After screwing with us for a few days, letting word of the upcoming Sturgill Simpson / Tyler Childers tour leak out via posters hung up at venues and other prominent places in the markets where the our will stop, we finally have a formal revelation of the dates and locations. And like the rumors were alluding to, this will be an arena-level tour.
Once again, Sturgill Simpson is screwing with all of us. This time it has to do with the revelation of his upcoming tour dates behind his new album and anime film, Sound & Fury. We already knew that Sturgill was going to be touring with fellow Kentuckian Tyler Childers. Now he’s revealed the dates and cities, but not in the conventional way.
“‘Country Squire’ is 100% what I consider ‘real’ country. We have to share a space that’s been taken over—infiltrated, in a sense—by pop country. If you’re going to be in that space, on those charts, you’re going to share the space with those people. But that’s the only way to take the lunch table back.”
It’s uncanny how Chris Knight takes such simple notions, and turns them into exaltations for the common man, their common struggles, and imparts solutions to everyday dilemmas. He’s the headwaters of erudite knowledge served in plainspoken terms that all other country songwriters seek.
The magic of what makes Tyler Childers able to write country songs that seem to resonate so deeply with listeners is not rocket science. The reason Tyler Childers and other Kentucky-born songwriters are currently acting like the spearhead in the effort to save country music is because they’re singing what they know about.
Sturgill Simpson made his fourth appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast Monday night (9-30), and revealed that he and Tyler Childers will be touring together in 2020. The tour is said to be about 40 dates, and will be behind the new album Sound & Fury Sturgill Simpson just released. Ahead of the tour, Sturgill Simpson is playing six club dates.
If you wanted to see Tyler Childers perform at the picturesque Red Rocks Amiptheater in Morrison, CO just outside of Denver this Monday, September 30th, well tough titty, because the show sold out months ago. But even if you couldn’t get a ticket or convince your boss to give you time off to make it to the show, you’re in luck.
Joe Rogan and his mammoth podcast reach more people than most cable shows these days, and his ringing endorsement of music artists over the years has directly resulted in the rise of important careers. The next question is if or when Joe Rogan will have Tyler Childers on for one of his mammoth, 2-hour-plus podcast sessions.
Tulsa, Oklahoma native Zach Bryan took many fans of Texas, Red Dirt, and independent country music by surprise recently when he released an album of solo acoustic recordings on August 23rd under the title “DeAnn.” But the biggest question many have is, who is Zach Bryan?
“Yellowstone” provided a ton of music and artists for fans of the show to explore, especially throughout the country and roots realm, and especially artists that the mainstream often ignores. And the success of the show has also resulted in deserved attention for the songs and artists featured.
Riding the momentum of his recent #1 album ‘Country Squire,’ Tyler Childers has added to his 2019 tour dates, and added even more dates stretching into 2020, including another big stint in Europe, an important benefit show, and a four-night residency at the Country Music Mother Church, the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.
If you tracked the rapid and uncanny ascent of Tyler Childers producer Sturgill Simpson, then you know that podcaster, comedian, and public personality Joe Rogan played a critical role in the explosion of interest in Sturgill’s album ‘Metamodern Sounds in Country Music,’ and ultimately in his Grammy-winning career.
Tyler Childers and his major label debut album Country Squire are #1 in country music. Tyler Childers joins a very select group of artists who’ve gone #1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart with no significant mainstream radio play, including Sturgill Simpson, Aaron Watson, Blackberry Smoke, and Jason Isbell.
For over 30 years, the album ‘Always and Forever’ by Country Music Hall of Famer Randy Travis held the record for the longest-running #1 country music album released by a solo male in country music history. Originally released in 1987 as Randy’s second proper studio album, it spent an incredible 43 weeks atop the charts.
What happens at Pickathon doesn’t stay at Pickathon. It reverberates throughout the music world, from the music and moments that spread word-of-mouth to help launch music careers. This was underscored and bolded in 2019 at the beautiful Pendarvis Farm just outside of Portland.
Tyler Childers just released his major label debut Country Squire on Friday, August 2nd, and if you can’t get enough of it, you’ll have multiple opportunities see him perform live in the coming days via the magic of mass media. Childers will make his broadcast television debut and stream his official album release show.
When we look back at the first week of August 2019, we might count it as a week for the ages in country music. Not only did we have Tyler Childers drop a new landmark album, Mike and the Moonpies came out of left field with their own. We’ve also had a bunch of new announcements for highly-anticipated records recently.
Tyler Childers is the greatest artist in country music at the moment, mainstream or independent, on the radio off, major label or otherwise. And soon, if there is any justice in this ragged old life, the rest of the world will know this to be true as well. Tyler’s new album ‘Country Squire’ should be a breakthrough achievement.
Tyler Childers is getting ready to release his major label debut Country Squire on Friday, August 2nd, and ahead of the release, he’s doubling down on both his distaste for much of modern country, and his criticism of Americana as a distraction from the deeper issues facing the country genre.
The Paramount Western series Yellowstone starring Kevin Costner doesn’t just make for compelling television, it also works as a great discovery mechanism for good country and roots music that much of the rest of popular culture ignores. Season 2 of the series that started in June has been no different.
Training camps are just getting started all across the NFL, and playlists full of music to get players amped up will be blasting out over Bluetooth speakers in locker rooms or streaming through earbuds, and NFL superstar Christian McCaffrey says his primary fix comes from surging country music artist Tyler Childers.
The Country Music Antichrist Scott Borchetta is hellbent on world domination ladies and gentlemen, and in the process expect him to pull country music in the pop direction more than ever before. In an interview, he downplayed Luke Combs and Kane Brown, while touting Thomas Rhett as the only true 20-something headliner.
We live in an era where a performance on The Tonight Show is not nearly as valuable as the ringing endorsement of an important celebrity on social media, for a musician or anyone else. And with the way radio refuses to support many artists, including some with major label deals, these influencer endorsements can go a long way.
Independent country is getting a huge boost in 2019, and sometimes from some unlikely places. Not only are worthy artists who’ve been working hard for years for recognition finally receiving their due from important independent record labels, even the major labels are getting into the game.