INTERVIEW: Willi Carlisle Invites Us To His Big, Weird, Work Party

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Willi Carlisle is never one to settle. He captured the Americana world with his detailed character sketches and unapologetic, full-throated love for the small furry thing inside us that hopes for a better day. Carlisle's music has always been full of wild abandon, but his upcoming album The Universal Bubba (out November 6 via Signature Sounds) stands to be the highest he's hung his freak flag yet. Produced by Tyler Childers and featuring Childers' band The Food Stamps, the songs careen until the wheels almost fall off before jauntily rolling back to stasis. In our interview, Carlisle explains his approach to the album, working with Childers, why live music matters...and puppets. Lots of puppets.

Does your album have an overarching theme?
Absolutely.

The Universal Bubba is intended to be a big, weird, work party. A collective, cosmic bootyshake. I’m kinda teasing everyone in it, ribbing all sides of social and political spectrum, but laughing at what makes folks most special. For example, some of the
characters are a guy working night shifts who visits graveyards after dark, a gun-toting tenderqueer headed to therapy, a gal who loves her horse more than her boyfriend, a dude who can only be vulnerable with tonguetwisters, and an old guy who is way too proud
of his tractor. All of them are unified by their work ethic, their striving to better themselves and their circumstances. It’s goofy, but I think of it as an American, cosmic dance of perpetual motion.

How have you healed or grown your relationship to country music/Americana?
Honestly? I haven’t. I’ve always felt complicated about country music, and that’s kinda why I do it. I started as a folksinger thinking I'd just call square dances and play old fiddle tunes, so it's been odd to enter any commercially viable territory at all. One thing I can’t get over is that 39% of Americans still think that it’s immoral to be gay, and, of course, nowhere in that is my own condition of pansexuality even considered– it’s honestly a little strange to be anywhere near the zeitgeist or regular popularity when some of your core feelings and beliefs are only 61% accepted. I can only assume that because I pass, I’m generally seen as someone unmarred by sin. While it’s hilarious to put one over on people, I still feel some consternation while trying to create a big, happy tent of solidarity. If you can’t tell, I’d rather laugh about this than cry about it, hug about it instead of fight. Towards this end, having a record made with a famous producer has been interesting: in many ways, nothing has changed, but in others, I feel exposed to a whole host of almost random commentary and opinion. Easy to ignore personally, but weird in terms of my relationship to genre.

What's the best way a fan can support you?
Come to a show! Experience the fullness of what social media and hype cannot bring you! I really do feel that where many modern artists spend 90% of their energy and money online, I spend 90% building a truly unique (and, ideally, inspiring) live experience. We bring puppets, sets, a dozen instruments, and always have a lot of fun whether it’s a dive bar or a theatre. Live performance is really the only way alternative artists can exist and survive, and I’m so proud of the joy and fellowship it creates…it feels a lot bigger than me or my image, and strikes me as radical in a way that courting outrage isn’t.

Recent release you cannot stop listening to?
This year has an overabundance of exceptional americana/amerikinda/folk/freak music! My favorites right now are Riley Downing’s Landfill Poetry, John R Miller’s The Great Unknowing, and Jude Brothers’ Dogwood Maiden Voyage.

Is there a professional “bucket list” item you would love to check off?

All my friggen’ dumb dreams have come true and then some, but I’d like to see and play music in more of the world, to become a global folksinger. I never dreamed I’d get to play in Europe, Canada, Australia, but there’s still Asia, Africa, South America, and maybe
even Antarctica to go test my mettle in.

I’m also really wanting to return to theatre– I got my start in theatre, doing stuff with masks, puppets and experimental or ensemble-driven work. If anybody wants to make a weird play with me, do some Brecht or something weirder, holler.

The Universal Bubba will be out on November 6, 2026 via Signature Sounds

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