Bob Childers’ Gypsy Café, Oklahoma’s largest homegrown songwriter festival, announces the 2025 lineup for Sunday, May 4th in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Seventy Oklahoma songwriters will play acoustic song swap sets on stages at four local music venues, starting with Bluegrass Brunch by rising talent, Johnny Mullenax Band, at noon. The main festival grounds and venues open starting at 12:30pm with a lineup that includes festival staples like John Fullbright, Carter Sampson, Red Dirt Rangers and Mike Hosty, while adding 15 new voices as well as the winner of the Jimmy LaFave Songwriting Contest. The festival benefits Red Dirt Relief Fund, the nonprofit that provided aid to more than half the artists in the lineup during the pandemic, and more than $950,000 in emergency financial assistance to music professionals in all genres statewide since 2012.
The festival will provide a free shuttle running a loop around the general admission venues from noon-7pm.
Friend of the Fest tickets include Bluegrass Brunch with Johnny Mullenax, General Admission, Reserved Seating, a Festival T-Shirt, and limited edition Wyld Gear Gypsy Cafe insulated cup.
Brunch tickets include Bluegrass Brunch with Johnny Mullenax presented by Cove Environmental at The Dirty Rooster, plus brunch buffet from Bad Brad’s Barbecue, 2 drink tickets, $5 off merch coupon, and general admission to the festival.
Reserved Seating is an add-on for any ticket level, and guarantees a chair in front of the Grand Casino Main Stage at Eskimo Joe’s!
NOTE: All ages are welcome at Brunch and the main stage at Eskimo Joe’s only. Other venues are 21+.
General Admission tickets good for entry to all festival venues are $35 advance, $40 day-of and $30 for students, military and first responders with ID. Reserved seating add-ons and a limited number of brunch tickets range from $60-$150.
Grand Casino Main Stage at Eskimo Joe’s will include the presentation and performance by the 2025 Jimmy LaFave Song Contest winner, presentation of the Restless Spirit Award in memory of Don Morris, a live auction of a Gypsy Cafe guitar signed by the entire lineup, as well as a hand-painted guitar depicting Morris by local artist, Nathan McCray. The day will end with an all-lineup family jam finale as the sun goes down. Fans can also shop festival merchandise, regional vendors and a silent auction of one-of-a-kind music experiences and memorabilia.
To kick off the festival, Tulsa-based Johnny Mullenax Band will bring his famed Bluegrass Brunch show to the Strip’s newest live music venue, The Dirty Rooster.
Presented by Cove Environmental, brunch includes general admission to the festival, buffet from Bad Brad’s BBQ and two drink tickets.
Mullenax signed with Crossover Touring late last year and is billed on festivals nationwide in 2025. Claiming wide-ranging influences from AC/DC and The Ramones to John Coltrane and Parliament, Mullenax’s style is reminiscent of Billy Strings — a sound he calls a funky country bluegrass good time for working folks. Brunch tickets are limited and must be purchased in advance.
Limited tickets are available in advance and will not be available at the door.
For more than three decades Monica Taylor has been writing songs from the heart and has recorded and performed with a litany of famed Red Dirt, country and bluegrass musicians including Childers, Jimmy LaFave, Tom Skinner, Greg Jacobs, John Fullbright, Jared Tyler and Robin Macy. Taylor earned the nickname “The Cimarron Songbird” from La Fave and Childers because of her unique singing style and her home near the Cimarron River.
In the 1990’s, Taylor lived and cowrote with Childers at the Farm, the storied birthplace of Red Dirt music on the west side of Stillwater. Taylor has curated the Cimarron Breeze Concert Series for 10 years bringing countless acclaimed touring and local artists to Perkins, and she recently finished a double vinyl “Red Dirt Ramble” which features 55 guest vocalists and musicians paying tribute to pioneers of Red Dirt music with 18 new recordings of songs written by Childers, LaFave, Morris, Skinner and more. Read more about Taylor’s career and contributions on her website.
After performing at Brunch to kickoff the festival, Taylor will be presented the award at the Grand Casino Stage at Eskimo Joe’s at 5:30pm and perform in the following set. The Restless Spirit Award, named for Childers’ song with the same name, is given by Red Dirt Relief Fund in recognition of a musician who has impacted the Oklahoma music community in a spirit akin to Childers. Taylor joins a prestigious and beloved group of Restless Spirit Award honorees: Jimmy LaFave (2017), Brandon Jenkins (2018), Randy Crouch (2019), Steve Ripley (2020), Jim Paul Blair (2021), Chad Sullins (2022) and Jake Flint (2023).
Take a trip down memory lane and check out some of our past festivals and their highlights.
