Name: Willi Carlisle with Olivia Ellen Lloyd
Start: 2026-06-04T19:30:00-05:00
Location: The James Theater

Ticket Options:
$25.00 + Fees – General Admission, Advance
$30.00 – General Admission - Day of Show
$18.00 + Fees – General Admission (Student w/ ID, Advance)
$22.00 + Fees – General Admission - Day of Show (Student w/ ID)
STUDENT TICKETS:
The Student ticket level is geared towards students, adults under 30, and anyone self-identifying as facing financial hardship. Learn more about our student membership at englert.org/friends.
PLEASE NOTE:
Advanced ticket sales end on the day of the show at 4:00 PM.
Tickets will then be available at the door at the venue beginning at 6:30 PM. Your name will be on the Will Call list at the venue (printed tickets will not be issued).
This event takes place at The James Theater:
213 N Gilbert St, Iowa City, IA 52245
Artist Description:
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.