Esperanza Spalding Set for AUSTIN CITY LIMITS Tonight

Grammy-winning artist Esperanza Spalding makes her return to Austin City Limits (ACL) this weekend, and ACL announces the taping will be live-streamed in the U.S. tonight, December 2nd at 8pm Central Time. Fans can log-on to ACL's YouTube Channel to experience Esperanza Spalding perform live direct from The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. The live-stream will webcast the taping in its entirety and the broadcast episode will air February 23rd, 2013 on PBS stations as the full-hour season finale of ACL's Season 38.

Esperanza Spalding made her ACL debut back in Season 35, performing tracks from her 2008 breakthrough Esperanza, and wowed an audience largely unfamiliar with her music. Her appearance continues to be one of the most popular ACL encore episodes. She has since gone on to capture the attention of audiences around the globe, leading to her stunning 2011 Grammy win, becoming the first jazz artist to win the Grammy for Best New Artist. Spalding’s dynamic relationship with her acoustic double bass has cemented her presence in musical history as a modern jazz virtuoso with "a light, fizzy, optimistic drive that's in her melodic bass playing and her elastic, small-voiced singing" [The New York Times].

Spalding's highly-anticipated return to ACL has her performing songs from her latest release, Radio Music Society. The album represents a celebratory vision of the artists who helped cultivate and inspire Spalding’s career throughout the years. Radio Music Society has received high praise from critics, who hail the album's “journey through soul, gospel, balladry and big-band swing” [The Times] and “torchy swaggers, world-jazzy guitar grooves propelling smoky saxes, and political songs with only a Hammond organ for company” [The Guardian].

About Austin City Limits:

Austin City Limits (ACL) is a television series on PBS that records and broadcasts original musical performances from exciting new talent and legendary artists of all genres.

Austin City Limits is the longest-running music series in American television history and remains the only TV series to ever be awarded the National Medal of Arts. In 2012, ACL received a rare institutional Peabody Award for excellence and outstanding achievement. The historic KLRU Studio 6A, home to 36 years of ACL concerts, has been designated an official Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Landmark. In 2011, ACL moved to the new venue ACL Live at The Moody Theater in downtown Austin.?

ACL is produced by KLRU-TV and funding is provided in part by AMD, Budweiser, the Austin Convention Center Department and Dell. Additional funding is provided by the Friends of Austin City Limits. Learn more about Austin City Limits, programming and history at acltv.com.