Willi Carlisle

WILLI CARLISLE

For folksinger Willi Carlisle, singing is healing. And by singing together, he believes we can begin to reckon with the inevitability of human suffering and grow in love. On his latest album, Critterland, Carlisle invites audiences to join him: “If we allow ourselves to sing together, there’s a release of sadness, maybe even a communal one. And so for me personally, singing, like the literal act of thinking through suffering, is really freeing,” he says.

Rooted in the eclectic and collective world of his live shows, Carlisle’s third album, Critterland takes up where his sophomore album, Peculiar, Missouri left off, transforming Peculiar’s big tent into a Critterland menagerie and letting loose the weirdos he gathered together. The album is a wild romp through the backwaters of his mind and America, lingering in the odd corners of human nature to visit obscure oddballs, dark secrets and complicated truths about the beauty and pain of life and love.

Produced by the GRAMMY Award-nominated Darrell Scott and to be released Jan. 26, 2024 by Signature Sounds, Critterland considers where we come from and where we are going. On the album, he takes on human suffering through stories about forbidden love, loss, generational trauma, addiction, and suicide, believing that by processing the traits and trauma we inherit, he can reach a deeper understanding of what it means to succeed and to exist.

NAT MYERS
A poet with a staggering and true voice, Korean-American troubadour Nat Myers’ folksy blues and remarkable pickin’ are authentic, timeless, and enduring. The Kenton County, KY native’s delivery harkens to traditional blues giants, but it’s his unique blend of modern roots and Americana that continues to make crowds drop their jaws. Recorded live at the 100-year-old-plus home of producer Dan Auerbach, Yellow Peril is haunted with the ghosts of the rich history of the blues.