnE-yArDs truly sounds like no one you’ve heard before, and we’re thrilled to showcase such a unique artist. “I love Merrill Garbus’ power and fearlessness,” tweeted ACL producer TheOtherLeslie. “And her sense of fun. Above all a tUnE-yArDs show is a damn good time.”

tUnE-yArDs © KLRU photo by Scott Newton

Be sure and keep up with all ACL TV goings-on on our site, Facebook and Twitter pages. Check out some pics of the past on our Tumblr page.

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News Taping Announcement

tUnE-yArDs Tapes Austin City Limits on 5/29

When it comes to describing tUnE-yArDs, words often fail. The brainchild of songwriter/musician Merrill Garbus, the band offers a seamless blend of indie pop, electronica and worldbeat that sounds like no one else. BiRd-BrAiNs, Garbus’ first project as tUnE-yArDs, was produced on a handheld voice recorder and originally self-released digitally and on cassette in 2009. BiRd-BrAiNs caught the ear of renowned indie label 4AD, who released the record on CD and extensive touring followed. But it was Garbus’ second LP w h o k i l l that really put tUnE-yArDs on the map. Recorded in a studio with members of Garbus’ road band and released in April 2011, w h o k i l l covers a dizzying array of ground and includes standouts tracks “Bizness” and “Gangsta,” the latter of which appears on episodes of The Good Wife and Weeds. w h o k i l l earned tUnE-yArDs accolades around the world, topping the Village Voice’s annual Pazz & Jop music poll. Now Garbus brings her distinctive vision to the Austin City Limits stage at The Moody Theater for a performance on May 29.

We’ll have the ticket giveaway up on acltv.com about a week before the taping. We’ll post it on our Facebook and Twitter pages too. We hope to see you there!

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News Taping Recap

Punch Brothers debut on ACL

“We’ve wanted to do this for so long!” declared Chris Thile before launching into the first number of the Punch Brothers’ Austin City Limits taping. While it was the band’s first time on ACL, it was not the first for Thile, who has graced our stage three times before with his former group Nickel Creek and as part of Dolly Parton’s backing ensemble. So the Punch Brothers show was a debut by an ACL veteran.

Paradoxes aside, the quintet killed it with their unique take on acoustic music. Set up with bluegrass instrumentation but just as influenced by jazz, classical music and pop as anything old-timey, the Punch Brothers performed a stunning array of tunes that slipped through the fingers of specific genres like hyperactive toddlers. From the stop-start rhythms of “Who’s Feeling Young Now?” and “Hundred Dollars” to the straight pop melodies of “New York City” and “Don’t Get Married Without Me,” the band delivered a restless, intensely creative set of songs.

Tradition didn’t get short shrift, either – the instrumental “Watch’at Breakdown” and a cover of Jimmie Rodgers’ “Brakeman’s Blues” delivered plenty of old-fashioned bluegrass thrills. The band combined their experimental and traditional sides midshow by seguing a judiciously dissonant cover of Radiohead’s “Kid A” into a blazing take on Gillian Welch’s “Wayside/Back in Time” .

The band returned to the stage for an encore with heartfelt and fun tributes to recently fallen heroes – Earl Scruggs with the banjo master’s “Groundspeed” and Levon Helm with the Band’s “Ophelia.” Throughout the show the band used their instrumental virtuosity only for good, never soloing to the point of tedium – their taste was as impeccable as their musicianship. The Punch Brothers’ set was as fine an example of unclassifiable contemporary acoustic music as anyone could hope for.

“When you start a band, this is all you really want to be able to do – play Austin City Limits,” noted  Thile halfway through the show, as he cited the Season 15 show with Strength in Numbers as a catalyst to his desire to make music. We’re always happy to host great musicians who’ve grown up with ACL. Hopefully future generations will be inspired by the Punch Brothers when the episode airs  this fall on your local PBS station. Check our Facebook and Twitter pages for more info as the year progresses.

Categories
News Taping Recap

Bon Iver’s intimate pop anthems mesmerize

When Justin Vernon created the acclaimed For Emma, Forever Ago in his family’s cabin in Medford, Wisconsin in 2008, he probably never thought that his candid creation would lead his band Bon Iver to the Austin City Limits studio. But here he is, playing to a packed house at ACL Live at the Moody Theater.

Joined by eight multi-instrumentalists, Vernon turned his intimate confessionals into orchestral pop anthems that kept the crowd mesmerized. They played all but one song from 2011’s Grammy-winning Bon Iver, Bon Iver, but left plenty of room for gems from For Emma and beyond. Making good use of controlled cacophony on “Perth” and “Creature Fear” and soft-to-loud dynamics on “Calgary” and the hit “Holocene,” the band deftly demonstrated its range and depth. (“Holocene reminds me of driving along the West Coast and feeling so insignificant, but in a good way,” tweeted Miranda S.) Bon Iver pulled back for the folky “Skinny Love” and the lovely “Re: Stacks” (performed by Vernon solo) and revved back up for the catchy “Towers” and the rocking “Blood Bank.”

As if Vernon didn’t already have the audience in the palm of his hand, he appealed to their local pride with what Julia Brash described as an “overwhelmingly beautiful” cover of hometown heroine Patty Griffin’s “Nobody’s Crying,” before engaging them in a mass singalong for “The Wolves.” “All we needed was a campfire,” noted Zackary Wilburn, “and we would have been in that cabin up in Wisconsin!” Bon Iver closed out the night with “For Emma,” in many ways the song that started it all.

“This is the only good, perfect, wonderful music show that we have,” Vernon asserted during the encore. Such high praise makes us blush – we’re as happy to have hosted Bon Iver as its leader was to be here. Bon Iver’s enchanting episode will air in the fall – check with your local PBS station for airdates and showtimes. You can also keep up with Season 38’s progress via Facebook, Twitter and this very blog.