Iron and Wine with DUG and Ken Pomeroy
Guthrie Green
October 25, 2026
Guthrie Green opened in 2012 to great fanfare as an accessible venue to complement and strengthen the activities of downtown Tulsa’s arts organizations, akin to sister “urban oasis” parks such as Klyde Warren in Dallas and Discovery Green in Houston, designed both aesthetically and operationally to signal transformation in formerly industrial or blighted areas. On the Green, I’ve always felt a bit of the vibe of the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival down the road in Okemah. Many of the same artists, such as Slaid Cleaves, Ellis Paul, Monica Taylor, and John Fullbright, have consistently played both venues, each of which intentionally foregrounds accessible and free opportunities for audiences.
Across from the Woody Guthrie Center, Guthrie Green has been an obvious analogue to this archive of Oklahoma’s historical and musical past, its free events and clean energy operation pointing toward a future that we can sing about if not quite yet live. The recent Iron and Wine show made this urban park indeed feel like the Pastures of Plenty, with hometown band and opener Ken Pomeroy anchoring the evening in songs that speak in so many ways to this place and time.
Lately the Guthrie Green programming team has been killing it with the concert schedule, striking an effective balance between local and touring acts, coinciding with greater attention to Tulsa music overall. Over some years, the show schedule was at times inconsistent, no doubt due at least in part to the challenges of booking live events during the pandemic, but also suffering from a seemingly “more is more” approach, with multiple acts appearing over hours and lineups that didn’t always seem intentionally curated.
This evening with Iron and Wine, Ken Pomeroy, and DUG follows several cutting-edge acts (Mdou Moctar, Unknown Mortal Orchestra) and more widely recognized bands (Digable Planets, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings) that Guthrie Green has blessed us with lately, along with local talents (John Fullbright, Broncho) that are also recognized on national and international stages. Against a backdrop of perfect October weather, each band on this particular bill commented on the palpable vibe of the evening, the sense of togetherness and positivity among thousands that is such an antidote to the latest bad news, a reminder that being present IRL is how we’ll get somewhere new together.
There is no more reliable way to find an immediate groove in a Tulsa crowd than to announce from the stage that your band is in full consensus that Oklahoma is, in fact, better than Texas. DUG, a Dublin-based duo with American roots and a wicked sense of humor, thereby charmed us with a short set of songs notable for their melding of American old-time and Irish folk with a dash of western storytelling and resonator guitar for good measure.
The song “Jubilee” was a treat; it’s obvious why it was shortlisted for Grammys in two categories. During a quiz portion of the set complete with “The Price is Right” theme song, a special audience member was gifted a DUG-customized toaster straight from the local Goodwill. The closer, “Still Broke Now,” delivered a lighthearted but biting sentiment everyone could get behind in this time of tariff fatigue.
Ken Pomeroy and Dakota McDaniel, typically presenting as a duo, have lately been appearing as a trio with Ramsey Thornton, whose percussive banjo and harmonic vocals have added an enriching layer to already compelling performances. Introducing her signature song, “Days Getting Darker,” with its refrain “The devil’s hiding in the bible belt,” Pomeroy pointed out that all three of them are from Oklahoma and love where they’re from, but that in our state a lot needs to change. A lone voice shouted, “Let’s elect Cyndi Munson!” The band and many others present echoed that endorsement. Speaking of her song “Cicadas,” Pomeroy went on, “Nights like these make me thankful for community.”
Pomeroy has been touring with Iron and Wine this year, and teeing off to the headliner she emphasized how kind and responsive the experience of traveling with them has been. Like DUG and Pomeroy’s band, Iron and Wine cultivates an expansive approach to both emotion and sound in their lyricism and the technical prowess of their musicianship. With three women in the band—violinist Abby Swidler, bassist Katie Ernst, and percussionist Beth Goodfellow—adding powerful, often unison vocals behind Sam Beam’s lead singing, this performance felt atmospheric, close to angelic.
Beam’s newest album, Hen’s Teeth, was recorded with a host of collaborators (including the trio I’m with Her) at Laurel Canyon, and boy, am I a sucker for ‘70s-throwback harmonies. I’ve had “Paper and Stone” and “In Your Ocean” on rotation since the album came out in February. At Guthrie Green, Swidler’s fiddle made the former song especially memorable, along with other moments when she traded solos with the rhythm section, punctuated by Goodfellow’s simultaneous command of her drums, sticks, and mallets.
Iron and Wine’s live show is a mix of silly and earnest, acoustic and maximalist, and at times I felt like the musical train was leaping its tracks, veering toward controlled chaos. This evening of humor, conviction (here for the Munson shoutouts!), and experimentation was a sublime reminder of all we have to treasure in this musical city of ours, nudging us not only to dream of more but, as Guthrie Green itself has done, to make it a reality.
