Last Updated on August 27, 2023, 12:11 PM | Published: August 27, 2023
OKLAHOMA CITY — In a city as sprawling and spread out as OKC is, it can be next to impossible to define the music scene or pinpoint any one style or genre that reigns supreme.
But even when navigating the various musical avenues and back alleys throughout the city’s many scenes, it can be a challenge just to figure out where best to find and hear the sounds you’re seeking.
If you’re a fan of orchestral, classical styles, and the most refined musicianship, then you’re likely already a patron of Civic Center Music Hall.
If you’ve got your finger on the pulse of the hottest nationally touring, up-and-coming pop acts, then you surely already keep a close eye on the lineups at Tower Theatre and The Criterion.
But if you’re looking for the real heart and soul of Oklahoma City’s own homegrown musical identities, then you want the smaller, sometimes unassuming, locally-owned indie venues that are investing in and showcasing our town’s ever-burgeoning talent.
No matter what it is that you want to hear, there’s bound to be a near-perfect stage on which to hear it in OKC.
Folk/Country – The Blue Door – 2805 N. McKinley Ave.
When most people think of “Oklahoman music,” it’s a safe bet that they’re thinking of southern folk styles or traditional country-and-western, and for good reason. Our state has produced some of the greatest songwriters and folk storytellers that have ever been pressed to wax.
It’s that storytelling legacy – far more than any specific, traditional “country” sound – that is always at the forefront of The Blue Door’s artists.
As a “listening room,” the focus is intended always for the singer and for the stories, both lyrical and musical, that they’re telling. No TV screens, no loud bar patrons, no frills.
For 30 years, founder Greg Johnson has booked a diverse range of styles and songwriters, but there’s nothing The Blue Door showcases better than the best country and folk.
Punk/Metal/Hardcore – 89th Street – 8911 N. Western Ave.
The space now known simply as 89th Street has gone by a few names in its past, but since establishing its current iteration (and a much-needed renovation and rearrangement a handful of years ago) it’s become the space in OKC to catch the hardest of hardcore.
The exposed roof beams, utilitarian bar, black-painted brickwork, and stickers upon stickers all add to the pitch perfect punk ambiance, but it’s the community that calls the venue home that’s really given 89th Street its identity.
Again, the full range of sounds and performers you might find on the 89th Street stage is huge, but it’s become a particular OKC rallying point for punk, doom, grime, crust and all things hardcore in between.
And most importantly, it’s still all-ages.
Rap/Hip-Hop/R&B/Soul – Hubbly Bubbly Hookah Lounge – 2900 N. Classen Blvd.
This city’s rap scene is on fore lately, with MCs breaking out and blowing up through collaborations and partnerships around the country, and so many of the best showcases for those remarkable talents are house parties and pop-up events.
But if you’re looking for a solid, atmospheric venue with some of the best vibes for enjoying an ever-expanding roster of rappers and hip-hop upstarts, you might be surprised to find that it’s actually a hookah-smoking lounge and bar/restaurant tucked into a shopping strip in the Asian District.
On top of the huge hookah menu, tea selection, and shockingly tasty Mediterranean food (try the spicy seasoned fries,) Hubbly Bubbly’s focus on events and booking for rap and R&B is relentless, packing the house regularly for local showcases, open mics, and styled theme nights.
Jazz – 51st St. Speakeasy – 1114 NW 51st St.
One thing that OKC is definitely not short on these days is “jazz nights” at bars all around town.
It seems like it’s become a surefire hit for any chill, relaxed bar to designate one night each week to bring in some classy, swinging jazz acts to set the mood. Honestly, they’re all great and their popularity only serves to highlight the city’s stable of fantastic jazz players.
But Wednesday nights at Speakeasy are something else.
Rather than any kind of winding down, the house band, led by the impressive talents of Kendrik McKinney, Dave Bowen, and Rei Wang, cranks up the energy and unleashes some serious jazz at full volume and full intensity, often with special guests and open jams.
And with its dim lighting, superb classic cocktails, and seemingly endless nooks and crannies inside an old, historic house, there’s no better place in the city to have that kind of high-level jazz experience than the Speakeasy.
Indie Rock – Resonant Head – 400 SW 25th St.
The only musical style more synonymous with OKC than country is the kind of weirdo, psychedelic indie-rock pioneered and spearheaded by a handful of landlocked dream-poppers and stoner-rockers over the past few decades.
That sound has become an embedded and integral part of the Oklahoma scene, and there’s no venue around more perfectly suited or seemingly intentionally designed for that aesthetic than Capitol Hill’s newest addition, Resonant Head.
With a roomful of neon lights in any color you like and a stage enclosed by silver curtains, there’s no better space to get lost in some synth textures or echoing, reverberating guitars, something that no one understands better than the venue’s neighbors, effects pedal builders Old Blood Noise Endeavors.
Even the windows are tinted to provide an otherworldly hue for the increasingly diverse and creative acts that have begun gracing the still-new stage.
If you’re one of the city’s many forward-thinking rockers and you haven’t yet popped south of the river to check out Resonant Head, then you need to change that soon.
Practically Everything – Blue Note Lounge – 2408 N. Robinson Ave.
While every venue on this list keeps its doors and stages open to nearly any kind of act that might want to come through, there might be no place in OKC that’s doing “a bit of everything” better than Blue Note.
Rock, metal, punk, rap, drag, burlesque, jazz. You name it, Blue Note is doing it.
Sunday is jazz night at the Note, keeping alive a musical tradition that stretches back for decades when the venue was a consistent jazz destination.
But they’re keeping things forward-thinking as well with a regular hip-hop showcase hosted by local legend Jabee and Sarafina Byrd, one of the most exciting and soulful singers and bandleaders on the scene.
If you still haven’t stopped back into the Note since their 2020-21 overhaul, now is the time. You’re guaranteed to find something coming up on their stage that you’ll love.
Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
