Austin City Limits Celebrates 50 Years

Chris Stapleton (Actor)

Born: April 15, 1978
Birthplace: Lexington, Kentucky, United States

Trivia: Studied engineering at Vanderbilt University for one year before deciding it was not his passion. Received a publishing deal as a songwriter four days after moving to Nashville to pursue a career in music. Was lead singer and co-guitarist for the Grammy-nominated band The SteelDrivers. Opened for Zac Brown Band when he was briefly a member of a Southern rock band called The Jompson Brothers. Adele covered "If It Hadn't Been for Love" on her album 21, which he co-wrote for The SteelDrivers. Made his network television debut performance during the final weeks of The Late Show With David Letterman. In 2015, released his debut album Traveller.

Gary Clark Jr. (Actor)

Born: February 15, 1984

Lyle Lovett (Actor)

Born: November 01, 1957
Birthplace: Klein, Texas, United States

Trivia: With his giraffe-like countenance and unusually tall haircut, American musician/actor Lyle Lovett may look like the archetypal rube, but don't be fooled: he is well educated (he earned journalism and foreign language degrees from Texas A&M), extremely articulate, and highly disciplined. Achieving his first big success in the mid-1980s, Lovett successfully straddled two musical forms on the verge of renewed popularity, folk-rock and country. Lovett also proved himself an adept actor with important roles in three Robert Altman films, The Player (1992), Short Cuts (1993), and Ready to Wear (1994), a reputation he has sustained in a handful of TV guest star shots. Lovett found himself the reluctant recipient of gaudy publicity hype in 1993 when he married movie superstar Julia Roberts, a union that disintegrated (thanks in no small part to incessant and intrusive press coverage) less than two years later. He would go on to make occasional acting appearances in movies like Three Days of Rain and on TV shows like Castle.

Billy Strings (Actor)

Rufus Wainwright (Actor)

Born: July 22, 1973
Birthplace: Rhinebeck, New York, United States

Trivia: Took up piano at age 6. Became a fan of opera while a teenager; he also discovered the music of Edith Piaf, Al Jolson and Judy Garland at that time. Began his musical career at age 13 with the McGarrigle Sisters and Family, which included his mother Kate, aunt Anna and sister Martha. His song "I'm a-Runnin'," which was featured in the 1988 Canadian film Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller, earned him Juno and Genie nominations. Appeared in high-school productions of Cabaret and Godspell. Scored a record deal after his dad, impressed by a demo tape he'd made, passed it on to singer-songwriter and record producer Van Dyke Parks, who in turn gave it to record executive Lenny Waronker, who'd just joined DreamWorks. Recreated Judy Garland's famed 1961 show at New York's Carnegie Hall in 2006, releasing it a year later as Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall. Wrote the opera Prima Donna for New York's Metropolitan Opera. The Met refused to stage it, however, when he insisted the libretto be sung in French, not English. It eventually premiered at the 2009 Manchester International Festival in Manchester, England. Had a child in 2011 with longtime friend Lorca Cohen, the daughter of singer-songwriter icon Leonard Cohen.

8:00 pm - 10:00 pm, Wednesday, December 31 on WLRN (17)