Graduating from the same high school as Chris Stapleton and Loretta Lynn, some might say Tyler Childers had no choice but to become a country music pioneer. Yet, few could have conceived the otherworldly sonic sphere that 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 would go on to produce Childers’ 2017 boundary-shifting follow-up, Purgatory, an album that would ultimately mark his breakthrough.

Subsequent releases–like the full-tilt honky-tonker Country Squire from 2019, the 2022 gospel-led triple album, Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?, and his acclaimed prog-country compendium, Rustin’ In The Rain, from 2023–only propelled the star’s success into a new decade, deepening fans’ love for his hell-fired and heartfelt Americana.

Now, with his seventh studio album, Snipe Hunter, that devotion has only deepened. The 13-song collection features once-unreleased live staples and exciting soon-to-be classics, but most of all, it contains the promise of what’s still to come from the once-in-a-lifetime talent.

For years, Childers’ experimental fusion of bluegrass, honky-tonk and folk set him apart as an outlier in the modern country terrain, but recently the industry has opened its arms and heart to the artist, his newest release one of the genre’s most anticipated of 2025.