An Evening with Nellie McKay

The endearingly idiosyncratic singer-songwriter, Broadway star, ukulele virtuoso and social justice warrior Nellie McKay will make her LowDown debut with this intimate solo performance. Returning to Tulsa following her acclaimed appearance at the Dylan Center’s multi-artist “Sooner or Later: Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of ‘Blonde on Blonde’” concert at Cain’s Ballroom in February 2026 — for which her renditions of “Temporary Like Achilles” and “Clothes Line Saga” delighted the sold-out crowd — McKay will now charm listeners with a mix of bracingly frank originals, standards from the Great American Songbook, and surprising covers, alternating between piano and uke. McKay’s between-song patter promises to be as memorable as her disarming songs and stylish stage presence.

Since the release of her startlingly original double-album debut “Get Away from Me” in 2004, Nellie McKay has established herself as one of contemporary music’s most dynamic performers, moving easily from the recording studio (for seven subsequent albums and several EPs) to the stage (co-creating and -starring in the off-Broadway hit “Old Hats” and winning a Theatre World Award for her portrayal of Polly Peachum in a Broadway production of “The Threepenny Opera”). McKay has collaborated with a wide array of artists including Laurie Anderson, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, David Byrne, Cyndi Lauper and Suzanne Vega. She is a proud member of PETA and an outspoken activist on issues of animal rights and gender equality.

“A renegade songwriter with an ultraflexible Great American Songbook sensibility, McKay finds modern resonances everywhere.”
— Rolling Stone

“Funny and touching, ceaselessly clever and scarily talented.”
— The New Yorker

“Her last two ‘cabaret’ shows I saw have been jaw-dropping. They both completely subverted the genre. [She has a] tragic noir vibe and wicked sense of humor.”
— David Byrne