Texas born Michael Martin Murphey has had a long and fabled career as a songwriter and musician. Performers as diverse as The Monkees, Flatt and Scruggs, Kenny Rogers, John Denver, Cher, Lyle Lovett and Hoyt Axton have recorded Murphey's songs. Murphey himself is a multiple Grammy nominee and has had huge success with his own […]
Vance Gilbert burst onto the early '90s singer-songwriter scene when buzz started spreading in the folk clubs of Boston about an ex-multicultural arts teacher who was knocking 'em dead at open mics. When Shawn Colvin invited Gilbert as a musical guest on her Fat City tour, Gilbert took his "voice of an angel, wit of […]
RWH may be a Texas music icon, but he grew up in the little town of Hugo, Oklahoma. He moved to Dallas in 1954, where he eventually attended high school with Michael Martin Murphey. Hubbard graduated in 1965 and and started spending his summers in Red River, NM playing folk music and writing left-field songs […]
Canadian fiddle and step dancing champion and singer. Though her musical roots dig deep into her native Ottawa Valley, Verch’s seeming ability to fluently play any kind of roots music as though it was her native tongue has fueled her international tours with a diverse repertoire of both traditional and contemporary tunes ranging in source […]
The triumvirate of Texas troubadours are back. Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Butch Hancock are the Flatlanders, and their live shows showcase 40 years of storytelling and song craft. The fact that The Flatlanders were completely rejected by the country music establishment back in 1972 is surprising in retrospect but, ultimately, poetic. That each […]
There are no degrees of separation between Ramblin' Jack Elliot and the real thing. He ran away from his Brooklyn home at 14 to join the rodeo and learned to play guitar from a cowboy. In 1950, he met Woody Guthrie and traveled the country with him, from the redwood forests to the Gulf Stream […]
They brought reggae to the masses with Bob Marley, and they’re still going strong with a message of peace and social justice. A highlight of the Guthrie Green opening weekend activities, The Wailers are one of the last, great authentic reggae institutions. In the post-Marley period, the band's anchor is Aston “Family Man” Barrett, Marley’s […]
This award-winning, Austin-based, Latin rock band blends flamenco, rock, Latin, blues, and world music into what Rolling Stone has described as "eruptions of technique and taste that conjure images of Eddie Van Halen fronting early Santana, with an assist from the Gipsy Kings. Movie directors Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino have enlisted the group to […]
The band's members hail from the all over the world—Brazil, France, Canada, the U.S.—and the rock music they create, a rich and complex musical tapestry that reflects their international upbringing, draws on influences from around the globe. Three are the children of missionary parents, who spent their young lives traveling the globe. By happenstance they […]
This Brazilian/American collective plays a 21st century mashup inspired by Brazilian maracatu drumming, New Orleans second line rhythms, funk, swamp rock and country blues. A regular at both American and Brazilian festivals, Nation Beat are rhythm gatherers, harvesting the fruit of 500 years of cultural crossbreeding, which is why the sounds of Northeast Brazil and […]
The band came to life a few years back when keyboardist Dave Barclay brought a button accordion to a blues jam. Fusing zydeco, New Mexican rancheras and outlaw country with the improvisation of jazz and swing, Felix y Gatos is made up of some of the best session musicians from the New Mexico blues and […]
The five souls in this Colorado acoustic quintet all share vocals and write songs. Banjo, guitar, mandolin, bass, fiddle, washboard, djembe, musical saw, stompbox and even footsteps on plywood make for a groove-oriented Americana that contains elements of gypsy, rock, Celtic, alt-country and folk. Some call it “progressive edge,” still others "jam band" music. We […]
If country music has an Elvis Costello, it's Robbie Fulks, who marries Ivy League cleverness to an appreciation of hillbilly music that actual hillbillies could only envy.—Entertainment Weekly One of the great unsung honky-tonk singers of his generation, Chicago based alt-country rocker and brilliant flat picker Robbie Fulks, whom Rolling Stone describes as the "wiseass […]
Tulsa's own progressive indie acoustic outfit.
Over the past three decades BeauSoleil has made 30 albums, won Grammys and evolved into the most esteemed Cajun group on the planet. Fiddler-vocalist Michael Doucet is well known for his mission to keep the unique southern Louisiana culture and music from extinction, but that hasn't stopped his band from innovating and spicing its Cajun […]
One of Los Angeles’ biggest club draws, Three Bad Jacks’ hard hitting hybrid of soul, rock and rockabilly is most often described as psychobilly. Anchored by a throbbing gutbucket bottom end and topped off with bandleader Elvis Suissa’s passionate vocals and sizzling guitar, the trio delivers high-impact, soul-deep, thoroughly original, uncut rock and roll that […]
Muscular, joyous roots music that is bluesy, rocking and thoroughly Southern. The Tupelo, Mississippi native worked in a furniture factory, jumped out of airplanes, and was a boxer before embracing music full time, topping the Americana charts and breaking the Billboard Top 100. Thorn's father is a Church of God Pentecostal Minister and his uncle […]
Body percussion youth choir from Tulsa.
One of the most promising young bands out of Texas, this Austin-based indie outfit takes rock from its deep roots (think Doors and early Black Crowes), pushes it forward with contemporary sounds and elements of RandB and blues, and finds its deepest expression in highly energetic live shows. For the past three years, the band […]
When Slaid Cleaves moved from Portland, Maine, to Austin in 1991, he landed a few blocks from the legendary, seedy Horseshoe Lounge. But as he points out on his new live album, “It was many years of drivin’ by before I worked up the courage to come in through the door.” Curiosity and the lure […]
When an 18-year-old Shemekia Copeland first appeared on the scene in 1997, everyone agreed that an unstoppable new talent had arrived. In the short period of time that followed, she amassed Blues Music Awards, Grammy nominations, Living Blues and DownBeat Critics' Poll Awards, and invitations to tour with legends such as B.B. King, Buddy Guy […]
She has the voice: bruised, smoky and ornery, right at home where country and soul meet.. She has the melodies and the timing.. she’s irresistible.—New York Times. This singer-rocker-songwriter has toured with Stevie Nicks, Ryan Adams, John Mellencamp and Sun Volt. Admired by blues musicians, adored by the Americana crowd and increasingly appreciated by rockers, […]
With a blow-your-hair-back vocal presence that occasionally yields to whisper-soft vulnerability, Crain's folksy arrangements, both gorgeous and eerie, coexist with a knack for narrative storytelling and lyrics that are as likely to detail disaster and despair as they are community and reconciliation. A Choctaw from Oklahoma, Crain's sound manages to simultaneously evoke the deeply rural […]
Embracing the one-chord, deep-trance blues of the Mississippi Hill Country, Richard Johnston appeared as a street musician on the Memphis blues scene in 1997, and three years later recorded his rollicking self-produced debut, Foot Hill Stomp. Featuring guest appearances by Jessie Mae Hemphill and Cedric Burnside, it was nominated for a Handy Award, and the […]
Like so many French kids raised in rural Louisiana, accordionist, singer and songwriter Mary Roszela Bellard "Rosie" Ledet (pronounced led-dett), paid no particular attention to the zydeco music that was all around her. But, at age 16, she heard Boozoo Chavis at a zydeco dance, and her fate was sealed. Ledet, who is now widely […]
Singer-songwriter Eliza Gilkyson's deeply personal, often political songs have wowed both critics and audiences, earned the admiration of peers such as Patty Griffin and Lucinda Williams, and garnered deep respect in folk and Americana circles. The Austin-based musician has always reflected on everyday joys and sorrows, each song a window into a life of struggle […]
“Moore has created a brand of challenging yet highly melodic new-millennium pop-rock that establishes him as an audacious songwriter and player. He has struck that rare balance between astute complexity and utter pop appeal.” —All Music Guide. Ian Moore's blues-centered rock guitar prowess took 1990s Austin scene by storm. A teenage guitar prodigy, he quickly […]
Earl and Them's leader is legendary guitar player Earl Cate, who was listed in Steve Cropper's "Top Ten Guitar Players of All Time". Cate gained fame with his twin brother Ernie as the Cate Brothers' Band. Earl Cate has played and toured with Levon Helm and The Band, Crosby Stills and Nash, Bo Diddley, Little […]
If Santana and Los Lonely Boys had a child, they would name it Plateros. This three-piece power blues-rock trio hails from the eastern Navajo Nation. A family band, they formed in 2004 and made their mark the following year with an explosive 20-minute set on the “Reach The Rez” stage at Gathering of Nations, the […]
Latin funk masters Grupo Fantasma, an 11-piece Grammy-winning ensemble from Austin, collectively form one of the most unique musical voices of the past decade. The band’s vibrant fusions—funk, rock, soul, world music—transcend easy classification, boasting a universal appeal beyond just Latin or world music fans. Their incendiary live shows have earned them spots on major […]
Dan Zanes, the former frontman for 80s garage-rock band The Del Fuegos, sets the bar high for contemporary family music. This Grammy Award winner has collaborated with everyone from Sheryl Crow and Bob Weir to Debbie Harry and Lou Reed. Zanes has received several Parents Choice Awards, and music videos have been featured on The […]
This young singer-songwriter from Taos, NM has a penchant for writing catchy folk-rock songs that are spare, enigmatic, and a touch bluesy. The son of a furniture craftsman, Gomez grew up learning the tools of the trade while simultaneously learning his way around the frets of his guitar. The workmanlike quality of his songwriting carries […]
KONGOS is a rock band of four brothers, sons of 70s progressive pop artist John Kongos. Currently based in Phoenix, the brothers grew up in London and South Africa. Their music features a unique blend of driving rhythms, accordion and group vocals. Their songs continue to top the South African music charts, and ESPN used […]
Little Joe McLerran plays the Piedmont Blues like he was born with a guitar in his hand. A first place winner in the 25th Annual Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge held in Memphis in 2009, Joe has taken his blues across the world. In 2010 Little Joe and his band toured the Middle East on […]
A young British power rock trio, Leogun has been described as “an even more unhinged Led Zeppelin.” Full of brash rock ‘n roll bravado and swagger, the band’s blues and soul-soaked sound is reminiscent of classic rockers Humble Pie and Thin Lizzy while drawing comparisons to Queens of the Stone Age and the Raconteurs. Yamaha […]
One of blues-rock's most exciting talents, Mato Nanji's warm, dusty voice and soaring guitar have always provided the heartbeat of this hard-rocking band from South Dakota's Nakota Nation. Indigenous, with Nanji at its core, formed in the late '90s and quickly transcended it's regional roots to stake out a national rep. The music is teeming […]
Riverfield Children's Chorus is composed of after-school choruses for elementary-age children at Riverfield Country Day School. The children sang at Gilcrease Museum last year during the “Woody at 100” exhibition and celebration, and at Guthrie Green opening ceremonies last year. Many joined the chorus in the spring of their kindergarten year at Riverfield, where their […]
With his gritty vocals and swampy Mississippi Delta sound, young Austin-based musician Lincoln Durham harbors the soul of an old bluesman. This one-man band is a roots music revival. Fiddle, percussion, harp and guitar, Durham plays them all, with intensity and a driving beat. If you like Son House mixed with some Townes Van Zandt, […]
In Jamaica in the mid-1950s, artists like Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Jimmy Cliff began fusing a hopped-up island brew of boogie-woogie, RandB, jazz, calypso and African rhythms to create the first truly Jamaican music: ska. Eventually the beat slowed down into rocksteady, and then reggae, and spread like wildfire around the global. Jamaica's own […]
The Tandems are Tulsans Josh Beasley, Andrew Eaton-Clark, Aaron Hockett and Andrew Beasley. Taking their musical cues from indie rock bands like The Lumineers and The Head and The Heart, The Tandems went to Nashville this summer to record their new EP, The Long Vacation. Local music at its best - come see what all […]
The incredible rhythms of Arthur Thompson have not only contributed to numerous music genres for over twenty years, but have influenced generations through his teaching, mentoring and creative genius. Arthur's passion for drums and music brings energy to every soul he touches. As a professional musician, he tours, plays and records. A member of Tom […]
Taj Weekes and Adowa blend elements of reggae, acoustic roots rock, and Afro-folk. Armed with a hauntingly beautiful falsetto, Weekes sings about love, peace, truth, triumph, hope.and social justice that transcends race, class, gender, age, and nationality. The seeds of his values and sense of his place in the world were sown on the quiet […]
The incredible rhythms of Arthur Thompson have not only contributed to numerous music genres for over twenty years, but have influenced generations through his teaching, mentoring and creative genius. Arthur's passion for drums and music brings energy to every soul he touches. As a professional musician, he tours, plays and records. A member of Tom […]
An enormous buzz has built up around Scotland's hottest indie rock band, who formed in 2003, tromping the highlands and lowlands playing a thoroughly modern form of indie rock that stands out for its quirky lyrics, overlapping melodies, intertwining racing guitar lines, unique and unexpected beats, and emotive vocals well drenched in Scottish accent. The […]
Multi-instrumentalist David Lindley performs music that redefines the word eclectic. Well known as the featured accompanist with Jackson Browne and a session player with the likes of Bob Dylan, Ry Cooder, Ben Harper, Emmylou Harris, Warren Zevon, and many others, Lindley has long championed the concept of world music, combining folk, blues, and bluegrass traditions […]
ROBBIE FULKS plays by nobody's rules except the ones he hears in his head. He is widely regarded by the music press and fans as one of the most gifted songwriters of his generation. Fulks is one of the more heralded talents in the alternative country movement, displaying an offbeat, sometimes dark sense of humor […]
A decade ago South Carolina native Clay Ross, a New York-based jazz musician, found himself in Brazil studying its folk music at about the same time he was rediscovering the songs of his native South. The guitarist and singer titled his debut disc Matuto, Brazilian slang for backcountry bumpkin. Described as “weird and wonderful, unorthodox […]
Bombino filled Guthrie Green with swirling Saharan guitars, Don Carlos chilled the evening crowd with cool reggae music, Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars got everyone on their feet and dancing. The weather was perfect, kids were hula hooping their hearts out, not a weak moment on stage, OK craft brews were the preferred beverage. Thanks […]
Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars are a group of musicians who escaped the horrific violence of Sierra Leone's civil war, landed in a refugee camp, and formed a band that has grown into an international sensation. Near the turn of the 21st Century, when Sierra Leone's war-ravaged capital was burning, thousands fled to neighboring countries. […]
The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach pairs up with monster Tuareg guitarist Bombino for a dream-team album. Nomad is a seductive album that manages to bring a distant Islamic culture unexpectedly close through the universal language of rock 'n' roll. —NPR. Tuareg guitarist and singer Omara “Bombino” Moctar made his Nonesuch Records debut with the release […]
Cody ChesnuTT is a wide-eyed, intense soul brother in a crazy-fly get-up, a raw storyteller wearing a guitar and a smirk, a soul troubadour whose frank, socially conscious ruminations on life continue to challenge popular notions of how modern soul music can look and sound. The Atlanta-based ChesnuTT blasted onto the scene a decade ago […]
One of reggae's great iconic frontmen, sweet-voiced vocalist and composer Don Carlos (born Euvin Spencer) started his career in 1973 as a founding member of Black Uhuru. Within a year he left the group to pursue a solo career, developing his song writing, grooming his distinctive vocal style, and releasing a string of classic reggae […]
The FM PILOTS, “one of the city's most promising young pop rock bands” (Urban Tulsa), is Tulsa-based pop-rock quartet that formed in 2010. A debut self-titled EP soon followed. An immediate and quickly mushrooming buzz landed the band spots at the Vans Warped Tour, SxSW, and Center of the Universe Festival. They also won Urban […]
The first annual Savor the Sounds is a FREE event in the Brady Arts District—a celebration of food and music. You can sample various "dinner bands" at 7-9 pm and "dessert bands" at 9-11 pm. Tulsa Roots Music is proud to be part of this event. Our contribution is Houston up-and-comers The Tontons, All About […]
Opening for The Tontons, Tulsa-based All About a Bubble is singer and guitarist Dustin Storm, guitarist Luke Chronister, bassist Clinton Summers, and drummer Fabian Robles. The band won "Song of the Year" and "Best Indie Rock Band" at the ABoT awards in 2013, and they continue to build their fan base at coffee shops, biker […]
Tulsa Roots Music is proud to be a part of SAVOR THE SOUNDS. Our contribution is a very hot Houston-based indie rock band, The Tontons. Driven by Asli Omar’s butter-melting, old-soul vocals, which propel her lyrics with sultry and emotional force, this up-and-coming outfit is out to prove it can create music that both pop […]
The success of the Cherokee National Youth Choir has helped spark a cultural renaissance among the Cherokee people. Made up of 30-40 K6-12 Cherokees from northeastern Oklahoma, this renowned group performs traditional Cherokee songs in the Cherokee language. Founded in 2000 and based on rigorous auditions, the choir has released 11 recordings (including Voices of […]
In collaboration with George Kaiser Family Foundation, Tulsa Roots Music and the University of Tulsa are proud to present one of Tulsa's favorite cultural events: five consecutive Sundays of free concerts on Guthrie Green, in the heart of the Arts District, featuring 3-5 bands per day. Enjoy world-class reggae, ska, rock, Latin, blues, folk and […]
“Hands down, the best songwriter in the genre.” – USA Today. Attention families with kids: Last year, we teamed with Tulsa Children’s Museum and Tulsa City-County Library to bring Dan Zanes to Tulsa, and broke a record for most kids on Guthrie Green. This year we’re proud to team up again to bring Justin Roberts, […]
A joyous mix of rock n' roll, danceable indie-folk, and heartfelt protest ballad, The Mowglis are four childhood friends from the San Fernando Valley augmented by three Midwest transplants. Part '60s Laurel Canyon, part '70s Venice Beach and part '10s Silverlake, the band’s infectious, uplifting melodies veer from indie pop to Americana. Camped in the […]
Arthur Thompson is the creative heart of African Dance Troupe, which melds dance and the traditional rhythms of West Africa with a jazzman’s gift of expression. He produces and records with the group, as well as with many other artists. Thompson’s polyrhythms have contributed to numerous music genres—jazz, rock, funk--for more than 20 years, including […]
”The fast-rising, hard-charging, 20-something, North Carolina born-and-bred singer Nikki Hill has more than earned her evocative ‘Southern Fireball’ moniker.” — LA Weekly. Vocal powerhouse Nikki Hill can deliver it sweet and luscious or raw and gritty. Her band, dubbed The Pirate Crew, play a no-holds-barred blend of American roots music—Stax soul, bent rockabilly, bop, southern […]
An Oregon native born a mix of Apache, Puerto Rican, and Filipino cultures and adopted into an American family, Nahko suffered an identity crisis from an early age. When he took up the piano at age six, the unifying power of music brought harmony, and he set out to bridge the cultural gaps dividing his […]
Paul Benjaman, Wink Burcham, and Beau Roberson, musicians at the forefront of the New Tulsa Sound movement, lead a jam, full band in tow, that includes many of Tulsa’s notable musicians sharing, song swapping, jamming, and generally mixing it up on stage. Benjaman’s groove-based mix of rock, jazz, funk, be-bop, and swing—punctuated throughout by tasty […]
Spearheading the emerging generation of Cajun and Creole musicians, Cedric Watson is a fiddler, vocalist, accordionist and songwriter of enormous talent and potential. Injecting a healthy dose of his own personality and ingenuity, Cedric has been exciting an ever-broadening audience with his unique take on traditional Creole music, and with his new compositions that expand […]
Banjoman Cody Brewer's solo project stands between bluegrass, western swing, folk and jazz. Brewer hails from Leonard, Oklahoma, just south of Bixby, and you can hear his small town spirit in the music. A founding member of electronic/rock group The Moai Broadcast, he currently leads Tulsa-based bluegrass/folk outfit Grazzhopper and is finishing his first Grazzhopper […]
We first cottoned onto Fread Martin, a.k.a. Little Freddie King, a some years back when he released his great You Don't Know What I Know disc for Fat Possum, the great Mississippi label dedicated to overlooked older bluesmen who play gutsy, lo-fi blues. A hard-living character who has been playing the rural electric blues of […]
The Suffers are a ten-piece phenomenon from Houston who are redefining the sound of Gulf Coast Soul, intertwining elements of classic soul with rock and roll, packing each position of the rhythm and big horn sections with talent, taste, and punch. Singer Kam Franklin has a, well, massive voice—a must for such a deliberately “horny” […]
More than just a joyful noise. The three-generation gospel collective's high-energy performances are the living embodiment of the indelible connection between the black church and its rock and soul offspring. —Austin Chronicle. "When a gospel band blows away the heathens at SXSW time after time, the rest of us should take notice," says the Midwest […]
Taking their inspiration from classic American rock groups like Drive-By Truckers and the Allman Brothers, BOH's style blends classic rock, folk, country and soul music together. BOH has been honored as "Best New Band" at the Austin Music Awards, and has been nominated in various categories at the "Americana Music Awards" over the past several […]
Nosotros is a nine-piece, horn-drenched Latin music powerhouse that seamlessly combines rock, salsa, jazz and cumbia. The Santa Fe-based ensemble, easily one of the most popular bands in New Mexico, has recorded a handful of smoking records, including 2006's Llena La Alma, engineered by Grammy-winning engineer Doug Geist. The song "Hermosa" was named as a […]
”He ranks as the most outstanding and underrated songwriters and performers in the United States today," says Vintage Guitar of songwriter, in-demand instrumentalist, and acclaimed performer Darrell Scott. Born on a tobacco farm in Kentucky in 1959 and raised in California, Scott's father was a steelworker by trade but a songwriter at heart. Soon Darrell […]
We highly recommend you purchase tickets in advance. Ray's last concert at Tulsa Little Theatre sold out. Ray Wylie Hubbard may be a Texas music icon, but he started out in Red River, NM in the mid-1960s playing folk music and writing left-field songs like “Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother,” made famous by Jerry […]
Calliope Youth Circus offers a unique and challenging program in which Tulsa's youth push themselves above and beyond their own expectations by immersing themselves in the circus arts. In a play-based, non-competitive environment, kids develop self-discipline, body respect and confidence. Calliope has provided programming for the Greater Tulsa YMCA, Tulsa Public Schools, Portico Dans and […]
A RAIN OR SHINE EVENT….3500 happy people turned up throughout the day at the second installment of Tulsa’s truly global, FREE, all-day, eclectic roots music festival kicking off the Guthrie Green concert season and featuring major internationally touring artists on the main stage, the best local acts, performance artists, a children’s/family area with arts activities, […]
A boundary-trampling high-octane hybrid in which the lightning fast electrified licks of Kouyate are matched by the explosive energy of Driscoll's rapidfire rhyming. —Songlines UK. US-born, England-based Joe Driscoll knows no French. Sekou Kouyate, who hails from the West African country of Guinea, speaks little English. But it turns out they have a whole lot […]
Calliope Youth Circus offers a unique and challenging program in which Tulsa's youth push themselves above and beyond their own expectations by immersing themselves in the circus arts. In a play-based, non-competitive environment, kids develop self-discipline, body respect and confidence. Calliope has provided programming for the Greater Tulsa YMCA, Tulsa Public Schools, Portico Dans and […]
Named one of Africa's Top 10 global stars by CNN, Ghana-raised recording artist and humanitarian Rocky Dawuni straddles the boundaries among Africa, the Caribbean and the U.S. with a progressive fusion of reggae, soul and traditional African sounds. Dawuni's infectious grooves, dance-inducing anthems, humanitarian efforts and galvanizing performances have boosted him to the stages of […]
A seasoned entertainer, Perizad spent many years studying music, theater and improv. In 2007, she became captivated by the grace and sensuality of belly dance and began taking classes at the Belly Dance Academy of Tulsa. Since then, she has studied with such masters as Mahmoud Reda of Egypt, Sabah of the Bellydance Superstars, Princess […]
