New Tyler Childers Album “Snipe Hunter” is On The Way
The latest album from Tyler Childers will be named Snipe Hunter, and will be released on July 25th via RCA Records. Produced by legendary music guru Rick Rubin, it will feature 13 tracks to add to the Tyler Childers legacy. Along with the official announcement, we’ve also received both a studio version and a live performance video of the song “Nose On The Grindstone”—a song Childers has been performing live for many years.
At the present, we don’t have much more information about the album, including a full track list. We do know Rick Rubin is the producer since CEO Peter Edge of RCA Record told HITS Daily Double recently, “I’m really excited about Tyler Childers’ new album, which is produced by Rick Rubin. He defies expectations, and this new album goes even further. The great thing about Tyler is that he does it the way he wants to do it. He’s playing giant venues, and he’s making the music he wants to make.”
Childers did post a cryptic video tease set in a barber shop for the album earlier this week, with many fans using hints throughout the video to surmise that the debut single from the album might be the song “Oneida,” which Childers has also performed live many times. There were also subtle hints to his song “Jersey Giant,” which has become a mega hit for numerous other performers, though only a Soundcloud version from Tyler exists.
The video also included hints to “Nose On The Grindstone” and potentially the title track “Snipe Hunt.” For the uninitiated, “Snipe Hunt” refers to an American tradition of tricking individuals into trying to catch a mythical bird, often carried out at summer camps and camping trips, with the dupe left “holding the bag.”
It also appears that Tyler Childers has also unveiled the Hickman Holler Hunting Club, though all that it seems to entail at the moment is an Instagram page. Though it looks official to Tyler Childers, there has been no confirmation so far. This might be some sort of fan club moving forward.
The big question at the moment is when it comes to the Snipe Hunt track list, how many will be songs like “Nose On The Grindstone” that we already have numerous live and/or studio versions of, and how many might be truly original tracks we’ve never heard before written after the explosion of his 2017 album Purgatory? We do know that all the songs featured on the album were written by Childers.
Though Childers released “Nose On The Grindstone” on Thursday morning (6-12) at 8 am Eastern, no further details have been forthcoming, though the album is available for pre-save/pre-order.
The Childers camp did something similar for his previous album Rustin’ In The Rain where it took nearly a month after the announcement before we found out the track list, and confirmed that the album was only seven songs, including multiple previously-heard tracks and multiple cover song. However, we do know this time there are 13 tracks, which hopefully will give way to some previously unheard songs.
More info on Snipe Hunt when it becomes available.
June 12, 2025 @ 6:49 am
There is no way I’m pre-ordering a Tyler Childers vinyl before hearing it first. Learned that lesson two albums ago. That being said, I hope it’s great.
June 12, 2025 @ 1:28 pm
Now come on, that’s not fair, the Hounds electronica remix vinyl makes for a great drink coaster!
June 12, 2025 @ 6:55 am
The new studio version of “Grindstone” definitely sounds like a Rick Rubin production and I’m ok with that. Not entirely sure it was necessary to re-record a song that already has 339 million listens on Spotify, though. As for the others you mentioned, it’s completely understandable that he would want a definitive version out there. I just hope that we’re also getting some actual new, or at least unheard, songs as well.
June 12, 2025 @ 7:40 am
Don’t have an issue with Tyler Childers recording a proper studio version of “Nose On The Grindstone.” It’s a great song. But it does seem like a strange track to release as a lead single since it’s already worn out by any serious Childers fan, and ultimately it’s an acoustic track. It would probably already be a Certified Platinum single if anyone had an incentive to pay to have it certified. It’s just a hard track to start a buzz behind an album with.
June 12, 2025 @ 8:07 am
Agree with this about it being the lead single. Hearing the production on this gives me hope for the rest of the album, even if it ends up being all material that’s floated around on Youtube for years. The only thing distracting to me is taking the F-word out of the first verse. I don’t need a million F-bombs to think a song is cool, but it really takes the bite and emotion out of the song from the get-go, which I thought the original recording really portrayed well.
June 12, 2025 @ 9:25 am
As a relatively new fan of country music (is ten years “new”?) I’m curious to know if country artists re-recording and re-releasing their own material has been common practice over the decades? I’m seeing a lot of that now – Sturgill, Crockett, and Jesse Daniel have done it recently, and now Childers. This would be fairly frowned upon in most other popular genres of music. Like, hey, remember this track from a few years back? Well, here it is again with slightly different arrangement and production! Huh?
June 12, 2025 @ 9:32 am
It was much more common for different artists to record the same song, or what are called “standards” back in the ’50s to the ’70s. Re-recording your own songs is not something I think was very common previously, and may not exactly be very common now. Then you have the whole “tribute” craze happening with Brooks & Dunn, Rascal Flatts, etc., but that’s its own animal.
June 14, 2025 @ 2:21 pm
He overdose his vocals, doesn’t sound natural anymore to me. Actually I love this song, but the vocals aren’t authentic to me anymore.
I noticed that since rustin’ in the rain….
June 12, 2025 @ 1:37 pm
Lol just look up Garth Brooks.
June 12, 2025 @ 10:12 am
Part of me thinks he may be going for a Grammy with this record.
If so the strategy could be:
1. Introduce folks to this song which everyone following this genre knows, but probably still isn’t that well known outside of the genre. Releasing it as a single allows him to go on TV and perform it to a wide audience. (we’ll see if this happens, but he has a gap on his tour calendar right now). I would love to see him show up on Jools Holland in London with it, which is running right now, and is the no.1 taste making show in the UK.
2. Create buzz about the new record first, before releasing Jersey Giant, making it a summer hit now folks are paying attention.
3. Release a genre blending album that pulls old fans with him with old never recorded classics, but also appeals more broadly to the Alternative music crow.
June 12, 2025 @ 7:04 am
This feels like a greatest hits of Tyler’s concert hits never properly recorded in a studio – “Nose on the Grindstone,” “Messed Up Kid,” “Oneida,” “Redneck Romeo,” “22nd Winter,” “‘Seng”….. which is good that Rubin is producing because of what Childers did to once concert favorite “Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven” (which I wouldn’t be surprised gets a redo on Snipe Hunt), but sad because these songs a had a special mystic about them. Although there are live poor quality versions of these songs on YouTube and Spotify, the only time you could hear these songs at their best were if you bought a tickets to a Childers concert and heard them live with friends.
A commenter on the last Childers SCM post said Tyler’s been living off of the success of Purgatory for 8 years. That’s a clueless statement. Childers has been living off these songs that predate Purgatory by 5+ years that sell out stadiums and were exclusive to the live experience.
“Nose on the Grindstone” has been the biggest viral moment during a Childers concert for 6 years.
June 12, 2025 @ 8:51 am
Completely agree to an extent. Call it stubbornness or pettiness, but I genuinely cannot listen to the album version of “Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?” for more than a minute until I turn it off and blast the 2019 Pickathon bootleg.
I’d pay $100 for a studio version of that arrangement, but he doesn’t seem keen on ratcheting up tempo anymore. I just hope that if he went that direction on this one that Rubin would have told him “you have an extraordinarily talented band, and great songs, but this is putting me to sleep”, and he would listen.
I can’t tell you how sad it will make me if he cuts all the classics and takes the air out of them.
June 12, 2025 @ 9:05 am
This is the problem with playing songs live for years before releasing studio versions. Our monkey brains get used to the first version of a song we hear. So even if another, newer version is “better,” we tend to reject it.
June 12, 2025 @ 9:48 am
100%. I’m telling on myself, but it took me the better part of a year to come around on Arlo’s studio version of “Bag of Pills” for that reason.
Feel like fans had a similar initial reaction to “Whitehouse Road”, but we (I) got over that one much quicker. Hounds, I just can’t.
June 12, 2025 @ 11:09 am
Yep. This is how I feel about “Peace of Mind”, the version he played live for years was an upbeat jamming version that was aweisme. He recorded a proper version on “Country Squire” where it’s slowed down which is great and actually fits the lyrics better. But I still prefer the version I’m accustomed to.
June 12, 2025 @ 7:11 am
I’M SO EXCITED.
June 12, 2025 @ 7:16 am
If it’s an album full of older, unreleased material, I’ll be stoked. I don’t mind the new sounds or topics he’s explored over the past two albums. All artists have a right to do that and branch out. I’ve just missed the pure songwriting talent we heard from him when he first came onto the scene.
June 12, 2025 @ 9:09 am
Speaking of branching out, Molly Tuttle’s new video popped up in my YouTube feed yesterday (released yesterday as well) and I couldn’t make it through it. It’s like she’s targeting the Taylor Swift crowd. I also agree that artists should do what they want and am sure Tuttle is having a good time with this new direction, which is great, but it’s a bit disappointing for bluegrass fans.
June 12, 2025 @ 7:19 am
The organ adds a lot on Grindstone. It’s a small thing but they should’ve edited the monitor out of Tyler’s ear in the video.
June 12, 2025 @ 7:19 am
Per your note about cover songs, his website says all songs were written by Childers.
June 12, 2025 @ 7:37 am
Thanks, that has been noted.
June 12, 2025 @ 7:54 am
Ray Manzarek on keys.
June 12, 2025 @ 8:08 am
Ray or some church lady dabbling in special mushrooms.
June 12, 2025 @ 9:02 am
And the difference is…?
June 12, 2025 @ 8:18 am
The Wilson’s Snipe is an American shore bird that winters in Kentucky. So Childers could have actually hunted one. That is all I’ll say
June 12, 2025 @ 9:16 am
Snipe hunting is also a slang term for scavenging cigarette butts in public ashtrays or on the streets — and then smoking the castoffs or using the contents to make a “new” cigarette. “Snipe” has been used to refer to discarded cigarette butts since the 1890s, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.
June 12, 2025 @ 10:01 am
Tyler’s title could indeed reference his scrounging through his old songs like old half smoked butts.
June 13, 2025 @ 4:55 am
this may be the most clear and concise theory yet tbh. it’s going to be all his old disregarded smokes.
June 16, 2025 @ 9:39 am
I hope this is right. I’m going to ask what might be a stupid question, because I like Childers but don’t follow him closely. Could Charleston Girl be on this album if he is indeed picking through old songs? As far as I know, it has never been recorded in a studio. Although I’ve heard from others he doesn’t play it live much (at all?) any longer. The lack of the song even being mentioned here leads me to believe all the Childers fans know it is a waste of time to even mention it.
June 13, 2025 @ 4:03 am
Snipe hunting is also a joke/prank in the Appalachian region. It involves the adults telling the kids to go on a “snipe” hunt at night in the woods looking for a mythical bird. The adults then hoot and holler scaring the kids. It’s also used to entertain the kids and send them off in the woods while the adults can laugh at them and drink beer. I know from experience…
June 13, 2025 @ 8:27 am
That’s probably it.
Tyler never seemed like much of a gutter punk.
June 12, 2025 @ 8:19 am
I absolutely love the arrangement of this. The Organ truly completes the song in my opinion and I can’t wait to hear the rest of the album. I’m praying Redneck Romeo will be on it that’s one of my favorites
June 12, 2025 @ 8:28 am
What are these subtle “Jersey Giant” hints in the teaser video?
June 12, 2025 @ 8:59 am
The last image in the teaser video is a stuffed Jersey Giant Rooster on the bookshelf. I thought it was a stuffed pheasant the first couple times I watched it.
June 12, 2025 @ 9:07 am
I think TC has every right to lay down studio versions of well loved live recordings. Its not his fault every one has a camera in their pocket and he can’t play a new song without it instantly being all over the internet. I would love to get studio versions of a bunch of songs yet to be recorded on this record.
Obviously Nose to the Grindstone doesn’t fit this category as there are two well recorded versions of this song streaming right now. I don’t mind him doing a studio version, though I have to say I think the OurVinyl version is a better recording (at least vocally) and will likely remain the standard for streaming listeners.
I like the addition of the organ, it works really well, but the vocal recording (rather than performance) seems odd, like they pushed the treble to max, and bass to zero. It almost doesn’t sound like him at times. One thing Rubin has been criticized for is focused on loudness rather than sound quality. I hope this isn’t a sympton of this style, and something that shows up across the record. TC’s voice is both warm and raspy, if you lose the warmth then you lose half of the quality.
I still like this release overall, its a great song, and I’m excited for the full record but maybe a missed opportunity to create the standard version of this track as the additional instrumentation works really well.
June 12, 2025 @ 1:13 pm
Yes my only concern with Rubin is the loudness war crap, have to say the Our Vinyl recording sounds better, the guitar in particular feels louder than necessary and grating.
June 12, 2025 @ 1:56 pm
I have the exact opinion on Tyler recording live classics because 30 years from now no one will care that the songs on the album was being played live before it came out
June 12, 2025 @ 9:56 am
You had me at “13 tracks.”
June 12, 2025 @ 10:01 am
blehhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I think I can no longer get excited for an TC album anymore.
Just going to listen to his old stuff and catch him live.
June 12, 2025 @ 10:15 am
Childers somehow has simultaneously set the bar impossibly high and almost inconceivably low. Whatever he does will be worse than Purgatory and better than Hounds, right?
Right?
June 12, 2025 @ 12:11 pm
I think thats pretty good way to look at it. Purgatory is going to be hard to ever top, but Hounds was low point (still Tyler’s low points is what many artists would love to have as a high point).
June 12, 2025 @ 2:08 pm
Purgatory is irredeemably blemished by Universal Sound.
June 12, 2025 @ 10:33 am
We lose the F-bomb, but gain the B3. I call it a wash.
June 12, 2025 @ 1:15 pm
Purgatory and Country Squire are modern country classics at this point, but I’ve found myself disinterested in everything since. I’m hoping this album will be different, but we will see.
June 12, 2025 @ 1:59 pm
I thought some of his earlier albums were ok. Not so for his recent albums. I do like this track and the production. I look forward to hearing the album with interest.
June 12, 2025 @ 2:01 pm
I’m enjoying the “Tyler was better drunk and on drugs” comments coming from the bootlickers on social media today
June 12, 2025 @ 2:19 pm
Pretty clear he wrote better material before going “sober.”
June 13, 2025 @ 7:52 pm
Yes, because anyone with a different opinion than you is a bootlicker. Tool.
June 12, 2025 @ 3:33 pm
Been listening to Childers since Hard Times was included on a compilation from Shooter back in 2011. Still find that Bottles and Bibles is the best album of his and wish we could get just one more “A man and his guitar” album.
June 12, 2025 @ 5:11 pm
Rubin tended toward the lugubrious in his Cash recordings, slowing songs down and wallowing in pain. Hope he doesn’t do that too much with Childers. He is a serious guy who writes about dark things, but there is also joy and humor in many of his songs.
June 12, 2025 @ 10:25 pm
Love the instrumentation but can’t stand what Rubin has done to the vocals. Sounds more like a Tyler Childers impersonator/tribute band singer than the man himself. Saw him live for the first time this year here in Australia and his vocals definitely didn’t need any ‘help’.
June 14, 2025 @ 3:45 pm
Yeah, to me it sounded like one of TC clones that have sprung up in the wake of his success.
June 14, 2025 @ 2:54 pm
Disappointing. I’d record Childers in a east Kentucky shack with birds chirping.
This video and all the cartoon visuals have been skilly, like Childers is being managed by a Japanese firm specializing in video games for hikikomori.
Pass, with chagrin.
June 16, 2025 @ 12:52 pm
Let’s hope he returns to the style of his first 3 albums and leaves the woke lecturing off the new album. There’s a reason those first 3 albums are modern classics. And it’s not because they were woke bullshit.
June 16, 2025 @ 10:12 pm
There always has to be one jerk who makes it political. Thanks for taking care that for us all. Now we can rest easy.
June 17, 2025 @ 12:10 pm
It’s the truth, brother. The problem of both Childers and Sturgill is the case of diminishing returns. Their most acclaimed and beloved albums are the early records. He later stuff is largely viewed as boring and not interesting. Both are marred by an attempt to become overtly political figures within the genre as opposed to doing what brought them to the dance: making amazing songs. Both became preachy and lecture fans from the stage. Feathered Indians or whitehouse road are quality songs because they are fun, interesting and just good music. He’s not lecturing us about how we have to join Blm or Antifa.
The choice to go political was their own. It wasn’t a label choice. It wasn’t management. When people talk about Childers or Sturgill in terms
Of impact in the genre they are referencing the first few albums. SCM didn’t highlight Sturgills 5th album. The focus was on metamodern sounds. When people go Gaga for Childers they are talking about his first couple. I’m Your’n type era.
They are free to explore sounds they want, or behave as they see fit. But that doesn’t mean the audience has to enjoy it, condone it, or applaud it. And that goes for all political sides. Aldean has made his stances very clear. And is very open about it. If you dislike it you are free to disengage. The difference is the audience loved when Aldean did it and hated it when Childers and Sturgill did it. Aldean had his first ever number 1 off try that in a small town. Childers and sturgills last couple albums were duds.