In the Folk Tradition: Music + Poetry w Anna La Mare + Quinn Carver Johnson

Positive Space Hosts In the Folk Tradition: Music + Poetry with Anna La Mare and Quinn Carver Johnson, Friday, June 5

Positive Space Tulsa hosts In the Folk Tradition: Music + Poetry with Anna La Mare and Quinn Carver Johnson, Friday, June 5. For both artists, folk music is more than an aesthetic or a sound, but rather a guiding philosophy, a framework for building community and sharing stories through art, and people likening to Woody Guthrie's axiom that “a folk song is what’s broke and how to fix it,” and write about belonging in a society that decides who it welcomes and who it excludes.

Quinn's poetry draws from the labor-driven American folk tradition of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Lead Belly, and political poets like Carl Sandburg, Diane di Prima, and Etheridge Knight. Their poetry is rooted in the Kansas plains, the Oklahoma hills, and the Arkansas mountains. Their debut book, The Perfect Bastard, tackles issues of gender, sexuality, and class against the grit and colorful backdrops of professional wrestling and Middle America.

Anna La Mare arrived at folk music from a different direction but with the same conviction. A Third Culture Kid who grew up between Paris, London, Rome, New Orleans, and North Carolina, she approaches her music just like her influences: lyrics first, with everything else in service of the feeling those words demand. Anna's debut single, “Jonna (Find Yourself a Man),” released May 12, 2026, is a Southern Gothic story told from the point of view of an exiled gay woman, the judgmental world’s verdict echoing underneath her story like a bad choir.

About the Artists: Singer-songwriter Anna La Mare has been described as “emotional honey,” “folky Florence and the Machine,” “indie Joan Baez” and “a soul-driven embodiment of Joni Mitchell.” Her haunting folk Americana, touched by Celtic, Appalachian, and jazz influences, is as vulnerable as it is brave, offering you a home within her stormy and poetic soundscape. With her ghostly, road-worn, and soulful voice, La Mare (Lah MAH-ray) sings the stories she's picked up in her travels, enlivening the wanderer in every listener.

Quinn Carver Johnson (they/them) is a poet, printmaker, and collage artist from Tulsa, OK. They are the author of The Perfect Bastard (Curbstone Books, 2023), winner of the 2024 Lambda Literary Award in LGBTQ+ Poetry. Their work has also appeared in World Literature Today, Rappahannock Review, Right Hand Pointing, Cimarron Review, Red Earth Review, and elsewhere, and was featured on The Slowdown podcast hosted by Major Jackson.

In the Folk Tradition: Music + Poetry with Anna La Mare and Quinn Carver Johnson

5-7pm, Friday, June 5, 2026

Positive Space Tulsa, 1324 East 3rd Street

Tickets: $10 at the door or in advance

Limited seating

More info: linktr.ee/positivespacetulsa

Contact: Nicole Finley, Founder/Director/Curator - Positive Space Tulsa
[email protected]

Positive Space Tulsa is located at 1324 East 3rd Street in the Pearl District. Positive Space Tulsa was founded by local artist Nicole Finley (she/her). An art space dedicated to Womxn artists, Positive Space Tulsa believes: The letter “x” in Womxn recognizes all women, including gender expansive identities. Positive Space Tulsa is for women, nonbinary, genderfluid, genderqueer, and agender artists (excluding those who identify as male/men). Womxn is pronounced the same as woman or women.

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