Tyler Childers says writing songs just being storyteller
A serious buzz surrounds Tyler Childers, whose gritty 2017 album “Purgatory” was produced by Americana star Sturgill Simpson and Johnny Cash engineer David Ferguson. The Kentucky singersongwriter pens memorable tunes that blend the Southern Gothic sensibility of author Flannery O’Connor with the outlaw flair of Waylon Jennings.
“Songwriting is telling short stories,” Childers says in a video call during a tour stop in Amsterdam. “But instead of 15 to 20 pages, it’s three to five minutes. It’s important to set up a scene as efficiently as possible — short, quick and to the point. You paint a picture and move on.”
“Purgatory” (Hickman Holler Records) is filled with modern Appalachian laments and rough-hewn tales. The rootsy album was recorded live in two days and features some of Nashville’s best session pros, including world-class fiddler and multi-instrumentalist Stuart Duncan.
Across 10 sharply observed songs, Childers’ raw, homespun voice moves between plaintive confession and bad-boy brio. “Whiskey kills all things in time,” he sings on the beautiful and heart-rending “Tattoos.” A ne’er-do-well extols the love of a good woman on “Feathered Indians,” a tune built on an entrancing swirl of delicate fiddle, strummed mandolin and crying steel guitar.
Childers casts an eye back to the hardcore honky-tonk of country legend Hank Williams on “I Swear (To God),” while “Whitehouse Road” evokes the bluesy and biker-ish country-rock of Hank Williams Jr.
In the studio, Childers found a sympathetic mentor in co-producer Simpson. The two men share deep roots. Both are Kentucky natives from working-class coal country.
“I think that’s why Sturgill and I worked so well together,” Childers says. “We came from similar backgrounds as far as a sense of place. We were surrounded by the same culture. We listened to a lot of the same music growing up.”
Childers, 26, was born in Lawrence County, Ky., and raised in a Free Will Baptist family. His earliest musical influences came from the church and several family members, including a preacher uncle who showed him a few guitar chords and a father who occasionally cut loose with serious vocal ability.
“Although you’ll seldom hear him do it, my dad sings really well,” Childers says. “When I was a kid, we’d go hunting, and the old pickup truck had a radio in it. I have a lot of memories of coming home late at night and hearing my dad break out in song.”
As a teenager Childers played high school parties and local festivals in a number of short-lived bands. After graduation, he attended Western Kentucky University, but he dropped out after a semester.
“I came back home and tried to figure out what I wanted to do,” he says. “I really didn’t like anything the way I liked playing music and writing songs.”
He began working landscaping gigs for money. At night he drove to Huntington, W.Va., and played open mics. In time he moved to Lexington, Ky., played bigger gigs and expanded his touring circuit. He released his first album at 19, followed by two more EPs. He juggled a variety of day jobs.
“I went wherever the rent was cheap and the gig was paying,” Childers says, laughing.
He took a job on a farm in rural Estill County, Ky. It was a fortunate move — one day at work he met his future wife, Senora May. At the time she was a college student making extra money cleaning houses.
“I was living out on this farm with a 65-year-old dude, and this angel walks in,” Childers recalls with a laugh. “That was four years ago. She’s still putting up with me.”