Tyler Childers & The Rolling Stones Prove “Dead Flowers” is a Country Song

The Rolling Stones are currently rolling through their North American tour, and have tapped some cool openers throughout the run, including from the country and roots realm. The Red Clay Stray got to open for the rock legends on May 30th in Foxboro, MA, and Tyler Childers opened their massive show in Orlando, Florida on June 3rd.
At this point, Tyler Childers is an arena draw himself, so the opening slot was just as much a bucket list item for Childers as it was an opportunity for exposure. But Childers got an even more memorable moment when he was asked to come out and sing “Dead Flowers” with Mick Jagger and the boys.
It’s been the long contention of Saving Country Music and others that the 1971 album Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones was their “country” album, and arguably their best. The song “Dead Flowers” is a great example. It’s a straight up country song if there ever was one, so much so conspiracy theories still swirl that it was in fact Townes Van Zandt that wrote it, not The Stones.
A similar conspiracy theory persists for another one of the Sticky Fingers tracks—“Wild Horses,” which was recorded by Gram Parsons before The Stones during a period where Gram was hanging out with the band. It just happens to be in that Stones era, they were being heavily influenced by American country influences, and that came through in their music.
Listening to Mick Jagger sing “Dead Flowers” now over 50 years since its release with Tyler Childers, you can definitely tell he’s trying his best to put some British twang to it, and you hear a similar effort from the guitar work of Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood.
Whether you want to consider them country songs or not, the simple fact is that Sticky Fingers tracks like “Dead Flowers,” “Wild Horses,” and “Sway” have just as much influence on American country artists as many of the country songs of the same era. They’re elemental to the country genre. And it’s quite remarkable that Mick, Keith, Ronnie, and the rest are still out there performing them, and now with a new generation of performers influenced by their take on country music.
June 8, 2024 @ 8:44 am
Brad Paisley sang years ago an amazing “Dead Flowers” performing with the Stones
June 8, 2024 @ 9:01 am
This is incredibly cool. And yes “Dead Flowers” is absolutely a country song. Mick’s voice sounds better than it did 40 years ago which defies all logic. Not sure if it was this show or the one before but they broke out “Emotional Rescue” for the first time in years and Mick’s falsetto is still impeccable.
Would have been cool to see Brandon from Red Clay Strays get an invite to join the boys but it didn’t happen in Boston. Might have had something to do with the fact that John (RCS drummer) wore the iconic “Who the Fuck is Mick Jagger” T-shirt on stage during their set? Who has those kind of balls???!
The Stones are still killing it and it still pisses me off that in 2016 when I saw them we got Rascal Flatts as the opener.
June 8, 2024 @ 10:54 am
First Stones show I saw was in 1981 with George Thorogood as the 1st opener, and he kicked some serious a##. Then came Journey and they sucked a##. They got themselves booed off stage with a few beer cans thrown at them for good measure. Steve Perry flipped double birds at the crowd as he walked off. Then the Stones did what they do best and tore the place up. All that for $15.00. Good times.
December 3, 2024 @ 6:54 pm
Was this in Buffalo? My old man told me the same story.
December 4, 2024 @ 2:04 am
It definitely was. Rich Stadium, Orchard Park, late September. Your old man and me saw a helluva good show.
June 8, 2024 @ 8:21 pm
“Who has those kind of balls???!”
The better question is: what kind of moron wears a shirt like that opening for the Stones? Way to disrespect the biggest band in the world that invited your band to open for them. Just stupid.
June 22, 2024 @ 5:14 pm
I’m guessing you don’t know the history of that shirt. Keith Richards famously wore it during the Stones’ 1975 tour (google image search for a badass photo of him wearing it). So I would say it’s less of a diss and more of an homage.
June 8, 2024 @ 9:29 am
There’s only two non-country artists that I’d like to hear make a country album: Mike Cooley from DBT and Keith Richards.
Besides “Sway” and “Wild Horse”, listen to “The Worst”, “This Place is Empty”, and “Robbed Blind” (Keith solo song).
June 8, 2024 @ 9:46 am
Willie did it with Keith and Hank3 at one of Willie’s birthday party specials too.
No idea why I remember that. Hah.
June 8, 2024 @ 9:48 am
The drugged out, sped up live version by guns n roses is fun too.
Bootleg.
June 8, 2024 @ 9:58 am
Not the biggest fan of Tyler lately but this is pretty cool.
June 8, 2024 @ 10:06 am
Always loved Whitey Morgan’s version.
June 8, 2024 @ 10:13 am
A little late to the game saying that they just “proved” that Dead Flowers is a country song. I’ll put these 10 Stones songs up against any charting top 10 billboard country songs over the past year.
1. Country Honk
2. Let it Bleed
3. Sweet Virginia
4. Far Away Eyes
5. Wild Horses
6. You Got The Silver
7. Love In Vain
8. The Last Time
9. Dear Doctor
10. No Expectations
June 8, 2024 @ 11:12 am
I just stumbled on Susan Tedeschi’s cover of “You Got the Silver” and she did a great job with it. Definitely my favorite Keith song.
June 8, 2024 @ 11:20 am
Susan Tedeshci’s version of Don’t Think Twice (It’s alright) is great and I would think that could easily fit within the country genre. Honky Tonk Woman by the stones is a country song.
June 8, 2024 @ 6:55 pm
Cat Power did a great version of “You Got the Silver” as well
June 8, 2024 @ 2:07 pm
Bonus track 11: Torn and Frayed
June 13, 2024 @ 7:32 pm
Torn and Frayed is not only my favorite Stones song, it is my overall favorite.
June 8, 2024 @ 10:16 am
About 20y ago I saw Billy Joe Shaver in a small bar in Austin. The guy who opened introduced one song with “here’s a song from my favorite country band.” I looked at my wife and guessed “the Rolling Stones” right before he started to play Far Away Eyes, another twangy Stones song. Dreamy Skies, on their latest, name drops Hank Williams.
There are lots of examples of country-related songs in classic rock. The Who’s Endless Wire has God Speaks of Marty Robbins. Even Steely Dan’s first single was twangy, “Dallas” with Jeff Baxter on steel. I guess it’s extra nice for the Stones to play this deep track live with a current country singer.
June 8, 2024 @ 10:21 am
I guess I never paid attention to the writing credits because I always assumed it was Townes’ song. Either way, great tune.
June 8, 2024 @ 10:25 am
This was good. I liked Willie, Keith Richards, Hank 3, and Ryan Adams doing it years ago as well. I think it was some televised celebration special for Willie.
June 8, 2024 @ 12:25 pm
I was blessed enough to be there at Camping World Stadium. I could go on and on how amazing the Stones truly were. Mick Jagger having 50,000 + people in the palm of his hand at 80yrs old was truly incredible.
But the biggest moment for me of the whole concert as a Kentuckian (now living in Nashville) was Dead Flowers.
I have always followed Tyler’s career from the first time I stumbled into ALs bar on a random night and there was this little redhead dude just singing songs like he was 1000 years old. Dead Flowers in my favorite Rolling Stones song and when they sang “Making bets on Kentucky derby day” Tyler lit a smile that could brighten the darkest of skies. Truly amazing night that many will never forget.
Now heading to CMA Fest cause a little band called 49 Winchester is playing this afternoon.
June 8, 2024 @ 11:07 pm
Those Al’s bar days were great! That and the Green Lantern
June 8, 2024 @ 12:46 pm
My contention is that the Stones were influenced more by country music than country music was ever influenced by the Stones.
Far Away Eyes from the Stones 1978 Some Girls album was definitely one of their most country-sounding attempts. Released as the B side of the Miss You single, the label serviced some country radio stations with that 45 enclosing a note directing them to the Far Away Eyes side. My station decided NOT to play it as we thought it sounded like they were mostly making fun of country music rather than paying a homage to the genre. The overall sound was more akin to the country music of two decades earlier rather than where the genre had evolved by the late 70’s. Mick’s exaggerated southern accent, lyrics loaded with country cliché’s and the line about “listening to gospel music on the colored radio station” were other reasons for our objections
For those not familiar, here’s the official promo video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyK1bZZ7E-s
June 8, 2024 @ 2:13 pm
Your take is spot on. The stones werent bringing anything really new, they were as was common then, paying homage to music they had listened to.
June 8, 2024 @ 3:37 pm
Country DJ, that video was dreadful. It is painful listening to Mick try and pretend he’s country. Sounds like an awful mockery. So agree with you. The Stones are unbelievably great at what they do, which is make Rock and Roll records and perform live. But Country they are not. Its true that Keith liked some country music, no doubt about it, and I know that the Gram Parsons folks love the fact that he was hanging out with them and Wild Horses happened and so on. But I’ve never remotely considered them a Country act..at all. Imagine if Haggard put on a bad pseudo Cockney accent and recorded a handful of rock songs, would we then declare it brilliant and try and make a case for how much of a Brit Rock N Roller the Hag really was? Of course not. So why are so many folks so interested in declaring the Stones as a “country act”? As for Dead Flowers, I know that Richards really loves that song, hes made it clear over the years he thinks its a premium “country song”. Personally, Ive never figured out whats so amazing about it. I can name 20 Stones tracks I think are way better than Dead Flowers, any day. But that’s me.
I think Trigs point in the story is that Childers got to perform onstage with The Rolling Stones, and for an indie artist, that’s a big, big deal. I get it. The exposure alone to a crowd that large has got to be a boost for him, for a certainty it exposes his music to a different fan base, so I have no doubt he’s over the moon about it. And , yes I get that the line about bets on The Kentucky Derby did hit home for him.
June 8, 2024 @ 5:22 pm
Pretty sure Keith Richards was spending a lot of time with Gramm Parsons when a bunch of these songs got written. For me, the “rose pink Cadillac” and “Kentucky Derby Day” are country-leaning lyrics. And then there’s Country Honk, as a couple of people pointed out….
June 8, 2024 @ 6:13 pm
Anybody willing to bet Gram Parsons wrote “Wild Horses”?
June 8, 2024 @ 8:25 pm
Lol. No. Gram didn’t write Wild Horses.
June 8, 2024 @ 8:02 pm
I was at the same stadium in ‘81 when the Stones rocked our balls off-“fast forward” 43 years later and much the same-from 1981 and many shows in between to 2024 I stand by my own assessment that The Rolling Stones stand alone as the WORLDS GREATEST ROCK N ROLL BAND-my thoughts on Tyler were imagine growing up in rural Kentucky and then one day wind up sharing the stage with Mick, Keef and Woody on Dead Flowers in Orlando Florida on a beautiful early summer night-yeah-I would suggest forgetting the debate about country yea or nay and if you can cop affordable tickets (and they get “cheap” as the show draws close) do yourself solid and go and witness this current tour- you will have spent your shekels righteously and make your own first hand evaluation if Rock n Roll will never die
June 8, 2024 @ 8:30 pm
Well, that was underwhelming. Yikes. Even Steve Earle’s weak heroin soaked cover from his Shut Up And Die Like An Aviator live album is better than this. ????
June 9, 2024 @ 3:45 am
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Mick Jagger only pretends to sing country — he doesn’t really get it. He sings rock and roll fine – you can’t do everything. And listening to this it seems Ronnie Wood doesn’t get it, either — I think of the Nashville cats wincing or laughing at his solo here, maybe both. Keith gets country, with a little help from is friends. By that I mean Gram Parsons.
June 9, 2024 @ 7:22 am
I think that can be 100% true, and yet this can still be cool just from the sheer strength of songs like “Dead Flowers” as country songs.
June 9, 2024 @ 4:44 am
There’s a concert clip where Mick name drops Waylon before launching into Bob Wills is Still the King.
June 9, 2024 @ 5:55 am
Years ago, I ranked my top favorite country male vocalists:
1. George Jones
2. Lefty Frizzell
3. Keith Whitley
4. Willie Nelson
5. Randy Travis
6. Ronnie Dunn
7. Merle Haggard
8. Mick Jagger
9. Ralph Stanley
10. Waylon Jennings
So, yeah… I agree.
June 9, 2024 @ 3:47 pm
“Whether you want to consider them country songs or not, the simple fact is that Sticky Fingers tracks like “Dead Flowers,” “Wild Horses,” and “Sway” have just as much influence on American country artists as many of the country songs of the same era.”
Hence, some of modern country music’s problems exist.
June 10, 2024 @ 6:54 am
Does that really need proving?
June 10, 2024 @ 3:15 pm
the stones loved country music, West Texan Bobby Keys was in the band for decades, steel player and producer Al Perkins was on Exile (Eggsalad) on Main street (joke), so they were big fans of country music and Texas country! And don’t forget about Chuck Leavell!
June 10, 2024 @ 9:57 pm
Maren Morris’s cover of “Dead Flowers” kicks ass. And it’s surprisingly VERY country.
https://youtu.be/tAH1fwr2IGg?si=xjR_Vv1a9fOPrKxA
June 13, 2024 @ 9:47 pm
“Wild Horses” had a HUGE influence on the bluegrass scene through the Jerry Garcia/David Grisman/Peter Rowan “Old and In the Way” album, which introduced countless Deadheads to bluegrass. I’m pretty sure you can draw a line from “Old and in the Way” to the acoustic jam band scene (Leftover Salmon, Yonder Mountain String Band, Infamous Stringdusters, etc) to Billy Strings filling stadiums and Molly Tuttle bringing that sensibility to bluegrass festivals. “Wild Horses” was one of the most famous tracks on that seminal album.