Tyler Childers Sells Out All Four Nights of Ryman Residency
In yet another sign that reigning Saving Country Music Artist of the Year Tyler Childers is one of the hottest commodities in country music at the moment, he has officially sold out his four-night “Country Squire Residency” at the Country Music Mother Church, The Ryman Auditorium, starting with his show Thursday evening (2-6).
Robert Earl Keen plays with Childers on Thursday, then Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives open on Friday (2-7). February 15th, Larry Cordle will open the show for Childers, and on February 16th it will be Daughter of Swords opening the show.
Tyler Childers joins an elite list of artists that have sold out the Ryman on four or more nights, most notably Jason Isbell who has strung together 7 sold out nights in 2019. Margo Price also sold out the Ryman three times in 2018. Selling out the Ryman even once is a big boon and right of passage in Music City, and is often what puts you on the radar of the industry at large.
These aren’t the only sold out shows Tyler Childers has coming up. The Ryman residency is sort of a warm up for his dates on A Good Look’n Tour with Sturgill Simpson, scheduled to start in Birmingham, Alabama on February 21st. Many wondered of Tyler and Sturgill had the star power to fill out the arenas announced for the tour, but the duo has marked down seven sell outs so far. More dates may also sell out once early reviews of the show come in.
Tyler Childers is the latest in a slew of artists who’ve redefined the ceiling over non-radio artists in country music. Don’t be surprised if he’s selling out his own arena shows in the coming years. All the more reason folks rushed out to secure a ticket to see him at the Ryman when they could.
February 6, 2020 @ 12:36 pm
Really excited for the tour with Sturgill. I’ve been seeing a lot of fan recorded video from Sturgill’s tour in Europe and they sound great. Definitely more rocking than country, but the band is extremely tight. Hopefully it translates to arenas.
February 6, 2020 @ 6:11 pm
Looking forward to it as well, and to seeing what tricks he has up his sleeve. Although from the videos I have seen of the Europe Sturgill shows, he’s been as bad as ever at annunciation and singing into the microphone (does his thing where he moves his head side to side, or looking down at his guitar…. mouth away from the microphone….and it’s even worse now that his sets are featuring more intricate guitar leads). I was hoping he would work on that, as arena acoustics are going to be more unforgiving than the smaller venues we are all used to. There are going to be a lot of first time Sturgill show attendees who are going to be upset by that, but at this point it is what it is.
February 7, 2020 @ 3:12 am
I saw him in Manchester, he was pissed because of the snooty people and crap reviews at his London show the night before, but the Manchester crowd really loved him. Its definitely more of a rock’n’roll show and people here loved it
February 7, 2020 @ 9:13 am
Agreed. If anyone at this point is going to a Sturgill show expecting steel guitar and traditional country, it’s their own fault when they are disappointed and Sturgill has the right to be annoyed. My only point is that it’s a shame that his live vocal clarity has also suffered alongside the shift to more involved lead guitar playing and the up-tempo renditions of songs.
February 7, 2020 @ 11:38 am
I just read the bad review in the Guardian (all the other reviews are behind paywalls). Having seen Sturgill live a bunch of times over the years in various venues, including just this past fall at a tiny venue when he debuted his new album at a limited run of shows, I can totally understand where those reviewers are coming from.
“It sounds like he’s doing an impression of a trapped dog, all mournful yelps and barks.” That part in particular made me chuckle, ’cause it’s not far from the truth.
That’s really what Sturgill sounds like live, lately.
Basically, Sturgill’s live show now is very much this sort of a lo-fi jam session for the band, with Sturgill just wailing away on the guitar and yelping out lyrics without any real annunciation or crowd interaction. That probably works great in a small club setting (where I saw him last) but not in a big venue.
February 6, 2020 @ 1:30 pm
I’ve got tickets at the Ryman for the 15th. I’m looking forward to it.
February 6, 2020 @ 3:06 pm
I brought this up before, but I’m really shocked by how short Tyler’s headlining sets run … less than an hour and a half, usually an hour twenty – twenty five. I was speaking to a gentleman who does sound check for various artists and he said that’s the new norm… people don’t have the attention span for the 2-3 hour sets anymore.
I think that can be a by product of all these festivals too. People are being programmed to shorter sets.
February 6, 2020 @ 4:24 pm
That sounds like a rip. 2 hours minimum. If people can’t take more than that, the band sucks or the people suck.
February 6, 2020 @ 4:25 pm
Yeah ya know for the fuck of it I just ran the Cody Jinks current tour 22 song setlist from …(well November was the last one I could find) and it clocked in at 1 hour 22 minutes including 8 tunes from the 2 new albums. Even though some of those setlists might be missing a song or 2, I’m sure this will close to what he’ll be playing here in a couple weeks. I have no problem with a good hour and a half maybe a little more. To be honest for me it’s not about attention span per se it’s that I’m fuckin old, been going to shows for 45 years and sometimes enough is enough….lol Many venues deal with curfews etc as well.
Remember the old show biz saying……..always leave em wanting more!
February 6, 2020 @ 7:13 pm
That’s crazy because I thought Cody was in the same boat with Old Crow Medicine Show and Avett Brothers still doing 2 hour sets. When I last saw him, he broke curfew. Great show.
I’m old school where the headliner in a curfew venue plays 9-11. And if it’s a tight show, it might feel like two hours. But, Tyler felt extremely light with 3 covers and a long instrumental intro to House Fire. Time better used on his catalog.
February 6, 2020 @ 8:37 pm
I don’t think Tyler has the variety of material needed for a good 2-hour show. I’ve only seen him as a co-headliner where the set was probably an hour 15, and it felt like plenty.
February 7, 2020 @ 4:00 am
Tyler has enough material for three hours. Tyler’s got a ton of non recorded songs that have been concert staples for years – Shake the Frost, Charleston Girl, Deadman’s Curve, Take My Hounds to Heaven (check them out on YouTube) – he could do a concert on those songs alone. But now he has two full lengths and he’s choosing to do 3-4 covers and a long musical intro to House Fire in his hour and twenty minutes. Songs fans are accustomed to hearing in concert – like Charleston Girl – are being dropped.
February 7, 2020 @ 7:23 am
I was at the Detroit show and was a little disappointed by the length of his set as well. I though perhaps since he was in Detroit, he might play ‘Detroit’. He has enough great songs for a two hour set. I’m still excited to go to the A Good Lookin Tour, though.
February 7, 2020 @ 5:33 pm
Prior to that Detroit show, I was blaming the venues for not being able to get all the concert goers into the venue in a timely manner. I’ve been boycotting my local venue for a Tyler show in March 2018, because I thought their incompetence shortchanged my experience. But that venue in Detroit, had everyone inside well before that terrible opening act (what was with that man in the mo mo?).
February 7, 2020 @ 3:04 am
Interesting. I’m loving a lot of the type of Country that Trigger is featuring here, but I’m originally an Indie rock fan and coming from that angle. In that genre shows will oftentimes last less than 45 minutes (well at least if it’s a new band with just one album under its belt) and people are totally fine fine with it. As am I.
I’m a firm believer that quantity does not equal quality (while not mutually exclusive, of course) and I find it’s important that you leave a show wanting more. If I’m watching a band I love, a show I’ve been looking forward to for weeks, but at some point I find myself looking at my watch and hoping they’ll get to the encores soon, it’s a bad sign. I’d rather have a concentrated blast of greatness than intermittent peaks separated by eons of soloing and ploughing through forgotten back catalogue album tracks. My ideal show is ca 50 minutes of perfection, then a pause for breath and then an inspired encore.
I have been only to few three hour shows but not one of them did not leave me with great memories. Like, Dandy Warhols were probably so out of it they just didn’t find the stage exit. Man that was self-indulgent ploddering. Once I flew all the way to Stockholm only to see Mark Kozelek and my one remaining memory of the show is how badly i had to pee by the end. (I’d have gone midset had I know he was going to go on and on and on and on and on and on, but it was in a seated theater and I did not want to bother the spectators. Also, after all, every song I thought “This MUST be the last one, I’ve made it this far, I can get through that”. Well it wasn’t. He played one more. And one more. And one more. And one more. Man I feel the pain again as I’m writing.
My moral of the story: Hooray for 1-hour-concerts!
February 7, 2020 @ 4:13 am
Interesting. I’ve been to a few 3 hour concerts. Wilco and Elvis Costello (both were way too long) and Bruce Springsteen (perfect length). I believe the majority of the other concerts were 2 hours in length if you are a headliner. If you are going to do an hour and twenty minutes (which seems the new trend), you better not play a useless covers (looking at you Tyler), talk to the audience, or waist time with a fake encore.
I think this will change how I attend concerts in the future. We often traveled to see shows. The first time I felt cheated by the hour twenty set was when we went to see Turnpike Troubadours in Knoxville in 2017 (I blamed it on Evan’s condition). This past December, he drove to Detroit to see Tyler … 11 hours round trip in my truck for an hour twenty of concert???
I already said this year we’ll stay home for concerts (pending what Willie does).
February 7, 2020 @ 5:30 am
Those old Springsteen shows were something else.
February 7, 2020 @ 11:50 am
I flew to Nashville a couple years back specifically to see Tyler do a sold out show at the Exit/In, and it felt like his set was at least 2.5 – 3 hours long. Honestly, I got a little bored with it two hours in. It felt way too long. He’s great, but two hours is enough for me. There isn’t exactly a ton of variety in his music.
Saw Tyler play a sold-out set to 6,000 people in DC last year, and though the set length seemed perfect, it definitely took a while for the band to find their groove. I thought the first 20 minutes of the show was pretty flat, but then they really turned it around and finished strong. They could stand to get better stage production too. Just some flat house lights and a painted backdrop of a goat, ain’t enough for a 6,000 capacity venue.
February 6, 2020 @ 3:25 pm
Come on February 21st!!!
February 6, 2020 @ 6:45 pm
Oh Shit… Sam Hunt is dropping a real country and western song tonight… Sounds like Wilf Carter 1950s inspired…. Very interested to hear the whole thing tonight. Would love a review of it Trig. It’s called “Hard to Forget”, he’s teasing it on his socials today . Country Music is back !!
February 6, 2020 @ 7:28 pm
Slow down there, Speedracer.
February 6, 2020 @ 8:15 pm
Never mind…. The song was fully leaked and it’s pure garbage… The “teaser” is literally only in a portion of the song. Electronic beats all over it. What a shame, I fell for the teaser….
February 6, 2020 @ 10:15 pm
…from Sam Hunt
February 7, 2020 @ 7:35 am
I had to check this out based on your initial enthusiasm. Was the teaser just the Webb Pierce sample?
February 7, 2020 @ 8:26 am
Sam Hunt: the clickbait of country?
February 14, 2020 @ 7:43 pm
Hard to Forget was pretty easy to forget. Webb Pierce is pissed!
February 7, 2020 @ 8:42 am
Tyler & The Food Stamps CRUSHED it last night at the Ryman!
Two-hour set!
The crowd was raucous and insane!! Singing every word to every song!
I have to end with this: Robert Earl Keen opened the show to warm up the crowd. Tyler did something I’ve never seen before. Rather than ending his show and walking off the stage, he brought Keen and his band back out to close the night with “The Road Goes On Forever” while Tyler took about six steps back to a side mic and REK manned the main mic.
THIS is how you honor your musical heroes!
February 7, 2020 @ 9:46 am
Awesome. They did The Road Goes on Forever at Red Rocks as well, with members of Town Mountain (who are superb). Did Rodney have his maracas and play them like nobody’s business like he did at Red Rocks? Video link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXARSiNaKU4
February 7, 2020 @ 10:28 am
Yes, maracas were in hand and wildly shaken, not stirred.
February 7, 2020 @ 5:21 pm
Hate to call you a liar, but according to setlist.fm, Tyler only did 16 songs last night at the Ryman which is probably less than an hour and 20 minutes like he’s being doing throughout his tour.
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/tyler-childers/2020/ryman-auditorium-nashville-tn-2398e0af.html
February 7, 2020 @ 6:22 pm
setlist snoozed i counted 21.
All yourn
Feathered
White House. Dammit man
Long time to get old
Country squire
Bus route
Creekers
House fire (you won’t appreciate the 8 minute intro until you witness it)
John R Miller
Coming down
Wow.
Tennessee Blues
Born again
Tulsa Turnaround
Red neck Romeo
Tattoos
Solo
Grindstone
Bottles and bibles
Lady may
Virgie
Band back on
Honky tonk. Dammit.
Universal
REK Jr back on
Road goes on forever
February 7, 2020 @ 6:33 pm
Go correct that, but 22 songs is still not a 2-hour set. More like an hour and a half. I think my last show was 19 songs at an hour and 22 minutes.
February 9, 2020 @ 7:40 am
Saw Tyler (full band) in Nijmegen (The Netherlands) two weeks ago. Amazing set. Not too short, not too long. I can’t really think off any artist being able to entertain me after two hours, honestly.
I missed the Sturgill show in Amsterdam last week. Friends (who are Sturgill fans) told me that I didn’t miss a thing. “Paid 40 euro’s to watch a bunch of guys jam/practice”.