Discover the artists featured in The Church Studio’s Tunes @ Noon concert series, Tulsa’s signature midday live music experience.
Tunes @ Noon stands alone in Tulsa’s music scene. More than a concert series, it’s an artist showcase, community builder, and one of Tulsa’s few opportunities to experience live music during the workday inside the legendary Church Studio. Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from noon to 1 p.m., with occasional Featured Friday performances, audiences enjoy everything from blues and Americana to jazz, rock, folk, country, and singer-songwriters. No two shows are ever the same.
Your admission also includes a docent-led tour of The Church Studio, where you’ll explore the spaces that helped shape the Tulsa Sound and continue to inspire today’s artists. From the moment you arrive, the atmosphere is welcoming, intimate, and uniquely Tulsa. Afterward, Studio Row is just outside the door, offering locally owned restaurants, coffee shops, and boutiques worth exploring.
Here’s a look at three of the artists you might catch at Tunes @ Noon. Check the latest lineup on the Tunes @ Noon page and plan your visit.
Bear is Driving
Bear Is Driving brings a confident, offbeat charm to Tulsa indie rock, with sharp hooks, energizing riffs, and a band roster where every member is credited with “vibes.” Their first Tunes @ Noon brought the house down, with showmanship, personality, and a current of energy that moved through the Gallery.
The band came together in 2022, when Ben Fu and Michael Mitchell started playing and writing songs on guitar. They asked Ben’s then-15-year-old daughter, Sadie, to sit in, and something clicked. Ben says the songs “immediately sounded more complete.”
Long before Bear Is Driving had a name, a tiny Sadie sat behind a full drum kit on a big school stage at her kindergarten talent show while Ben accompanied her on guitar for “Seven Nation Army.” Several years later, at another talent show, she returned to the same song, this time drumming and singing at age 10. Ben remembers it as a full-circle moment.
Today, Bear Is Driving features Sadie Fu, Ben Fu, Michael Mitchell, Brendan Rolland, and Zack Reeves, with vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, percussion, and “vibes” all in the mix. Sadie also plays guitar, piano, ukulele, and drums, and she is not the only one in the band with that kind of range.
Their songs move with head-nodding grooves, bright hooks, and guitar-driven energy. Their 2025 debut album, How Can That Be?, was recorded entirely at The Church Studio.
What started with a dad, a daughter, and a school-stage drum kit now shows up as a full band with its own sound, its own humor, and enough live energy to make a noon concert feel like the surprise of the day.
BILLY BONNEY
Billy Bonney brings Southwest blues that feels lived-in, guitar-forward, and pulled straight from real life.
Fronted by Kurtis Hair, with Felix Miller on bass and Lukus Peery on drums, the Stillwater trio blends blues-rock muscle with sharp, satirical songwriting. Kurtis writes like someone who has actually been paying attention, and it gives the songs backbone. They can be funny, sharp, and restless, but they never feel careless.
Their influences run from the grit of Stevie Ray Vaughan to the loose Southern groove of early Allman Brothers, with a storytelling streak that owes something to John Prine. The result is blues-rock with a rough edge, where the guitar does plenty of talking and the lyrics have something to say.
Even the name carries a little outlaw dust. “Billy Bonney” nods to William H. Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid, and not everyone catches it right away. That almost makes it better. It has to reveal itself a little, just like the songs.
Billy Bonney has played Norman Music Festival, and their song “All The Way,” recorded at The Church Studio, landed on Tulsa Music Month’s playlist. Their Tunes @ Noon set had a no-frills kind of strength. Kurtis and his red guitar gave it shape, with bass and drums pushing the songs forward and just enough dry humor to keep the edges sharp.
Damaris
Damaris calls her music Spitfire Country. Once you hear a little of her story, the name fits.
She spent years writing and singing mostly for herself. Then, in her 40s with her kids nearly grown, she decided to do something that scared her: get on stage.
What came out draws from country, Red Dirt, folk, outlaw spirit, and honky-tonk, without settling neatly into any one of them. Her songs carry humor, grit, faith in second chapters, and the perspective of someone who had lived plenty of life before she asked a room to listen.
From Humboldt, Kansas, Damaris Kunkler is both songwriter and community builder, someone who understands that music can do more than fill a room. Through A Bolder Humboldt, the Middle of Everywhere Festival, and the Revival Music Hall project, she has helped a small Kansas town see live music as part of its identity.
She has made her way into Tulsa’s circle of songwriters, too, playing here alongside other original artists and building the kind of friendships that come from showing up more than once. Damaris brings all of it: the Kansas roots, the late start, the projects she has helped build back home, and songs written by someone who knows what to do with the room once she has it.
Bear Is Driving, Billy Bonney, and Damaris are just three of the artists you might discover at Tunes @ Noon. Each performance brings a different sound, a different story, and another reason to spend your lunch hour inside one of Tulsa’s most historic recording spaces. Check the latest lineup and discover who’s playing next on the Tunes @ Noon landing page and plan your visit.