Top 10 Tyler Childers Songs

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This Top 10 Tyler Childers Songs list presents the best Tyler Childers Songs. Best known for his mix of bluegrass, folk, and neotraditional country music, Tyler Childers made his big breakthrough in 2017 with the album, Purgatory. Altogether, this talented artist from (WHEREVER) has released a total of four studio albums, as well as four extended plays (EPs), four music videos, and five official singles. For Tyler, who has been born and raised in Kentucky since 1991, was the son of a father who worked in the coal industry while his mother was a nurse. When he was thirteen years old, he began to play guitar and write songs. When he graduated from high school in 2009, he studied for a semester at Western Kentucky Museum before heading to Bluegrass Community and Technical College. After a few semesters there, he dropped out, preferring to do odd jobs while pursuing a music career.

From Debut to Breakthrough

In 2011, Tyler Childers recorded and released his first studio album, Bottles and Bibles. This was followed two EPs, namely Live on Red Barn Radio and Live on Red Barn Radio II, before releasing what became a certified gold hit album, Purgatory. For Childers, it was the first time in his career to earn any certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Afterward, this third EP, Live on Red Barn Radio I & II, was a 2018 compilation of the first two EPs previously released. In 2019, Country Squire became Childers’ third studio album, followed by his fourth EP, Reimagined. The most recent album to Childers’ credit is Long Violent History, which was released a few days shy of 2020’s fall season.

In 2018, Childers began earning awards and accolades, thanks to the big breakthrough of Purgatory. With the Americana Music Honors & Awards, he won Emerging Artist of the Year in 2018, which saw a rather unusual acceptance speech. Instead of thanking Americana for the award he criticized it, pointing out he identifies himself as a country music singer, feeling the Americana genre serves as a distraction from issues that are important to artists whom he felt deserved better. It was also the explanation behind the name of his best-selling album and its material. At least his 2019 single, All Your’n” earned him a Best Country Solo Performance nomination at the 2020 Grammy Awards, but that win went to Willie Nelson and his single, “Ride Me Back Home,” instead.

From Breakthrough to Activism

The 2020 Childers album, Long Violent History was an album that mainly featured traditional fiddle tracks, closing with its title song that discussed the issues of racism, civil unrest, and police brutality. The profits earned for this particular album since its release has been going to support the underserved communities belonging to the Appalachian Region through the Hickman Holler Appalachian Relief Fund. Tyler Childers is the founder of this fundraising charitable organization.

Top 10 Tyler Childers Songs

#10 – Country Squire

Bouncy bluegrass at its best, “Country Squire” was the title song from the 2019 album that featured Tyler Childers singing about fixing up a Country Squire trailer for his wife by selling his songs into wooden boards as a build-up into a future he hopes will lead them down a road paved with waves of realized dreams and success.

#9 – Play Me a Hank Song

Hank Williams Sr. himself might have appreciated “Play Me a Hank Song” as it paid homage to him and the name he made for himself as one of the genuine pioneers of country music. Almost as if the the legend wrote the song himself, Tyler Childers does “Play Me a Hank Song” justice with his raw and emotional performance that used the perspective of a man, then a woman, to play out its lyrical tale. This was the standout song from Childers’ debut album, Bottled and Bibles, which was released in 2011. This was six years before he earned his big breakthrough.

#8 – Charleston Girl

Light-hearted on the surface, but meaningful due to the lyrics performed by Tyler Childers, “Charleston Girl” stepped into a tale about crossing the river to West Virginia and meeting a woman that brought out the party boy in him. Aside from his optimal vocal performance, the mandolin used in the song added extra star quality to a song fun to listen to, yet deep enough to better understand the story. This not only summed up “Charleston Girl” as a song, but Live on Red Barn Radio as an EP.

#7 – Shake the Frost

“Shake the Frost” has been regarded as the most emotional ballad Tyler Childers has ever recorded. Among fans and listeners that can relate, the fear of letting down the walls to allow a loved one inside the fragile realm of trust was the musical focal point behind Childers’ vocals, as well as the way the instruments acted like pull strings to the heart. “Shake the Frost” was the lead song from the 2013 EP, Live on Red Barn Radio.

#6 – Long Violent History

In a lyrical social-political statement, “Long Violent History” laid out a musical history of how society still continues to deal with issues of racism, misinformation, mistreatment, and violence as a part of life, especially among communities that are more vulnerable than others. On the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, “Long Violent History” peaked as high as number forty-eight. Although not intentionally released as a single, the attention-grabbing content of the album, which shares the same name as the title track, won enough popularity among the fans where it found its way on the country music radio stations.

#5 – House of Fire

On the US Billboard Adult Alternative Airplay chart, “House of Fire” became the first chart hit for Tyler Childers, which occurred in 2019, through his studio album, Country Squire. Using snow as a means to describe emotion, Childers offered a strong, upbeat tune that also featured the fiddle, adding more character to a danceable tune that seemed to appeal to anyone, regardless of genre preference.

#4 – Lady May

“Lady May” was the first single that was released from Tyler Childers’ album, Purgatory, in 2017. In addition to earning an RIAA-certified platinum as a single, it was the first of three platinum singles that ultimately led the album to become an RIAA-certified gold seller. This was a heartfelt ballad sung to his wife as he shared his feelings of not measuring up to the level of integrity he felt she had.

#3 – Feathered Indians

2017’s “Feathered Indians” was an unexpected hit for Tyler Childers as it was not intentionally released as a single from his album, Purgatory. This country love song was used a belt buckle as a metaphor while asking his beloved whether or not she would be there for him no matter what. The vocal delivery of Childers’ concern his recklessness would be the lead to his personal ruin as a human being. Despite this, he vowed to become a better man. Although the single didn’t chart, it became a certified platinum single with the RIAA due to the fan appeal it won over after its release.

#2 – All Your’n

On the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 2019, “All Your’n” peaked at number forty-six. For Tyler Childers, this was the first time he had a sit single reach its music chart. It also became his second single to hit the US Billboard Adult Alternative Airplay chart, this time at number sixteen. “All Your’n” also earned Childers his first Grammy Award nomination but it was also his fourth single to become certified platinum by the RIAA.

#1 – Whitehouse Road

“Whitehouse Road,” as a single, indirectly dealt with the issue of substance abuse that has plagued the Appalachian Region. This RIAA-certified platinum single never appeared on any of the official music charts, which became a subject of discussion by Tyler Childers as he felt genuine bluegrass music was still being overlooked by the industry that defines what’s commercially acceptable and what’s not. This is one of many such singles that were featured on Childers’ RIAA-certified gold album, Purgatory.