Allen Toussaint—after finding his 2009 Nonesuch debut, The Bright Mississippi, on several year's best lists from publications around the world—is set to make his long-awaited debut on the PBS series Austin City Limits this Saturday, January 9. The hour-long episode kicks off a string of new shows for the award-winning concert series.

“The musical and artistic magic that lives in the soul of the great American tradition of Austin City Limits certainly reached into the depths of the New Orleans soul with it's truly historic hosting of New Orleans greatest modern musical icon, Allen Toussaint,” said Quint Davis, producer and director of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival about the upcoming show.

“An intensely personal and quietly introspective musical genius on every level—performer, master musician, composer, writer, arranger, producer—there is rarely a view to the inside where his deepest creative wellsprings originate,” Davis continued. “In his Austin City Limits experience, Allen opened up as never before on film, and visited all of the magical places that make him so gifted and so special. Never to my knowledge, has there been such a complete visitation to the musical universe that is Allen Toussaint, as happened on that storied Austin stage, on that very special day.”

In this episode, which is part of ACL’s 35th anniversary season, Toussaint and his band perform interpretations of jazz classics from The Bright Mississippi, a Grammy nominee, as well as beloved Toussaint originals like “Working in the Coalmine” and “Southern Nights.” 

For more information on the program and to find it on a PBS station near you, visit austincitylimits.org.