Mark your calendars for an extraordinary culinary experience as the Switchyard Food Fest arrives at Tulsa’s B’nai Emunah Synagogue on Nov. 30 to celebrate the diversity and significance of food. This event, co-hosted by The University of Tulsa’s Switchyard and Magic City Books, brings together James Beard Award-winning chefs and esteemed food writers dedicated to celebrating the diversity and significance of food. Headliners for the event include: Tom Colicchio, lead judge on Bravo’s “Top Chef” Sean Sherman, 2023 Julia Child Award recipient Jori Lewis, author of “Slaves for Peanuts” Siddhart ..read more

BUY YOUR SWITCHYARD MUSIC PASS HERE WILLI CARLISLE is a poet and a folk singer for the people, but his extraordinary gift for turning a phrase isn’t about high falutin’ pontificatin’; it’s about looking out for one another and connecting through our shared human condition. Born and raised on the Midwestern plains, Carlisle is a product of the punk to folk music pipeline that’s long fueled frustrated young men looking to resist. After falling for the rich ballads and tunes of the Ozarks, where he now lives, he began examining the full spectrum of American musical history. This insatiable styli ..read more

Photograph from Georgia Tech Born in Odessa, Ukraine when it was still part of the Soviet Union, Ilya Kaminsky moved to the United States in 1993 when his family was granted asylum. Declared “one of the 12 artists who changed the world” by the BBC, his accessible yet probing work has been translated into more than twenty languages. He lost most of his hearing at the age of four and his most award-winning collection, Deaf Republic, mixes narrative, fable and poetry to examine censorship and silence while finding power in disability. Sometimes described as “the Beatles of the poetry world,” Kami ..read more

Switchyard and the World of Bob Dylan 2023 are almost here! We’re excited to welcome you to downtown Tulsa for this six-day festival of music, art, and ideas.  The full Switchyard program includes 26 speakers, 14 bands, a special reception to launch the Switchyard magazine and Switchyard podcast, new art shows at 101 Archer, and after-party concerts every night. It promises to be a busy week and we want to make it as exciting, accessible, and engaging as possible.  This page provides a few useful pieces of information. As a reminder, each track of Switchyard ..read more

BUY YOUR SWITCHYARD MUSIC PASS HERE Photographed by Gregg Roth Multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter LARRY CAMPBELL and singer-guitarist TERESA WILLIAMS will take the stage at Cain’s Ballroom on Saturday, June 3. They had an acclaimed eponymous 2015 debut, released after seven years of playing in Levon Helm’s band – and frequent guesting with Phil Lesh, Little Feat, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady, brought to the stage the crackling creative energy of a decades-long offstage union. A whirlwind of touring and promo followed, and when the dust cleared, the duo was ready to do it all again. Whi ..read more

BUY YOUR SWITCHYARD MUSIC PASS HERE Photographed by Vicki Farmer JOHN FULLBRIGHT will take the stage at Cain’s Ballroom on Friday, June 2. Born in Okemah, Fullbright began playing the piano when he was five. He had his debut performance at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival and got his start in the Turnpike Troubadours. His first studio album, From the Ground Up, received a Grammy nomination in 2013 for Best Americana Album. His second album, Songs, released in May 2014 to critical acclaim. The public at-large hasn’t heard much from him since the critically lauded Songs, a chasm of eight years th ..read more

BUY YOUR SWITCHYARD MUSIC PASS HERE Photographed by Austin Lord RODNEY CROWELL needs no introduction. He is the songwriter’s songwriter and an icon among giants. Native Texan, Crowell is a multi-Grammy Award-winning troubadour with fifteen number one hits. Over the course of his career, Crowell has gracefully blended his own mainstream success as an artist with a prolific catalog of songs cut by the likes of Emmylou Harris, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Keith Urban and more, making him a master among his peers. With more than 40 years of American roots music under his belt, Crowell has also be ..read more

BUY YOUR SWITCHYARD MUSIC PASS HERE Photographed by Bob Gruen JEFF SLATE & FRIENDS are the premiere New York City band performing shows that combine sets honoring the legends of Classic Rock with original music inspired by those artists. For over a decade, Jeff Slate & Friends have played to sold out crowds paying tribute to artists like John Lennon, David Bowie and more, played by musicians who have worked with artists as diverse as Pete Townshend, Ozzy Osbourne and Mott the Hoople. The band’s Weekend Wilburys show – honoring the music of Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, George Harrison, Jeff Ly ..read more

Poet, translator, editor, and fiction writer, Katie Farris creates fluid hybrid forms that seek to carry readers across imaginative thresholds. In 2019’s boygirls, she travels through ancient and modern myths to create waking dreams, while her newest work, Standing in the Forest of Being Alive, has been called “luminous” by Carolyn Forche and “real genius” by Kaveh Akbar. A breast cancer survivor, she has written movingly about the often secretive experience of illness and recovery.  Learn more here: https://www.theshipmanagency.com/katie-farris   Register now to join us f ..read more

Photographed by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation A poet, lawyer, and McArthur genius winner, Reginald Dwayne Betts has spent over two decades exploring the world of prison and the effects of incarceration on American society. As the Executive Director of the non-profit Freedom Reads Initiative, he has led the effort to get literature into prisons to help empower people by imagining new possibilities for their lives. His award-winning books include A Question of Freedom, a memoir about his own journey from convicted felon to a Yale-trained lawyer, and Felon, a fierce, agile col ..read more