Watch Norah Jones Pay Tribute To Ray Charles On ‘Austin City Limits’

Norah Jones appeared during Austin City Limits fifth annual Hall of Fame New Year’s Special last night to pay tribute to the legendary Ray Charles.

This year’s special episode honored Charles, Marcia Ball and Los Lobos. Introducing her performance by saying “It’s my honor to be here”, Jones performed the legendary soul singer’s ‘What Would I Do Without You,’ describing it as “one of my favorite Ray Charles songs.” You can watch the performance above.

The episode, recorded on 25 October at Austin’s Moody Theater, aired last night, 31 December on PBS at 11 p.m. EST. In addition to Jones, the show – which was hosted by Chris Isaak – featured performances from Gary Clark Jr. and Los Lobos with Boz Scaggs and Robert Randolph.

The special’s finale featured Los Lobos, Isaak, Scaggs, Randolph and filmmaker Robert Rodriguez performing Richie Valens’ 1958 single ‘La Bamba,’ which Los Lobos revived and turned into a widely-acclaimed No.1 single in 1987.

The second half of the 44th season of Austin City Limits premiered recently with an episode featuring Khalid and Mac DeMarco. 2019 will see episodes headlined by Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Arctic Monkeys, Willie Nelson and Buddy Guy.

Her appearance on Austin City Limits capped a busy year for Norah Jones, who released a string of tracks during 2018. During November, the singer released ‘Wintertime’, a collaboration with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, while she also collaborated with Tweedy on her previous release, ‘A Song With No Name’ which appeared in September. That track arrived after the release of the organ-and-horn drenched soul song ‘It Was You’ and ‘My Heart Is Full’, a collaboration with Thomas Bartlett.

Elsewhere, Jones also paid tribute to the legendary Joni Mitchell at Joni 75: a two-day celebration of Mitchell’s life and career at LA’s Dorothy Chandler Theater across 6 and 7 November which also featured contributions from Chaka Khan, Graham Nash and Kris Kristofferson.

Explore Our Norah Jones Artist Page.

Format: UK English