Willi Carlisle

How do you describe Willi Carlisle? Certainly, he is an astounding and original songwriter with an excellent voice, who writes songs telling stories that may be difficult to hear. Willi sees the best and the worst of us and believes music (and a bit of humor) can help heal all of us.

Originally from Kansas and now calling Arkansas home, his music has elements of traditional folk mixed with country and spiced with punk. His dad was a polka musician, and Willi was raised listening to folk, country, and bluegrass music. Music was his first love, from singing in the school choir to earning an MFA in poetry so he could write better songs. Willi is driven to write music that appeals to regular people, from all walks of life. While his songs often bring a smile to the audience, he has said that for him, singing about suffering can be "really freeing." Introducing "A Certain Kind of Fool" on YouTube, Willi said, "I think we can use our troubled heritage as a way to open ourselves up to radical love and forgiveness. I think folk songs can do that."

Willi's interest in poetry is evident in his songs, which may rhyme, or maintain a rhythm, but not always at the same time. You can hear his facility with storytelling in every song, in many of his introductions, and in the stories he tells on stage. One version of his a capella "High Tone Dance" has an unexpectedly long chanted "apology" for calling a woman a heifer, saying he learned the song from an old cowboy who wrote it for his time in history. That chanted apology also related a lament about our collective world view, and delighted the audience with the message, delivery, and how he ended up back in the song. 

And that's what Willi does: he delights the audience with story, song, guitar, and banjo while entertaining, teaching, healing, and creating a few laughs. 

Willi has created three albums, the most recent is Critterland, which was released in January 2024.