Name: Willi Carlisle
Start: 2026-06-06T20:00:00-05:00
End: 2026-06-06T23:00:00-05:00
Location: The Rose Bowl Tavern

The rootinest, tootinest folk troubadour West of the Mississippi returns to the Rose Bowl Tavern in downtown Urbana, IL! June 6th
About this Event

Willi Carlisle live at the Rose Bowl Tavern
with special guest TBA

Saturday, June 6th

Doors 7:00pm

Show 8:00pm

Tickets $20 ADV | $25 at the door

Ages 18+

No refunds on tickets

*Seating will be limited for this show and available on a first come- first serve basis*

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Willi Carlisle Winged Victory Short Bio

Folksinger Willi Carlisle holds tight the conviction that love is bigger than hate, and no-one is expendable. Carlisle’s music has always been a dance between absurdity, spectacle, and philosophy. On his fourth studio album, Winged Victory, Carlisle returns with his signature blend of traditionally-rooted folk music and kaleidoscope of oddball characters to confer with his core tenets in more overt and provocative ways.

Carlisle delivers Victory as the next chapter in his long-running direct address to the hope that by understanding our collective suffering we might be free of it. He’s intent on creating art and a well-rounded life in a broken world. The idea began with 2022’s Peculiar, Missouri when Carlisle proclaimed “your heart’s a big tent, everybody gets in.” After gathering together all the world’s weirdos and misfits under the big tent, with 2024’s Critterland, Carlisle let them loose into the world. Now, on Winged Victory, they speak for themselves, unencumbered by social expectations.

Victory, Carlisle’s first self-produced album, will be released June 27 via Signature Sounds. It both indulges a few of his wildest dreams (including a version of Richard Thompson’s “Beeswing,” among several traditional folk song covers), and feels like the inevitable sequel to Critterland’s charismatic menagerie of chaos. Though occasionally raunchy, and routinely provocative, Victory is not afraid to make a spectacle for the sake of a point. Victory should be understood as a reflection. It revels in the beauty of tiny, monetarily-worthless moments and things, offering with them a consideration of our innate humanity.