Of his debut album, 26 year-old Tyler Childers of Lawrence County, Kentucky says “I wanted it to have that gritty mountain sound but, at the same time, a more modern version that a younger generation can listen to”.
With this goal in mind it was produced by Sturgill Simpson and David Ferguson and recorded at Nashville’s Butcher Shoppe Studio with a band that included multi-instrumentalists Stuart Duncan (Nashville Bluegrass Band), Michael J. Henderson and Russ Pahl (Great Plains) plus bassist Michael Bub.
The songs present a semi-autobiographical perspective of Childers' home town charting his growth from wayward youth to a more settled life as a married man.
This is, in part, a spiritual journey from sin and temptation (I Swear (To God)) to catharsis and redemption (Born Again).
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Along the way he chases the Honky Tonk Flame, addresses years of teenage rebellion taking drugs and risks in Whitehouse Road ("it's a mighty hard living but it's a damn good feeling to run these roads") before ending with a loving ode to his wife, Senora May (Lady May).
With his folksy voice and country band backing it all tends to sound more old timey than contemporary so is a record that will appeal more to traditionalists than modernists.
Tyler Childers' website
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