If you don’t know Tyler Childers – there are still far too many of them – and want to get an idea of the Kentucky-born singer and songwriter, you should think of a young, somewhat drunken Bob Dylan on a country trip …
… … slim guy, quite long, red hair, mostly tied to a plait. Rübezahl beard, acoustic guitar. He looks at least 15, 20 years older than he is with his only 27 years. And his music also sounds – similar to Colter Wall – like far more ups and downs and life experience than one can expect for a mid-twenties. In contrast to Wall, where the voice pressed into the cellar and his penchant for the dark sides of life have a somewhat deliberate effect, Tyler Childer sounds absolutely authentic to every line, to every note on his 2017 album “Purgatory”. No wonder he was named “Emerging Artist Of The Year” by the Americana Association in 2018. In the American country, indie and folk charts he conquered places 17, 3 and 4 with the album produced by Sturgill Simpson. One could almost say: a consensus artist. At least when it comes to handmade music – because the young talent offers nothing else. Songs and sounds in the best folk and singer/songwriter tradition, mostly with a dash of country, often seasoned with a pinch of alternative rock and always presented with amazing coolness. The most compelling song of the strong album is probably “Whitehouse Road”: fantastic melody, catchy chorus, longing Dobro guitar and an almost rocking groove. One could say: A dark brother of “Wagon Wheel” of the Americana band “Old Crow Medicine Show” – a song that Bob Dylan is known to have co-composed. Oh yes, at the end of August 2019 Tyler Childers performs at the Tonder Festival in Denmark.
