Brittany Howard - Live from Austin City Limits (2024) Hi Res

Austin City Limits presents an electric hour with one of music’s finest live acts, five-time Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Brittany Howard. The powerhouse vocalist and ACL favorite returns for Austin City Limits’ anniversary Season 50 to showcase new numbers from her latest album What Now alongside career highlights.

“Let’s have us a good time,” smiles Howard, taking the stage in a celestial, sparkling caftan. The Nashville-based musician (and frontwoman for four-time Grammy Award-winning Alabama Shakes) brings her singular musicality to a shapeshifting sound encompassing everything from psychedelia and dance music to dream-pop and avant-jazz in a 13-song set, with songs from her powerful second solo LP What Now as the centerpiece. Opening with a trio from the album, the songs are anchored in Howard’s inimitable and infinitely commanding voice—a supreme vessel for channeling raw emotional truth. Howard is backed by her stellar eight-piece band, amplified by longtime backing vocalists Shanay Johnson and Karita Law. Howard throws it back to her 2019 solo debut Jaime for the radiant Grammy-winning radio hit “Stay High,” as the ecstatic crowd joins in on the soaring chorus.

“Live music is such an important thing, you know,” shares Howard from the stage. “I saw my first live band play when I was eleven years old, and it was from that moment that I decided that this was what I wanted to do. And I studied hard and I worked real hard, taught myself how to play, and I taught myself how to write songs, and now I get to be here with all of ya’ll.” With that, she dons an acoustic guitar and renders a mesmerizing, stripped-down “Short and Sweet,” before being rejoined by her full band with Howard on explosive guitar for the hard-funk title track “What Now” in a cathartic close.

“When Brittany Howard sets foot on a stage, she doesn’t really need a microphone,” said longtime ACL executive producer Terry Lickona. “She owns that stage, and she owns the room. Her voice is the voice of power, and truth. We gave her the full hour, because she deserves it! See and hear for yourself.”