In partnership with the Americana Music Association, Austin City Limits (ACL) returns to Nashville for a special broadcast featuring performance highlights from the 20th Annual Americana Honours. For two decades, the annual celebration of roots music has honoured the best and brightest musicians in Americana music while showcasing one-of-a-kind performances and collaborations.
The program is filled with musical highlights from many of the event’s award-winners and honourees, among them (in order of appearance): Fisk Jubilee Singers with Leon Timbo, Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan & Joe Henry, Allison Russell, The Highwomen, featuring Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris, Amanda Shires with Yola, Jason Isbell, Valerie June & Carla Thomas, Charley Crockett, Amythyst Kiah, Buddy Miller, Brandi Carlile and The Mavericks. The hourlong special premieres Saturday, April 2 at 7pm CT/8pm ET on PBS and varies by market (check local listings for times). Check PBS listings for local air times. The special will be available to music fans everywhere to stream online beginning Sunday, April 3 at 9am CT/10am ET at pbs.org/austincitylimits. Viewers can visit acltv.com for news regarding upcoming Season 48 tapings, episode schedules and select live stream updates.
Recorded live at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium in 2021, The Americana Music Association’s 20th Annual Americana Honours & Awards ceremony is a celebration of the confluence of roots, blues, soul, folk and country music. For the tenth year, the producers of Austin City Limits, in conjunction with producers Martin Fischer, Michelle Aquilato, and Jed Hilly for the Americana Music Association, proudly deliver a special ACL Presents.
Lifetime Achievement Award honourees Fisk Jubilee Singers, the award-winning choir formed at Nashville’s HBCU Fisk University, open the hour and raise the Ryman roof with the stirring spiritual “I Believe” joined by gospel great Leon Timbo. Americana’s Artist of the Year Brandi Carlile delivers a gorgeous solo performance of her 2022 triple GRAMMY-nominated song “Right On Time” and also performs with her bandmates Maren Morris, Natalie Hemby and Amanda Shires in supergroup The Highwomen with Yola. Multiple Americana Album of the Year nominees showcase highlights: Americana stalwart Sarah Jarosz performs “I’ll Be Gone,” a gem from her celebrated World on the Ground, joined by John Leventhal; Valerie June performs her Song of the Year-nominated “Call Me A Fool” from her The Moon And Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers, joined by Stax great and Lifetime Achievement honouree Carla Thomas; and one of the genre’s top stars, Jason Isbell, is joined by wife and collaborator Amanda Shires for “Letting You Go,” a poignant song written for their young daughter from his acclaimed Reunions.
The award’s Emerging Act honourees take the stage to showcase their talents: the year’s Emerging Act Award-winner and “the pride of San Benito, Texas,” Charley Crockett, makes his debut performing his singular brand of Gulf & Western music with a rousing “Are We Lonesome Yet.” Fellow nominee, genre-bending artist Allison Russell, delivers her 2022 double GRAMMY-nominated “Nightflyer,” a soulful number from her critically-acclaimed solo record Outside Child, also a 2022 GRAMMY nominee for Best Americana Album. Breakout singer-songwriter Amythyst Kiah showcases her bonafides with a powerhouse “Fancy Drones (Fracture Me),” forecasting the future of the genre.
The special pays tribute to a pair of Americana greats we lost in 2021: Country-folk legend Nanci Griffith, a trailblazer in the genre, is saluted with a gorgeous reading of her “Gulf Coast Highway,” performed by Aoife O’Donovan and Joe Henry; country great Tom T. Hall is honoured by famed musician Buddy Miller, who performs a memorable rendition of Hall’s classic “That’s How I Got to Memphis.”
The show closes with the eclectic rock-country-Latin band The Mavericks, recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Trailblazer Award, celebrating the diversity of the genre with “La Sitiera,” from their acclaimed Spanish-language album Brand New Day.
Broadcast Setlist:
Fisk Jubilee Singers ft. Leon Timbo “I Believe”
Sarah Jarosz ft. John Leventhal “I’ll Be Gone”
Aiofe O’Donovan & Joe Henry “Gulf Coast Highway”
Allison Russell “Nightflyer”
The Highwomen (Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, Amanda Shires, Natalie Hemby) with Yola “The Highwomen”
Jason Isbell ft. Amanda Shires “Letting You Go”
Valerie June ft. Carla Thomas “Call Me A Fool”
Charley Crockett “Are We Lonesome Yet"
Amythyst Kiah “Fancy Drones (Fracture Me)”
Buddy Miller “That’s How I Got to Memphis”
Brandi Carlile “Right on Time”
The Mavericks “La Sitiera”
Website: americanamusic.org
