 by Julian Spivey
The great thing about PBS’ “Austin City Limits” is it allows for terrific artists not in the mainstream to be featured and show off their fantastic music. A great example of this was the most recent episode that aired on Saturday, Jan. 21 featuring country music singer-songwriters Margo Price and Hayes Carll. Price took the country/Americana world by storm last year with her debut album Midwestern Farmer’s Daughter, which received much acclaim and wound up on numerous best albums of 2016 lists. Price made her ‘ACL’ debut with a fantastic set featuring some of the highlights from her freshman release. Price’s songwriting is incredibly honest and talks about stuff like her time in prison, miscarriage and substance abuse, particularly in the tragic, but also hopeful “Hands of Time,” which was nominated for Song of the Year at last year’s Americana Music Honors & Awards. Price was named Emerging Artist of the Year at those same awards. Price’s set also included great performances of “About to Find Out” and “Desperate & Depressed,” which unfortunately doesn’t appear on her debut album, but hopefully will find a spot on her future sophomore release. The throwback songstress, who reminds many of legends like Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton, finished her set with a rip-roaring performance of “Hurtin’ (On the Bottle),” which made this website’s list of the 20 best country/Americana songs of 2016, which culminated with Price entering the ‘ACL’ audience for the finish. The second half of the ‘ACL’ episode featured acclaimed Texas singer-songwriter Hayes Carll, who featured many great performances of tracks from his terrific 2016 release Lovers and Leavers, his first album in nearly five years. The album was more subdued than Carll’s previous works, but this really allowed him to show off how great of a songwriter he is, in the vein of someone like Townes Van Zandt. Carll’s six song set featured four tracks from his most recent album including “Sake of the Song,” “Love is So Easy” and the highlight of the episode “The Love That We Need.” Carll also featured “The Magic Kid,” about his son Eli and his love of magic tricks. Prior to the song Carll shared a lovely story about his son’s hobby and how he was the youngest member of the Austin Society of Magicians. Carll ended his set with a couple of older tunes from way back in 2005 off his album Little Rock. The first being “Long Way Home,” which husband and wife duo Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis beautifully covered on their 2013 album Cheater’s Game. Carll then finished his set with “Wish I Hadn’t Stayed So Long.”
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