My Picks for the Best of Austin City Limits Since 04

Austin City Limits is my favorite music show on television.  With a rich history, amazing location, and immense credibility, this program usually find the best music played on a guitar in the United States and holds it up for all to see.  Focusing mainly on Country & Americana historically, ACL has lately been branching out to bring a broader styles of music to its core audience.  Below are my favorite moments from the last 8 years:

Brandi Carlile has been one of my heroes for a long time.  I have managed to see her perform live twice (Once with the Indigo Girls) and she continues to release record after amazing record including her latest called "Bear Creek".  The performance below, an acapella rendition of "Oh Dear" melts my heart every time that I hear it.  It is also a favorite of my daughter Avery.

Ray Lamontagne performing a very early version of the song "Empty."  I will never forget hearing this for the first time in my little apartment in Los Angeles and thinking, damn this guy can write some lyrics!

Damien Rice performing "The Blowers Daughter" live on ACL.  I love this song so much that I picked it to be the song I played at my wedding when I danced with my mom.

The Avett Brothers performing "When I Drink."  I especially love the line "Cause we only get so many days...now I have one less"

This is the band The National performing a song called "About Today."  I love the simple yet profound lyrics and the musical build up.

Iron and Wine taking a good (In my opinion) studio track and making it special with an acoustic live performance of "Upward Over the Mountain."  

If you are still watching these you are in for a treat.  This last one is called "O'Brien" and is performed by M. Ward of the band She & Him and Conor Oberst of the band Bright Eyes.  The beginning involves some intentionally off-key discordant guitar work, but it comes together by the end.  I love the lyrics, the sound, and this song is one that my wife and I will sing randomly to each other when driving because it has gotten so stuck in our heads!  Enjoy:

There you have it!  My favorite ACL moments of the last 8 years.  Unfortunately, I was unable to locate a few songs that I wanted to include from ACL.  "Chances Are" by Hayes Carl should be included in the songs above, as should "Rivers and Roads" by The Head and The Heart.  Both artists made something special in their ACL performances.

Finally, there are a few bands that should be on ACL but have not yet been invited (and this is a Crime!). I am pretty sure that ACL will come around and recognize their greatness soon.
They are in no particular order:
Sons Of Bill
Alabama Shakes
Jason Isbell
The Steel Wheels
April Smith & The Great Picture Show
Michael Kiwanuka
Joshua James
Delta Rae
Ben Howard
Trampled By Turtles
Doug Paisley
Burlap to Cashmere
First Aid Kit
The Tallest Man on Earth
Jon Allen