Tyler Childers

Graduating from the same high school as Chris Stapleton and Loretta Lynn, some might say Childers had no choice but to become a country music pioneer.

But few could have conceived the other-worldly sonic sphere that Tyler Childers would invite his listeners into. After putting out his debut album, Bottles and Bibles, in 2011 at the age of 20, Childers piqued the interest of fellow genre-outlaw, Sturgill Simpson. Simpson subsequently produced Childers’ boundary-shifting follow-up, Purgatory, in 2017.

The theologically inspired titles are not mere window dressing. Childers has knitted ecumenical conceptions of faith and religion into the fabric of most of his projects so far, none more strikingly so than his eccentric, thought-provoking 2022 record, Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven? The project comprises eight core songs, each of which occurs in three different formats: a Hallelujah version, a Jubilee version and a Joyful Noise version, the sample-infused latter being arguably the most challenging of the three.

Tyler Childers’ experimental fusion of bluegrass and retro honky-tonk has set him apart as an outlier in the modern country terrain. But it seems the industry is ready to bring him in from the cold - Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven? was met with widespread critical acclaim, and debuted at No. 8 on the US Billboard All-Genre Chart. Tyler is set to bring his unique sound to a number of states on his 2023 tour, which will also see him play two shows in London, UK, in February.