Raving About Friends 1: Willi Carlisle
Buckle up. I’m going to gush about a friend.
I had the distinct pleasure of seeing my dear friend, Willi Carlisle, perform at the Adams Theater on Friday, May 24. If you don’t know who Willi is, first of all, do yourself a favor and listen to a few of his songs. Some of my personal favorites are:
Your Heart‘s a Big Tent
Angels
I Won’t Be Afraid
His entire discography brings me joy. I encourage you to listen to his stuff, buy all his albums, and then go to his shows.
His musical ability is fantastic, and his words are just so damn good. His degree in poetry and prowess with the language means his lyrics can take you through a whole gamut of emotions from beautifully sad (“Higher lonesome killed the bitter parts of me”) to deliciously silly (“Bluejay's a mean-ass bird / Ugliest song you've ever heard / Get off my porch I'll kick your ass.”) to the epitome of joy and love (“Ah, the heart's a big tent / Gotta let everybody in / Doesn’t matter who they are / If they do right or where they've been / Everybody gets in.”)
Now, I’ve been known to listen to his albums on repeat for days on hand (and I hope you will too), but I want to talk about his live show.
It’s joy. Pure joy. Joy from Willi. Joy from the audience. Joy from the staff. It’s unabashed, profound, shameless joy. As an audience member you immediately feel that this is a performer who gives of his soul freely and relentlessly and in return we give of ourselves right back! It’s as if Willi has decided that this group of strangers are going to be a new community full of love and kindness. And look, I’m a good performer and I’m very good with an audience! But something about Willi’s shows (and I have no idea how he does it) is so natural and easy and suddenly here we are - a brand new collective of humans deciding to be better at being on this earth.
He makes our faces hurt from smiling too much, from laughing, and from the unexpected moments of sadness. His banter is quick paced and insanely intelligent with subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) commentary on politics, daily observations, and the world around us, but always with a simple plea that we can lift each other up instead of tearing each other down. He asks us to be in the room and connect to each other.
When he leaves the stage, he talks to audience members with compassion and care. He continues to give of himself, and by doing so, we feel compelled to take that giving nature home with us. To make our hearts big tents as well.
My heart feels full and overflowing every time I get to see him perform. Do yourself a favor and get yourself to Willi Carlisle’s big tent of a heart where everyone gets in.