Bikes, Bands, and a Year-Delayed Music Video: The Sound of Mid South 2026

When Bobby Wintle stepped to the microphone during Brahmulus's set March 13 at the KICKER Soundstage, the crowd at Block 34 knew what he was about to say. It had been exactly a year since wildfires swept through southwest Stillwater during the final day of The Mid South 2025, destroying 98 homes and forcing the cancellation of Saturday's events. The finish line had stood silent. A lot of things were supposed to happen that day that didn't.

"If we don't have hope," Wintle said, "time feels hopeless." Hope, it turned out, was what saturated the entire 2026 weekend.

The Mid South — the endurance festival Wintle co-directs with his wife, Crystal Wintle, built from their 2013 founding race Land Run 100 — moved its finish line, expo, and live music to Block 34, Stillwater's new downtown park on Husband Street between 8th and 9th avenues, for the first time this year. Over four days, that footprint filled with cyclists, volunteers, fans, and a lineup of musicians who held the whole thing together.

The whole weekend kicked off Thursday, March 12, with the Mid South Beer release party at Stonecloud Brewing Co., where Bobby Wintle and taproom manager Matt Sullins gave speeches to celebrate the event. Then Mike Hosty, a veteran of the Oklahoma music circuit whose catalog includes a song about saving a community center, gave a glimpse into his mind with his one-man band show. It felt fitting: just up the street, the Stillwater Community Center's Winfrey Houston Theater was screening Together We Are Heavy, a documentary about the very wildfires that had taken last year's race day. Hosty's set carried more weight than he may have intended.

The party moved to Finnegan's shortly after Hosty's set ended, where Velvet Fudge proprietor Henry Ramsay spun records for a dance party led by Bobby Wintle, dressed in cow print pants while alternating between a cowboy hat and neon green trucker hat. The place was packed, the dance floor shook, and it left me wondering what the next day would look like.

March 13 started a little slow, probably due in part to how late everyone had stayed up the night before. Music kicked off with Nick Loux and The Highlife on the KICKER Soundstage. Folks were still filtering into Block 34 for the day, so the main field wasn't as active as it would be later. But Nick and his band put on a stellar performance, his voice channeling a young Bob Dylan as the runners began to cross the finish line for the day.

The next band was Brahmulus, a four-piece group playing lo-fi soul — the perfect backdrop for Bobby's moment at the microphone and for the start of the pro cycling race finishes. Their sound rose slowly while Bobby reminded the crowd of where everyone was a year ago, the winds kicking up, the fire burning.

When Bobby was interviewed about the music lineup in the weeks before the event, I asked him which band he was most excited for. He was enthusiastic about all of them, of course, but one name rose to the top: Matthew Scott. I only caught a moment of his set before running to cover Belle & The Vertigo Waves' acoustic set at Velvet Fudge, but Bobby was right to be excited. From the beautiful instruments that adorned the stage around him to the guitar work reminiscent of Stevie Ray Vaughan, his sound was electric.

I could still hear those bluesy guitar lines as I ran down the street. Belle & The Vertigo Waves performing their acoustic set was too exciting to miss. This was the very first in-store performance at Velvet Fudge, Stillwater's new record shop — opened Feb. 7, 2026, selling new and used vinyl, CDs, and tapes, including four-track tapes. The show opened with Nick Loux, Belle Scott's brother. There was sibling love and rivalry on full display: Belle talked about stealing Nick's guitars when they were kids, and they sang a song together.

Nick's portion of the show was the only acoustic moment. Belle brought her dad, John Loux, on lead guitar and guitarist Zach Nielsen in to play a few of their songs, including "DFL." We would hear that song three more times before the weekend was over.

I arrived back at the KICKER Soundstage in time to catch Johnny Mullenax, introduced on stage by Bobby Wintle as the pro race finishes neared. Mullenax has gotten serious attention lately — a February 2026 Rolling Stone feature by Josh Crutchmer put a national spotlight on his Oklahoma roots and rising profile — so it was a treat to hear him lay down some solid country tunes. It was an even bigger treat when Bobby himself got up and sang a song with Johnny.

The day's KICKER Soundstage performances ended with Tyler Siems. He was full of smiles as he crooned to an audience tired after a day of racing and sun. His sound is authentic indie rock with a distinct red dirt nod. Tyler talked briefly about what it meant to be on that stage as a local musician, then played "Bury Me in Oklahoma" — a request from Bobby, who was at a finish line microphone chatting back and forth with Tyler throughout the set. They're good friends after time spent together at the bike shop. "When you've been on the road for a while," Siems said, "and you finally pull into home, where the sights are familiar and everything smells just right."

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March 14 started with Knipple. "It's pronounced 'Kah-Nipple' — don't get it twisted," they say. They're a two-piece: JordanK on bass and a plethora of synthesizers, and Knicholas on drums and more synthesizers; both sing. It was a treat to see a two-piece band with a set this polished. JordanK told me the band is "a kids' band for tripping adults," and I couldn't have summed it up better. Their cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs," made better by a kazoo, was incredible.

Next on the KICKER Soundstage was three-piece band Petty Fox: Damion Fox on vocals, Jason Bauer on keys, and Kris Davis on drums. It was R&B, hip hop, emotion, and resilience all at once. Damion was somewhere else, fully inside the songs. He sang about struggle and hope with a strained face and a voice so raw you felt it in your chest. When the big-screen image of a hawk appeared behind him mid-song, it landed.

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Kalyn Fay followed with a more traditional sound, but the energy she shared with her band was infectious, and as I walked the festival grounds I could feel the crowd beginning to build toward something.

Soup came next, lead singer Dane Arnold barefoot with an acoustic guitar strung around his neck. The largest band on the KICKER Soundstage all weekend, they delivered traditional country with some of the strongest harmonies of the entire festival. Dane called for a team drink: "One, two, three, and a holler and a swaller" had everyone giggling as they raised their cups.

Local heroes Dreamsickle were up next, and the set was full of firsts — for Block 34 and the band. They are the first truly loud band to perform on the KICKER Soundstage, which for 2026 was built on an elevated platform installed over the concert pavilion steps, creating a four-foot-high stage. That height made possible something that had never happened at this venue before: a mosh pit and the first crowd surfers in front of a stage at Block 34.

Lead singer Asa Thompson apologized to "all the people we've disturbed, you bike-riding bums," poking fun at the festival audience. It was one of the best sets I've seen the band put on, and it was strange and wonderful to see them in this space instead of a small dark room like i&i Skateshop or Velvet Fudge.

The last band of the evening was Belle & The Vertigo Waves, closing the KICKER Soundstage before moving to the finish line to play the DFL party and finally shoot the music video for "DFL" they had planned for 2025.

"DFL" — Dead F***ing Last — is the title The Mid South reserves for its final finisher, a tradition Bobby and Crystal Wintle have upheld since the race's founding. The last rider home is celebrated with the same reverence as the first, and receives the event's largest piece of hardware: a longhorn skull provided by Brad Connelly of Horny C Ranch.

Belle Scott wrote and released "DFL" as a single in February 2025, drawing on the band's 2024 experience watching Mid South honor its late-night finishers. The plan for 2025 was to perform it at the finish line with cameras rolling — capturing the music video from live footage as the DFL rider came down the chute. The wildfires ended that before it could happen. The 2026 finish line was the moment the video had been waiting a year for.

Belle's KICKER Soundstage set was a giant contrast to the quiet March 13 in-store show. Heavy rock filled Block 34 — fog machines, flashing lights, Belle's voice full and loud. Then the band loaded out and moved their gear to the finish line chute.

This year's DFL finisher was Kristen Owenreay, 41, of Sweet Home, Oregon, an All Bodies on Bikes athlete completing the first century ride of her life. She had battled an asthma attack from the cold morning air, a nosebleed that lasted nearly 20 miles, and a water supply that ran out entirely before the Jeep rescue crew emptied every bottle they had to resupply her. On Bovine Pass — the course's most technical terrain, reached deepest in the dark — those same crew members stayed behind her, their headlights lighting the way through.

As Owenreay came down the chute, Belle & The Vertigo Waves launched into "DFL." Champagne flew. Giant light-up D, F, and L letters framed the finish. A crowd of locals danced in the street, cameras up, arms out. It felt like a finish for everyone there — and, one year after the fires, like the close of something a lot bigger than a race.

📺 Watch the music video for DFL by Belle and the Vertigo Waves