Appalachian storytelling is raw, rich and unfiltered in the deft hands of Tyler Childers, whose vivid tales of life on the road, miners and moonshine are steeped in country lore – and come straight from the beating heart of Kentucky. The singer-songwriter’s breakthrough, though, came a little later: 2017’s country classic Purgatory was recorded in Nashville but, tellingly, boasted the outline of Lawrence County on the front cover. Produced by outlaw country maven Sturgill Simpson and David Ferguson, the sound engineer in Johny Cash’s American Recordings, it’s a sheer celebration of Appalachian fiddle-and-banjo-inflected storytelling, bluegrass and honky-tonk-fuelled adventures inspired by the time when Childers left his family home.
One by one, these steadfast creative steps laid the groundwork for the Childers of Snipe Hunter, his 2025 collaboration with producer Rick Rubin, whose genre-spanning resume included Run-DMC, Ed Sheeran and Metallica. Together, they crafted a record weaving themes from Hinduism to opioid addiction in Appalachia with local folk, ragtime, gospel and psychedelic diversions. The album affirmed a genuine anticipation in where the songsmith is going to take country next, and in how many shades his Appalachian legacy is truly capable of manifesting itself.
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