Willi Carlisle Connects Punk Roots with Country-Folk Storytelling on ‘Peculiar, Missouri’ (ALBUM REVIEW)

Photo credit: Tim Duggan

Willi Carlisle is the latest in a long line of punk rockers that have smoothly settled into the world of folk rock. Like Tim Barry, Frank Turner and Cory Branan before him, Carlisle has managed to tap into the lyrical authenticity of punk rock storytelling and bridge to the folk world with an acoustic guitar and an unrushed tempo. His second effort, Peculiar, Missouri, finds him wedding the elements of both genres beautifully.

The first track, “Your Heart’s A Big Tent,” opens with a burst of harmonica and banjo but it’s the lyrics that grab you and keep you listening through the entire album (“What’s up I saw the devil In a used book store/He was rippin’ up and spittin’ on Catcher in the Rye/And I’m coming to myself, like a man finding religion – Am I baptized, drowned, or washed in the blood?”). While there’s not exactly one specific theme that ties together all of the songs here, the album title gives a hint at least of where a lot of the inspiration is coming from, with Carlisle now living in the Ozarks. He covers plenty of ground from folk and Bluegrass to hints of Cajun and even rock across the dozen tracks here.

The country track “Vanlife” is Carlisle at his best, riffing through the lyrics so quickly that you have to listen on repeat to realize just how hilarious he can be. And just one song later, backed by accordion, on “Este Mundo” he delivers a remarkable Tejano song about water rights. But lyrically, one of the strongest songs here is the closeted gay heartbreak track “Life On the Fence,” a sad waltz, matched only by “Tulsa’s Last Magician,” beautiful and heartbreaking in equal parts.      

Not every track here is easy to latch onto the first time around, but with repeated listens the appeal of Carlisle and his eclectic musical touchstones become clearer. Peculiar indeed, but ultimately a riveting album in a genre of its own.  

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