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The Arkansas country-folk singer-songwriter Willi Carlisle became a Stereogum Artist To Watch<\/a> on the strength of his 2024 album Critterland<\/em>, and he followed it with last year’s Winged Victory<\/a><\/em>. This year, the prolific Carlisle will drop a new double album with the delightful title The Universal Bubba<\/em>. It promises to be a big moment for Carlisle, thanks in part to the participation of producer Tyler Childers, one of the biggest stars in the Americana world. <\/p>\n Carlisle recorded all 17 songs of The Universal Bubba<\/em> at a New Orleans home studio over the course of two weeks, with Childers’ touring band backing Carlisle up. Carlisle says that the new record explores a bunch of different musical modes. Here’s his press-release quote about the album:<\/p>\n I think this one goes to outer space. I think this is the widest range of influences that I\u2019ve ever had. It touches on funk, it touches on Americana, Cajun, oldtime, and experimental music. It feels like getting drunk at the Civil War reenactment, or cruising at the cattle auction, or doing molly at the square dance. It\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve ever used synthesizers and double electric guitars. There\u2019s also more fretless 19th century style banjo on it than any record I\u2019ve ever made…<\/p>\n The universal bubba is somebody who can fix anything, somebody who is good for just about anything. Everywhere I go I meet these giant people \u2014 and what I mean is these men and women and folks who can do it all themselves. Something that\u2019s really struck me about traveling around the world is that everywhere you go there are people who are tirelessly working to make things a little bit better without succumbing to modernity\u2019s pitfalls. They\u2019re somebody who has enough, and if it wasn\u2019t enough they would make it enough.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Lead single and album opener “Mason Jar At The Center Of The World” is an old-timey reel that Willi Carlisle wrote while touring Australia with Tyler Childers. Below, check out that song, the tracklist for The Universal Bubba<\/em>, and Carlisle’s tour dates.<\/p>\n\n