WATCH: Willi Carlisle Releases Live Tales from Critterland EP and Premieres Video for Previously Unreleased ‘Penny Evans’

With his brand new live EP, Tales From Critterland, folksinger Willi Carlilse presents two unreleased songs, ‘Penny Evans’ and ‘Hi Tone Dance,’ along with the title track and ‘The Arrangements’ from his critically acclaimed album, Critterland.

“Penny Evans is a timeless folk song about the horrors of war and the struggle of regular people to survive,” explains Carlisle about the song. “Steve Goodman wrote it in part as an update to the Scots-Irish ballad ‘The Flying Cloud,’ a troubling old ballad about a slave ship. Isn’t that wild? We find fertile soil in unjust histories. We change, grow, and protest!”

Watch the live video for ‘Penny Evans’ exclusively on Holler below.

Rooted in the eclectic and collective world of his live shows, Carlisle’s third album, Critterland, took up where his sophomore album, Peculiar, Missouri, left off, transforming Peculiar’s big tent into a Critterland menagerie and letting loose the weirdos he gathered together.

“Nothing is more important to me than the live show," says Carlisle, "and Tales from Critterland is an exploration in capturing that energy. My favorite part of this little record is getting to include the jokes and stories, to make context for the folk music I’m singing. It’s a convivial atmosphere, a big crowd making merry, a big folksinger making mistakes. What fun!"

"When we chose these songs, we tried to make it evocative of a full 90-minute-plus set in just 20% of that time," he explains. "So, we’ve got a laugher, a cryer, a thinker and a banger. That (to me) is a recipe for good togetherness! I think we got it, too! Folksinging is done by eyeball measurements: you want something that might inform without too much accuracy, that might provoke without pandering and boogie without blushing. All that and a big hat might get us pretty far."

As with everything Willi Carlisle does, it's always done in his own inimitable way. If it's a live video it'll be a live video like no other, and the video of the live a capella version of 'Penny Evans' is no exception.

"Signature Sounds has been an ideal partner in this," Carlisle says about the label behind the album. "They believed in Critterland first, even in moments when I didn’t. Whit Stone’s covers (on both “Tales” and “Critterland” are a truly collect-em-all type fine art, to boot.“

The Tales From Critterland EP brings to life all those wonderful live shows and reminds us once again why there’s no night quite like it when Willi Carlisle comes to town.

Tales From Critterland will be released digitally and on limited-edition 10” vinyl on August 16th via Signature Sounds. You can purchase here.

For more on Willi Carlisle, see below: