Brooks delivers career highlights during an hour-long PBS special
Iconic television series Austin City Limits (ACL) caps off its 50th anniversary celebrations with a special installment, Austin City Limits Hall of Fame Honors Garth Brooks. The country music singer and songwriter brings a stadium-size show to the ACL stage for this landmark occasion, thrilling with fan-favorites and the stories behind his beloved hits in an entertaining, singalong hour. Recorded live at ACL’s studio home ACL Live in Austin, Texas, the broadcast premieres Saturday, May 3rd at 8 pm ET (check local listings) as the capstone of the series’ remarkable season 50. The special will be available to music fans everywhere to stream online. 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the revered music institution, which premiered on PBS in 1975. The program celebrates its extraordinary run as the longest-running music series in television history, providing viewers a front-row seat to the best in live performance for a half-century.
A trailblazing artist whose ties to ACL go a long way back, Brooks made his series debut in 1990 during season 15, on the heels of his breakout 1989 debut album. The hour opens with highlights showcasing Brooks’ distinctive ACL performances over the decades; sprinkled throughout the special is new commentary from Brooks, his wife, country superstar Trisha Yearwood, and longtime ACL executive producer Terry Lickona, who handles induction honors. Brooks holds his cowboy hat to his heart as he accepts the honor with impassioned remarks and sings the program’s praises, saying Austin City Limits‘ heartbeat is raw and true. He even cites favorite episodes that inspired his own career from early on. “You can bring all the smoke and mirrors you want, and trust me—I’ve used ‘em all,” laughs Brooks, “but you come here and it’s the real deal.”
“Always try to associate your name with a name greater than your own,” says Brooks. “Being associated with ACL has been one of the greatest assets of my career. I can’t thank Terry and the gang enough for all the years and all the love.”
“You can’t tell the story of Austin City Limits without Garth Brooks,” says ACL executive producer Terry Lickona. “Garth gets it. He gets what makes Austin City Limits special, and why it’s an honor for an artist to step onto that stage and deliver the best performance of their life. And it’s an honor for us to share that stage with artists like Garth, who have so much to offer.”
Since its inception in 2014, the ACL Hall of Fame has honored legendary artists who have played a pivotal role in the pioneering music series’ outstanding half-century as a music institution. The inaugural awards in 2014 honored Willie Nelson and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Garth Brooks has multiple Austin City Limits performances under his belt; he made his series debut in 1990 and returned a decade later to both open and close ACL’s milestone season 25 with two hour-long episodes.
Brooks returned to ACL in 2021 for a memorable pair of intimate, non-broadcast events to close Studio 6A on the University of Texas campus, the fabled soundstage where the program first started recording in 1974. Brooks carved his name into ACL’s history with the final performances in the historic studio that was the show’s home from 1974 to 2010, before a move to downtown Austin. The singular artist performed the special benefit shows solo acoustic to a sold-out audience of 200 fans per night.
Austin City Limits writes the next chapter in its remarkable 50+ year broadcast run with the initial tapings of Season 51: country maverick Charley Crockett, breakout singer-songwriter Waxahatchee, a celebration of the blues and legendary Austin blues club Antone’s, modern soul act Thee Sacred Souls and more.
The Austin City Limits Hall of Fame has inducted over twenty artists at nine previous ceremonies including Willie Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, Lloyd Maines, Asleep at the Wheel, Loretta Lynn, Guy Clark, Flaco Jiménez, Townes Van Zandt, Kris Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt, B.B. King, Roy Orbison, Rosanne Cash, The Neville Brothers, Ray Charles, Marcia Ball, Los Lobos, Lyle Lovett, Buddy Guy, Shawn Colvin, Lucinda Williams, Wilco, Alejandro Escovedo, Sheryl Crow and Joe Ely. The ninth annual Hall of Fame in 2023 welcomed John Prine and Trisha Yearwood to its ranks.
