Americana & ACL To Premiere ’24th Annual Americana Honors’ Nov. 29 On PBS

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The 24th Annual Americana Honors: A Celebration Of The Best In Americana Music will air on Nov. 29 on PBS as a special episode of Austin City Limits. 

This year’s hour-long program showcases musical highlights from legends, breakthrough artists and popular favorites, including Emmylou Harris, Daniel Lanois, John Fogerty, Margo Price, Nathaniel Rateliff, Medium Build, Maggie Rose, Jesse Welles, Old 97s, I’m With Her’s Sarah Jarosz, Sara Watkins, Aoife O’Donovan, Darrell Scott, David Rawlings, Gillian Welch, Dawes, Joy Oladokun and John C. Reilly.

Highlights during the special include newly crowned Album of the Year winner Nathaniel Rateliff taking the stage with Duo/Group of the Year recipients Gillian Welch & David Rawlings for a stirring rendition of “Center of Me,” the trio I’m With Her (Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan and Sara Watkins) performing their Song of the Year-winning “Ancient Light,” (nominated for two 2026 Grammys including Best American Roots Song), and Artist of the Year nominee Joy Oladokun earning a Ryman standing ovation with her breathtaking solo acoustic performance of “I’d Miss the Birds.”

Multiple honorees deliver show-stopping performances on the episode, including folk-rocker Jesse Welles, recipient of the Spirit of Americana Free Speech in Music Award, performing his protest song “War Isn’t Murder.” Welles recently scored four 2026 Grammy nominations including Best Americana Album and Best Folk Album. Rosanne Cash presented a Lifetime Achievement Honor to alt-country trailblazers Old 97s, who ignited the room with their signature “Timebomb.” Hayes Carll also honored Lifetime Achievement Honoree Darrell Scott, who performed his oft-covered coal-mining classic “Goin’ Back to Harlan,” raising the rafters backed by the soaring vocals of fellow Lifetime Achievement Honorees/gospel greats The McCrary Sisters.

Other moments included LA band Dawes performing their “Time Spent in Los Angeles,” dedicated to those affected by this year’s devastating wildfires. Host John C. Reilly joined Margo Price to salute the 50th anniversary of Willie Nelson’s landmark 1975 album Red Headed Stranger, delivering a duet of his classic “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain.” And genre icons Emmylou Harris and Daniel Lanois also reunited to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Harris’s seminal Wrecking Ball, with the spellbinding “May This Be Love.”

This marks the fourteenth year the producers of Austin City Limits, in conjunction with producers Martin Fischer, Michelle Aquilato, and Jed Hilly for the Americana Music Association, are presenting the special ACL Presents. The special premieres Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. CT on PBS and the PBS app and varies by market, and the broadcast will also be available to fans everywhere to stream on pbs.org/austincitylimits and the free PBS app.

Lorie Hollabaugh
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