Tyler Childers Song “Jersey Giant” Becomes an American Standard

It seems strange to think that a song that Tyler Childers never even really properly recorded or released would go on to become an American country music standard. But such is the fate for Tyler’s song “Jersey Giant,” which despite the lack of a proper studio release from Childers himself now has numerous interpretations from a host of artists, and has become a certified hit.
Tyler Childers has a whole host of songs that you can hear folks singing and covering from bar bands to karaoke nights. “Feathered Indians,” “Whitehouse Road,” “Lady May” and others are some of the favorites. But it’s “Jersey Giant” that has become his most successful song covered by others. Similar to Old Crow Medicine Show’s “Wagon Wheel” and Jason Isbell’s “Cover Me Up,” “Jersey Giant” has taken on a life of its own.
Much was made when Elle King first recorded and released the song in early November of 2022 after receiving Tyler’s blessing. If Tyler Childers wasn’t going to release a proper studio version of the song, somebody should. And no matter what you might think of Elle King, it’s hard to say she didn’t do “Jersey Giant” justice. But that is just the start of the song’s legacy.
Elle King’s version has 11 million spins on Spotify alone. That’s not too shabby at all, and you might think this is the most definitive take on the song. But it isn’t. Evan Honer released his own version of “Jersey Giant” about a month after Elle King on on December 16th, 2022, with Julia DiGrazia guesting on the recording.
Who is Evan Honer? He’s a singer and songwriter from Surprise, Arizona who graduated from California Baptist University as a swimmer and diver. He’s created a little buzz for some of his other songs such as a the enjoyable “idk shit about cars.” But it’s his rendition of “Jersey Giant” that really put him on the map. His take on the track has garnered a rather incredible 22 million spins just on Spotify. That’s twice as many as Elle King.
But it doesn’t stop there. You might think with two explosive versions of the song, the market would be saturated. But about three weeks after Evan Honer released his version, the Ryan Adams-influenced singer/songwriter Josiah Leming from Tennessee released a version of the song on January 11th, 2023 with his band called Josiah and the Bonnevilles. That version has 8.5 million streams itself.
A few weeks after that in early February 2023, a guy named Devin Hames out of Missouri recorded an acoustic version of the song. Despite otherwise being virtually unknown, it has nearly 2 million spins itself.
A band called June Shine also has a version of “Jersey Giant” that features fiddle high in the mix and clocks in at over six minutes. They recorded their version all the way back in June of 2021, making them one of the first. Like Evan Honer and Devin Hames, “Jersey Giant” is by far the most popular song in the June Shine repertoire.
We could keep going from there, with about two dozen other versions of the song released commercially, not to mention all the artists out there playing “Jersey Giant” live in clubs and honky tonks across the United States and beyond.
“Jersey Giant” was written by Tyler Childers some 11 years ago, and though he never did a proper recording or release of the song, he did upload a scratch track version for free onto SoundCloud, which is were a lot of the folks that have covered it probably found it.
“Jersey Giant” is a unique composition for Childers since it features a bridge within the verse/chorus structure. According to Tyler, he was tired of the song shortly after he wrote it. Since it references a woman that is not his sweet Lady May, it just may not fit as something Childers wants to sing about at the moment.
But even though Childers doesn’t seem to want to sing the song or record his own version, plenty of others are picking up the slack, and making sure a great song doesn’t go unsung.
October 16, 2023 @ 12:01 pm
I really understand why Tyler got tired of this song.
Apart from that little bridge it is the most standard of four chord loops, with no change between verses and chorus. There’s a thing to be said about simplicity in music, but Tyler can be so much more intricate. I’m possibly the second worst strummer of them six strings north of the Alps but even I would find it boring to play this generic G-D-am-C loop after half a minute.
But then, so soooo many current Pop Hits are exactly like that right now. Endless four chord loops, repeating over and over, with all of the variation in the song provided by the sung melody that varies between verses and chorus. This number, unintentionally, is very much akin to any current modern standard Spotify playlist song, while still having much better lyrics than the competition in that field, and that is probably why so many are drawn to it.
October 16, 2023 @ 12:46 pm
I mean, that just plays into why it fits as a standard song.
Like, Wagon Wheel is exactly like that, a simple four-chord loop. Going older, songs like “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” are super simple.
A good standard song is simple enough in terms of chords to strum around a campfire, with a chorus that’s catchy, and enough space for a good vocalist to do their own thing with.
And yeah, it’s gonna get boring after hearing a bunch of times. As Nick Shoulders sings “I’ll die where I stand if I hear ‘Wagon Wheel’ again.” But the very qualities that make it less interesting are the ones that make it usable as a standard.
October 16, 2023 @ 2:57 pm
Eh…. I don’t know. Yeah, you’re absolutely right that there are a ton o’ I IV V country standards. But, I’d argue most country standards do something unique to catch your ear. Sometimes that’s the lyric, but just as often that might be one unusual chord or melody on top of the chord. Or, that might be Crazy which harmonically has more in common with American Songbook standards (e.g., Autumn Leaves, Skylark) than most country songs.
Of course, I’m not ready to concede that because a few folks have done a cover – popular though those covers may be – that it’s reached the status of Standard. El Paso is a Standard. Green Green Grass of Home is a Standard. I Fall to Pieces and Cold Cold Heart: they’re standards. Right now, Jersey Giant is a song a lot o’ folks like. Spiders & Snakes is a song a lot of people liked and got covered a few times. It’s not a standard. That’s cool. Maybe it’ll be a Standard one day, but we won’t know for another twenty years or so. That’s my .02, anyway. Your mileage may vary.
October 16, 2023 @ 12:08 pm
How does the publishing work for something like this? It seems guys can record the song and upload it to whatever platforms they want. Does Childers get money for this? I’m genuinely curious.
October 16, 2023 @ 12:45 pm
Anyone can cover anyone else’s song if they wish, as long as the give credit to the songwriter. Yes, Tyler Childers is making royalties each time these versions get streamed.
October 16, 2023 @ 2:39 pm
Nick- good question and to add to Trigger’s point, publishing companies like BMI and ASCAP handle this kind of thing hand-in-hand with streaming services, but to be honest it’s a lacking situation and MANY artists get fucked by the fact that the systems in place aren’t able to automatically identify a song and attach it to its original writer, so unless someone is crawling the internet and writing down every kid who plays a version of this song or any other on YouTube and monetizes it, a lot of it slips through the cracks. Not to say services aren’t trying to tackle this immense mountain of paperwork, but until AI gets good enough to identify when someone sings a song with the wrong chords out of tune and done in a reggae style, this will always be a problem. Not that any of us want to actually still be on the internet once AI can do that.
October 16, 2023 @ 2:47 pm
I’d love it if I never had to hear this song again
October 16, 2023 @ 4:17 pm
Should’ve never told people this song is gaining so much traction. Now independent fans will feel the need to hate it.
October 16, 2023 @ 4:41 pm
Hahahaha I’m guilty of this but it’s hard not to do that! At least for me. I’m not really sure why i have this reaction when i do think its a good song, but these viral moments just always turn me off a song/music for some reason. Like i owe zach bryan a good deal and he was maybe my favorite artist from 2019-2021. But i find myself almost never listening to him anymore.
It’s not a bitterness thing, at least for me; what’s your guess as to why i and other fans have this reaction to hate/lose interest in stuff that goes viral (directed at anyone who wants to answer)? I can’t figure out how to put it into words. I think it has something to do with seeing other people who I don’t like enjoying the music i like lol
Thank god jeremy pinnell is still criminally underrated, so i can still bump his most recent album Goodybe LA, which rips.
October 16, 2023 @ 11:00 pm
I think that independent fans like to feel like they’re part of something exclusive. And so when stuff starts to get popular, it quickly becomes uninteresting to them. I’ve definitely seen this phenomenon happen many times over the years. Sturgill Simpson was the first. Chris Stapleton is probably the greatest example of it.
October 17, 2023 @ 7:20 am
Trigger nailed it Jim – a secret cool kids club is only cool and a secret until all the kids get in. Being in the Midwest, when I wear a Turnpike hat or Jinks shirt out while doing the dreaded Saturday morning Costco run there’s always that one person out of a hundred that’ll come up and be like – oh man Jinks is the shit or Turnpike rules. And then the conversation inevitably turns to – have you heard of so and so? Or – you need to check these guys out…. Feeling like you’re part of the 1% in on the secret is the fun part. So when the other 99% get in on it, it’s no fun anymore.
I’ll give you that Jeremy rips, but I’m going on record to say Ben Chapman rips just as hard.
October 17, 2023 @ 12:07 pm
It’s called being a hipster.
October 16, 2023 @ 6:25 pm
Hey, Trigger…having trouble understanding the words “hotter than ? on a Jersey Giant” Is he saying socks? What does that mean?
October 16, 2023 @ 6:43 pm
So the term “putting socks on a rooster” is similar to herding cats. A difficult task that won’t pay off. I guess in this context “hotter than socks on a Jersey giant”, which is a chicken breed, means that because it’s such a rare and hard thing to pull off and accomplish. So her hotness is extra special due to rarity.
October 16, 2023 @ 6:50 pm
“Jersey Giant” is all over TikTok. I assumed they were bootleg or the soundcloud Childers versions, but it must bee all these fellows’ versions.
October 16, 2023 @ 8:50 pm
Good for him for getting paid, but being viral on YouTube or being a popular artist being covered is slightly different in my opinion than having written something that has become a standard. That said, definitions change so maybe viral popularity is what a standard is. I don’t imagine this will be as ubiquitous in 50 years as “Fox on the run” or “why you been gone so long” but I never shy away from being called a cynical prick.
October 16, 2023 @ 10:58 pm
Saying that “Jersey Giant” is a viral sensation on YouTube feels like a reduction, and doesn’t really accurately characterize the phenomenon around it. What makes a song a “standard” is when lots of people cover it, which I tried to illustrate is happening and in a very successful manner for Childers. These days, technology plays a role in what people are listening to, so that’s a component to it. But clearly the song is resonating with people.
October 17, 2023 @ 6:16 am
I like most every version of the song that I have heard. Know some folks are sick of it, but I am not (yet!?). Did not even know that Childers wrote it until earlier this year.
October 17, 2023 @ 7:07 am
It’s got an earworm hook. Not outstanding lyrics but it’s fun to drum your fingers to as you’re driving.
Totally get why TC got bored of it so quickly. But I wish he had shelved it and then gone back to it with better lyrics. The melody/chorus tune is so good that it could have been a much bigger hit.
October 17, 2023 @ 9:29 am
Listening to the Evan Honer version. Honestly, first impression is it evokes Zach Bryan big time. I understand that Zachs two influences are Childers and Turnpike, so it makes sense. For me the whiny emo delivery remains a massive turnoff. I don’t understand the fascination with whiny emo, really cannot get it. I have no comparison in Country music’s past to this style, and truthfully I don’t feel like it’s country music at all. What is it? Some kind of folk style is the best descriptor I can arrive at. Look, I understand there are numerous different styles within a genre, and I get that. Maybe someone has or will come up with a name for this particular song style/ trend?
October 17, 2023 @ 12:59 pm
Yep…thought exactly the same thing….and totally agree. But wasn’t going to post anything because I didn’t want to trigger the ZB superfans.
October 17, 2023 @ 7:11 pm
I guess I’m not a cool kid. I enjoy the shit out of this song.
October 18, 2023 @ 8:12 pm
What people don’t know is that Devin Hames released it before King did and that Spotify took it down because of legal issue from Childers!
But now it’s back on after about a 6 month removal.
October 19, 2023 @ 12:09 pm
Maturing is realizing Tyler Childers best songs will never be recorded
October 31, 2023 @ 6:43 am
its a great song. Tyler should consider playing this one instead of anything off his last 2 “albums”
November 13, 2024 @ 10:25 am
Those albums are great man what do you mean