No Depression Sessions at Folk Alliance International 2024: Willi Carlisle

Watch multi-instrumentalist folk singer Willi Carlisle light up the AEA Ribbon Mics room at the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City during his No Depression Session at Folk Alliance International 2024, performing three songs from his current album, Critterland, (ND review).

Up first is “The Great Depression,” a song that reflects on what we’ve inherited from past generations, including all the suffering and trauma they experienced to bring us to this point in history.

Next is a tear-jerker of a song called “Two-Headed Lamb,” which I interpret to be about weirdos, outliers, and misfits. Their stories are embodied in this song by a two-headed lamb that ends up being too fucked up to survive, but the lamb looks straight ahead with eyes wide open despite the way it was born.

Carlisle wraps his session up with a “sad song about chickens,” a song which may not actually be about chickens. In the dozens of times I’ve heard it since this ND session, it never fails to cast a spell on me that makes me think about my mom.

This No Depression Session at Folk Alliance International 2024 was made possible by AEA Ribbon Mics. Find previous No Depression Sessions at Folk Alliance International 2024 here, and look for more in the coming weeks.