"Austin City Limits: A History" Hardcover Book

Title: Austin City Limits: A History
Author: Tracey E. W. Laird
Publisher: Oxford University Press

Austin City Limits--the longest running musical showcase in the history of television--is still captivating audiences forty years after its debut on the air. For decades it has defined popular roots music and indie rock-from Willie Nelson's legendary pilot show and his fourteen magical episodes running through the years to Season 35, to mythical performances of BB King and Stevie Ray Vaughn, to repeat appearances from Chet Atkins, Bonnie Raitt and Ray Charles, to recent shows with Mumford & Sons, Arcade Fire and The Decemberists. This is why country rocker Miranda Lambert-relatively unknown when she taped a show almost a decade ago-gushed to the studio audience, "Now I know I have arrived!" And this is the story Austin City Limits: A History tells.