Austin City Limits
Willie Nelson
Austin City Limits (often abbreviated as ACL) is an American public television music program recorded live in Austin, Texas by Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Public television member station KLRU, and broadcast on many PBS stations around the United States. The show helped Austin to become widely known as the "Live Music Capital of the World," and is the only television show to receive the National Medal of Arts, which it was awarded in 2003.
Initially created to celebrate the music of Texas—featuring western swing, Texas
blues, Tejano music, progressive country, and rock n' roll—the series has gone
on to feature regional, national and international artists performing a wide
range of musical styles, including jazz, alternative country, alternative rock,
folk music, and jam band.
The show inspired the creation of the Austin City Limits Music Festival, an
annual live music festival at Zilker Park in Austin.
the Venue
Some of the performances from Austin City Limits have been released as CDs and DVDs in the Live from Austin, TX series. Full episodes can also be viewed online at the show's official website. There is an Austin City Limits store at the Austin Bergstrom International Airport.
On June 21, 2012, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio
announced that nearly forty years of Austin City Limits footage will be
digitally archived "in perpetuity" at the Museum's new Library and Archives;
recordings from more than 800 live performances will be made available to the
public.
The executive Producer is Terry Lickona.
Willie Nelson
From 1976 through its 2010 season, ACL was recorded in Studio 6A in the Communications Building B on the University of Texas at Austin campus, on a stage featuring a mock skyline of Austin in the background. The studio had a seating capacity of approximately 800, but due to limited access to fire exits the audience size was limited to 300.
Willie Nelson's porch
Venue is Non Smoking, so Willie likes this outdoor porch
In 2010, the show and its original studio were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A plaque near the entrance to Communications Building B commemorating the occasion proclaims Austin City Limits as the "longest running music show in the history of American television."
storage of plants used on stage
backstage
On February 26, 2011, ACL held its first taping in its new purpose-built Moody
Theater and studio in downtown Austin's W Austin Hotel and Residences. Despite a
seating capacity of over 2,700, audiences will be limited to around 800 (the
original total seating capacity of the old studio). The additional seating
capacity will be used for the ACL Live concert series at the venue.
In 1977, ACL producers made "London Homesick Blues," written by Gary P. Nunn,
the ACL theme song. The show originally used the version performed by Nunn, but
the song was rearranged several times starting in the mid-1990s. The current
theme, beginning with the show's 30th season, is an original composition by
Austin musician Charlie Sexton.
Text from Wikipedia
performer's lounge
Austin City Limits
past sessions
dressing room
performer photos
Roy Orbison
Waylon Jennings
Willie Nelson
Bonnie Wreith
Johnnie Cash
Chris Christopherson
Jerry Lee Lewis
Merle Haggard
Keith Richards