Austin City Limits: 25 Years of American Music [Hardcover]

John T. Davis (Author), Scott Newton (Author), Lyle Lovett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1999

The longest-running music showcase on television today commemorates a quarter-century of the best of America's music-from country, blues, and folk, to rock, bluegrass, tejano, and more--with an informative and highly entertaining illustrated book for Austin City Limits and music fans everywhere. Drawing on the huge archives of "American roots music" presented on the PBS series, the book documents in words and pictures, anecdotes and behind-the-scenes images, the performances of the more than five hundred stellar recording artists who have appeared on the show. This book features a foreword by Lyle Lovett and over 200 color illustrations.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publications (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823083039
• ISBN-13: 978-0823083039
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,168,522 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Texas Roots in American Music, September 11, 2006

By 

Orville B. Jenkins "Research Guy" (Arlington, Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Austin City Limits: 25 Years of American Music (Hardcover)

This book has great text, but is also highly pictorial history of the development of the popular television music program series that made the "Austin Sound" in music known worldwide. John Newton, the photographer for the television Austin City Limits (ACL), has documented the history of ACL and performances of some of America's best musicians in his 200 or so colour plates throughout this book.

Willy Nelson was a primary mover in the development of Austin, Texas, as an alternative to Nashville, Tennessee. The book includes details of that liaison, and other background personalities and relationship I had not known before. Out of Austin in the last three decades has come some of the most talented and creative music acts in almost every form of contemporary music.

Notable for blues, and country sounds, as well as certain modern jazz, the city of Austin has produced some creative new styles which have given outlet to some of the new ideas in music in the last quarter of the 20th century. A weekly television program named "Austin City Limits" began broadcasting in 1976.

This book discusses the personalities that have participated in the weekly musical presentations of the program Austin City Limits over the first 25 years of its life. I noticed that the publication date on the edition I bought gives a publication date of 2000, which would mean it would be available for the actual 25th year in 2001. Amazon.com however, reports a date of 1999.

The program is produced weekly in the studios of KLRU-TV, on its own sound stage, in Austin, Texas. ACL gives an amazing benefit to performers in editing the mixes of the programs of their appearances on ACL. Many have released live albums from those performances. The technical quality and love of the music as an art are unique in this approach to a television program.

This prestigious program is now a hallmark of the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) network in the US. Those outside the US may not be aware that this network and its local stations are totally funded by private funds. Local PBS stations have annual fund-raisers and receive grants for operational and programming funds from various indivuduals, foundations and commercial companies.

This means that commercial considerations are not present in the focus of program production. This has enabled ACL to become an innovative and creative nationwide program of contemporary and classic American musical styles. ACL runs a full hour of nothing but music, with a mix of artists across genres that makes for a unique experience every week. This book documents the foundations and much of the character of the program as an artistic endeavour.

ACL is now syndicated worldwide, nurturing a worldwide fan base for the "Austin Sound" and the individuals and bands responsible for this creative world of musical expression. Includes a foreword by Lyle Lovett, an adept of almost every form of music in his versatile career, with hits and a strong following in - among other areas - Country and Western and Jazz, both big band and contemporary.

I learned very much about some individuals and groups. I also read about many artists and songwriters I had never heard of. ACL has been the start of national recognition for many young artists. I was especially glad to learn details about the Austin Blues community, which is more extensive and dates earlier than I had known.)

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book Covering the 1st 25 Years of the Austin City Limits TV Show, Well Ilustrated!!!!, December 9, 2010

By 

Gary Covington "Southern Rocker" (Louisiana, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Austin City Limits: 25 Years of American Music (Hardcover)

This book basically celebrates 25 years of great American Music, that was shown on the Austin City Limits TV Show. The book is packed full of color photos of Austin City Limits's performers from the very beginning in 1975 all the way through the 1999 season. Plus it includes a great introduction to the Austin, Texas music scene. It has a forward written by Lyle Lovett. It covers the history of the show. It has a brief introductory time line of shows from 1975 - 1999. Then it covers the performers, classified according to the following: Legends, Country, Blues, Tejano and Conjunto, Singer-Songwriters, Women in Song (Girls with Guitars), Lone Stars, Rising Stars, & None of the Above. Then it covers "A Day in the Life of The Austin City Limits Show", plus a Chronology of Programs and Songs, from every show from it's 1st show in 1975 through the last show in the 1999 season. It lists the artists and the songs that were performed on that particular show. It has an index. It's a very comprehensive and complete book. It gives you information about the artists, and their backgrounds, and etc. that perfromed on this show, during the first 25 years.