Kelsea Ballerini, Austin City Limits, and the Public Funding of Media

Radio/Media 36 Comments


When the PBS TV show Austin City Limits was set up in 1974 and Willie Nelson played the pilot episode, the point was to chronicle the unique and growing music scene in Austin, and share it with the world. Over the years, the show became where the world was first exposed to so many Austin music greats such as Stevie Ray Vaughan and Asleep At The Wheel. It has since become the longest running music television show in American history.

But Austin City Limits moved on from being a dedicated showcase for Austin music long ago. Even during the early seasons, Austin City Limits would bring in a few artists from outside of the Austin music scene to help stimulate interest in the show, though these performers often still fit the general vibe of the ACL stage, and the Austin scene by proxy. They were there to compliment the Austin musicians, not overshadow them.

Now, that legacy of showcasing the Austin music scene seems so far in the past, it feels tired and trite to even complain how little Austin music is featured on Austin City Limits.

The fall lineup for the 51st season included Finneas—a.k.a. the pop songwriter perhaps best known as the brother and producer for Billie Eilish. It also featured the indie pop band The Marías from Los Angeles, jazz singer Samara Joy from New York, and another New York musician in Jon Batiste.

This year’s Austin City Limits Hall of Fame inductee was the indie rock/alt Americana band My Morning Jacket from Kentucky, following in the footsteps of the 2024 inductee, Garth Brooks.

If you’re getting the sense that Austin City Limits has little to do with Austin these days, you’d be correct. Granted, one of the episodes of this current season did feature a tribute to Austin’s long-running blues club Antone’s and included numerous local blues musicians. Charley Crockett who currently lives in Austin also received a return 30-minute slot this season.

But these were exceptions, not the rules. Waxahatchee (Katie Crutchfield) is from Alabama, and shared the episode with Charley Crockett. She would fit the “Austin adjacent” profile pretty well, as would maybe My Morning Jacket. But as all these artists from outside of Austin get featured on Austin City Limits, successful mainstays from the local scene like Silverada, Shane Smith and the Saints, and so many more sit on the outside looking into an ACL opportunity. They’re more likely to be featured on the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville than Austin City Limits. Silverada has been featured on the Opry numerous times.

Maybe most perplexing of all the Season 51 bookings was Nashville pop country star Kelsea Ballerini. She was partnered with “Burning House” singer Cam. It’s difficult to impossible to figure out why Ballerini’s appearance would have any benefit for either party. Austin music fans, and Austin City Limits faithful would find little to no appeal in a Nashville pop star. And Kelsea Ballerini is unlikely to connect with any new fans through the medium. So what is in it for anyone? Are they simply booking her because she’s kind of popular?

Austin City Limits posted two videos from Kelsea Ballerini’s performance on the show on YouTube. Her video for the song “Penthouse” has just over 4,000 views at the time of this post, and her video for “Baggage” has 3,800. Comparatively, the two videos from Charley Crockett’s appearance have 10,000 and 18,000 views. Charley’s views aren’t particularly eye-popping either, and this isn’t some perfect study of popularity with the show’s viewers. But Charley’s views are commensurate with other performers. Waxahatchee’s videos have 12,000 and 42,000 views.

Of all performers, why was Kelsea Ballerini booked on Austin City Limits? In 2021, the owners of the Grand Ole Opry purchased the mixed-use complex in downtown Austin along second street known as “Block 21” that houses the 2,750-seat Moody Theater where Austin City Limits is taped. At the time, the concern was how it could result in the Nashification of Austin. Perhaps featuring Kelsea Ballerini (who is a Grand Ole Opry member) is part of “unlocking synergies” between the property owners and ACL. Perhaps it’s not.

Either way, watching Ballerini perform pop songs on the Austin City Limits stage with all the performative pointing and gesticulations of a Nashville star just feels like watching a fish out of water.


It’s an even worse assessment for Finneas. The videos ACL published of him have 2,800 and 1,800 views on YouTube respectively. Why? Because people who watch Austin City Limits are not interested in these performers. Kelsea Ballerini and Finneas are many times more popular than Charley Crockett and Waxahatchee. But they’re featured on commercial radio and national programming all the time. Austin City Limits is supposed to be for the performers who don’t get other opportunities, and are native or attentive to the music of Austin.

Meanwhile, as Austin City Limits is attempting to entice new audience members through booking big pop names, they’re not only unsuccessful in that pursuit, they’re shedding their long-time, loyal followers and supporters since these viewers are not connecting with the performers featured on the show. There’s no longer that discovery mechanism that was so special about Austin City Limits in the past where you didn’t even look at who was booked on the show. You simply tuned in because you knew it was going to be good.

Earlier this year amid cuts to public funding for PBS and NPR, many in the public cried foul, and cited programs like Austin City Limits specifically as vital to supporting the arts on a local and national level. Public funding for media is important, if not imperative to make sure long-running institutions like Austin City Limits survive.

But the reason the public was willing to support something like Austin City Limits is because Austin City Limits was willing to support local and regional artists who otherwise might not have that support, let alone the archival aspect of the show to chronicle the music of Austin.

But as ACL‘s original mission and unique purpose is fulfilled less and less, it’s becoming more and more expendable, especially as new avenues for discovering music from Austin and elsewhere have opened up, and ACL clout chases after bigger names in search for cultural relevance they’re not finding.

That value to the public on both a local and national level for a show like Austin City Limits is its connection to Austin. The farther it gets away from that, the less valuable it becomes.

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