Austin City Limits Fest Gives Boost to TV Show

At the recent Americana Music Festival and Conference here in Nashville, I had the great pleasure of sitting on a Music on TV panel with Austin City Limits producer Terry Lickona and Yep Roc’s Records publicist James Bailey. Lickona was in town to receive the AMA’s Lifetime Achievement Award for an Executive.

At the panel, Lickona talked a little about the success of the Austin City Limits Music Festival, which was just about to begin. The New York Times notes that “…while the “Austin City Limits” name lent the effort instant credibility, there were big reciprocal benefits.”

“At the time the festival started, it not only rejuvenated the TV show but very well may have saved it,” Lickona told the paper at the Festival this weekend. “We were at a crossroads, struggling with funding, and we needed to shake things up. The success of the festival opened the doors to a new generation.”

Austin City Limits’ 34th season starts this weekend on NPT and PBS stations nationwide with an encore performance of REM taped at this year’s SXSW Music Festival. Here’s the full lineup:

October 4: R. E. M.
October 11: Bettye LaVette / Pinetop Perkins
October 18: Lyle Lovett & Friends: Songwriters Special with Lyle Lovett, Guy Clark, John Hiatt, & Joe Ely
October 25: Jakob Dylan / Carrie Rodriguez
November 1: My Morning Jacket
November 8: Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings / Carolyn Wonderland
November 15: Aimee Mann / Iron and Wine
November 22: Erykah Badu
November 29: Coldplay (encore)
December 6: Norah Jones (encore)
December 13: Crowded House (encore)
December 20: Bloc Party / Ghostland Observatory (encore)
December 27: Wilco (encore)
January 3: Lucinda Williams / Old Crow Medicine Show (encore)
January 10: Paolo Nutini / Grupo Fantasma (encore)
January 17: Foo Fighters
January 24: Gnarls Barkley / Thievery Corporation
January 31: Manu Chao
February 7: Sarah McLachlan/Duffy
February 14: Nick Lowe / The Swell Season: Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova