Willi Carlisle's 'Peculiar' celebration of queer culture and Missouri's flyover country

The outsider troubadour, who’s based in the Ozarks, has steadily gained a following in Kansas City and abroad. His songs about Wal Mart and small-town America are bringing new themes into the folk music tradition.
More than 200 people paid $15 to hear Willi Carlisle play a solo show at Knuckleheads on what’s usually a slow Sunday night in April. That’s an impressive turnout for the outsider artist, who didn’t disappoint.

It was the biggest audience the Ozarks-based musician has attracted in Kansas City. The support reflects the attention Carlisle is receiving internationally for his uncommon approach to folk music.

“I was born and raised in Kansas,” Carlisle says. “I got to Arkansas maybe 12 years ago.”