‘Austin City Limits’ Caps 50th Anniversary Celebrations With Special Episode Honoring Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks. Photo: 8 Ten, Inc.
Austin City Limits is capping off its 50th Anniversary celebrations with a special episode, Austin City Limits Hall of Fame Honors Garth Brooks that will premiere May 3 at 7 p.m. CST on PBS.
The revered music institution first premiered on PBS in 1975 and commemorates its legacy as the longest-running music series in television history, offering audiences a front-row experience of live performances for the past fifty years. Brooks brings his stadium-size show to the ACL stage to celebrate the landmark occasion, offering up fan-favorites and the stories behind his hits in a singalong hour. Recorded live at ACL’s studio home ACL Live in Austin, Texas, the special will be available to stream online at pbs.org/austincitylimits.
The special opens with highlights showcasing Brooks’ ACL performances over the decades, alongside commentary from Brooks, his wife, Trisha Yearwood, and longtime ACL executive producer Terry Lickona. Brooks made his series debut in 1990 and returned a decade later to both open and close ACL’s milestone Season 25 with two hour-long episodes. He returned to ACL in 2021 for a pair of intimate, non-broadcast events to close Studio 6A on the University of Texas campus, the fabled soundstage where the program first started recording in 1974. Brooks carved his name into ACL’s history with the final performances in the historic studio that was the show’s home from 1974 to 2010, before a move to downtown Austin. He performed the special benefit shows solo acoustic to a sold-out audience of 200 fans per night.
“You can’t tell the story of Austin City Limits without Garth Brooks,” says Lickona. “Garth gets it. He gets what makes Austin City Limits special, and why it’s an honor for an artist to step onto that stage and deliver the best performance of their life. And it’s an honor for us to share that stage with artists like Garth, who have so much to offer.”
“Always try to associate your name with a name greater than your own,” shares Brooks. “Being associated with ACL has been one of the greatest assets of my career. I can’t thank Terry and the gang enough for all the years and all the love.”
