Keyland: "Knuckle Sandwich" Album Release Show
Welltown Brewing
June 20, 2026
Tulsa has upped its game in rooftop hangouts with impressive views, from Riverside’s Soma to the Mayo Hotel and In the Raw Downtown. The scene atop Welltown Brewing is a bit more of an everyday people hang, where you can nosh on chicken nugs surrounded by teardrop trailers. So naturally it was the perfect spot for the Americana band Keyland’s release show for their latest album, Knuckle Sandwich.
Keyland shares producer and collaborator Sam Westoff (known creatively as Haffway) with show opener MORE&MORE, the now-solo project from Brady Ballew, formerly of the indie pop band Beachfriends. Ballew, who came to Tulsa in 2015 as a signee to the Tulsa Roughnecks FC, kicked off the night with an assist from Wilderado’s Tyler Wimpee on guitar and Jacob Hunter on keys.
On a new EP, Hello Everybody, MORE&MORE retains the vibey mood of Beachfriends but now features more layered vocal tracks alongside bouncy rhythms. I especially enjoyed “Meteor” from the new release (perfect for this gathering under the stars!) along with “Green Porsche,” one of a number of tracks released as singles.
Keyland’s front man Kyle Ross is well-known around town, a regular at the Merc who has stayed busy in the studio since his debut album Growing Pains was released in 2023. Given his intentional approach to storytelling via songwriting, it is no surprise that Ross’s day job (along with coaching football) is teaching English at Bixby Middle School. Ross has a knack for a turn of phrase, dropping lyrics such as “I was sometimes yours to rent, but you were never mine to own” in his banger “Mine to Own“ from last year’s EP Too Tuff. His distinctive singing voice brings to mind Stephen Wilson Jr. or Tyler Childers.
Keyland is an assembly of some of Tulsa’s most talented musicians who create impressive solo work as well as play with other bands. Appearing at Welltown with Ross were Ramsey Thornton (drums), Cash Jackson (guitar), Hugh Westoff (bass), Jacob Hunter (keys), Travis Linville (pedal steel), and Olivia McGraw (fiddle). With these collaborators, on the new album, Ross is leveling up great writing with ever more energetic and playful delivery.
The first song for this release party, “Crayon,” is upon first listen a bit of a joke—we all knew that kid in school who was a little too attached to rubber cement or scratch and sniff stickers and would have indeed eaten a crayon or two. But the sentiment “eat the whole damn box / so you ain’t just blue” is a lighthearted but earnest pledge of friendship that endures beyond childhood: “Somebody loves you.”
Every one of the songs on this new album is likewise grounded in language and imagery that is eminently relatable but nudges toward more profound feelings. For example, in “Stick,” clearly a crowd favorite, Ross sings, “Why don’t you stick around? Why don’t you sit your ass back down?” At first it seems as if this dude singing might be on a power trip, but then he reveals that really he’s just ready for the object of his affection to meet his mom.
With Knuckle Sandwich, for good reason, Keyland is gaining the spotlight. As the band prepares to tour with Uncle Lucius, Josh Crutchmer’s recent write-up in Rolling Stone announced Keyland as a “Red Dirt Country Buzz Band.” No argument here: Ross’s voice, along with his down to earth (red earth, that is) sensibility, echoes the authenticity of the Turnpike Troubadours, Wyatt Flores, and others who’ve risen to stardom from Oklahoma. Yet I find in listening to Keyland a bit more humor, an “aw shucks” wink and nod that to me reads a little more Tulsa than Stillwater.
In this meeting of the Tulsa Sound with The Farm, Keyland rocked through the new album and then added in a cover of The Band’s “The Weight,” inviting audience participation (since with this song it’s never optional). Ross ended the night wading into the crowd for another singalong, this time with the last tune of Knuckle Sandwich, “Extra Gravy.” Together we sang of our insecurities melting away like Dairy Queen soft serve and the sustenance of the reliable: “You still choose to be my baby / chicken strips with extra gravy.” We weren’t sipping cocktails or sampling sashimi, but with the big sky—and big Tulsa skyline—overhead, this evening was truly fine.
