Red Clay Strays on Austin City Limits: Mobile Band’s Episode Airs Oct. 24, Preview Clip Out Now

MOBILE, Ala. — Mobile’s hometown heroes are headed for one of the most famous stages in American television. The Red Clay Strays on Austin City Limits will air Saturday, Oct. 24, when the long-running public television concert series devotes an episode to the Alabama band, and fans do not have to wait until then to get a taste of it.

Ahead of the broadcast, the band and the program have shared a preview clip of the Strays performing “Angels in Your Choir,” a gospel-tinged song that opens the band’s current album, “Grateful.”

A first look at ‘Angels in Your Choir’

“Angels in Your Choir” sits apart from much of the Red Clay Strays’ catalog. Where the band built its name on hard-charging Southern rock, this song is slower and more reflective, a meditative, soulful number with the feel of a Sunday service.

The “Austin City Limits” version stays close to the recording fans already know. It does not reinvent the song, but the camera work gives viewers a clear look at guitarist Drew Nix’s slide guitar, one of the defining textures of the track.

The song has a Mobile story of its own. The studio version came out as a single in April, accompanied by a music video filmed at the Alabama School of Mathematics and Science in Mobile. The shoot used a portion of the campus that was formerly the Mobile Dauphin Way Baptist Church, giving a song steeped in church imagery a fitting backdrop in the band’s hometown.

The Alabama School of Mathematics and Science is a public residential high school that draws academically talented students from across the state to its campus in Mobile.

How to watch

The Red Clay Strays episode of “Austin City Limits” airs Saturday, Oct. 24, on public television stations nationwide. Airtimes vary by market, so viewers should check their local listings. Episodes of the program can also be streamed online after they air.

• What: “Austin City Limits” featuring the Red Clay Strays
• When: Saturday, Oct. 24
• Where: Public television stations nationwide; check local listings for times
• Streaming: Episodes are available to stream online
• Preview: A clip of “Angels in Your Choir” is available now

The band taped its performance this spring. “Austin City Limits” recorded the Red Clay Strays on Monday, April 27, at ACL Live at The Moody Theater in downtown Austin, Texas, as part of the show’s 52nd season, according to the program’s website.

Good company on the schedule

The Strays join a season lineup that spans pop, R&B, bluegrass and Americana. Recent episodes have featured Olivia Rodrigo, Sienna Spiro, Miguel, Billy Strings and Brandi Carlile. R&B singer Ari Lennox takes the stage in the episode airing Saturday, Oct. 17, one week before the Strays’ turn.

That range is part of what has kept the show going for half a century. “Austin City Limits” has always booked artists on the strength of their music rather than any single genre, and an appearance remains a mark of arrival for a touring band.

Fifty years of ‘Austin City Limits’

Few music programs anywhere carry the history of “Austin City Limits.” The show’s pilot was taped on Oct. 17, 1974, with Willie Nelson, and the series premiered on PBS on Jan. 3, 1976. It is produced in Austin by the city’s public television station, now known as Austin PBS.

For its first 36 seasons, the show was recorded in the station’s Studio 6A on the University of Texas campus, a modest room whose cityscape backdrop became one of the most recognizable sets on television. In 2011 the program moved to its current home, ACL Live at The Moody Theater, a purpose-built venue in downtown Austin.

The show’s honors are unusual for a television series. “Austin City Limits” received the National Medal of Arts in 2003, the only television program to earn that distinction, and was given an institutional Peabody Award in 2011 for its decades of presenting and preserving American music. In 2012, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland announced it would archive decades of the show’s performance footage.

The broadcast also inspired the Austin City Limits Music Festival, held each fall in Austin’s Zilker Park. The Red Clay Strays have played that festival as well, so the television taping marks a return to the “Austin City Limits” family in a more intimate setting.

From Mobile bars to national stages

For Mobile music fans who caught the Red Clay Strays in local clubs years ago, the band’s rise has been remarkable to watch. The group formed in Mobile in 2016, growing out of a cover band whose members began writing their own songs. The lineup features lead singer Brandon Coleman, guitarist Drew Nix, guitarist Zach Rishel, bassist Andrew Bishop and drummer John Hall, with keyboardist Sevans Henderson joining in 2024.

The band self-released its debut album, “Moment of Truth,” in 2022. Its single “Wondering Why” caught fire online the following year and climbed into the top 10 of Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart and the top 20 of the Hot Country Songs chart. A deal with RCA Records followed.

The band’s second album, “Made by These Moments,” arrived in 2024. Produced by Dave Cobb, whose credits include Chris Stapleton and Jason Isbell, it became the Strays’ first entry on the Billboard 200 and reached the top 10 of the Top Country Albums chart. The band also released a live album, “Live at the Ryman,” recorded during a three-night run at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.

Honors have followed, including the Emerging Artist of the Year award at the 2024 Americana Honors & Awards, a Billboard Music Award for Top Country Group and Academy of Country Music recognition in each of the past two years.

The ‘Grateful’ era

“Grateful,” the band’s third studio album, was released June 5 on RCA. The 11-song record again teamed the Strays with Cobb and mixes soul and roots rock with themes of faith, gratitude and perseverance. “Angels in Your Choir” sets that tone as the album’s opening track.

This year has brought some of the biggest nights of the band’s career. The Strays played a sold-out headlining show at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Aug. 9 and appeared at California’s Stagecoach festival and CMA Fest in Nashville. The Grateful Tour includes two nights at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Oct. 22 and 23, just ahead of the “Austin City Limits” broadcast.

Alabama dates on the calendar

The ongoing tour brings the band back to Alabama before the year is out. The Red Clay Strays are scheduled to play Birmingham’s Legacy Arena at the BJCC on Saturday, Oct. 31.

The band has also announced roughly 30 tour dates for 2027, and several of them land close to home:

• Mobile: A three-night stand at the new Regions Arena in March. The shows, set for March 25, 26 and 27, 2027, will be the first concerts in the downtown arena, which is rising on the site of the former Mobile Civic Center.
• Huntsville: A September appearance at the Orion Amphitheater.

The Regions Arena run began as a single grand opening concert and expanded to three nights within days of the announcement, a sign of how much demand there is to see the band at home. Birmingham soul band St. Paul & The Broken Bones is scheduled to open all three Mobile shows.

Why it matters for Mobile

An “Austin City Limits” episode is one of the clearest signals in American music that a band has arrived. For the Red Clay Strays, it is another milestone in a run that has taken them from Gulf Coast bars to arenas in just a few years.

It is also a showcase for Mobile itself. The “Angels in Your Choir” video put a Mobile landmark on screen, and when the episode airs on Oct. 24, viewers across the country will be watching a band that still calls the Port City home. Fans who want a preview can watch the “Angels in Your Choir” clip now, then tune in to their local public television station for the full performance.