When you think of country music, what's the first thing that comes to mind? If contemporary country radio has you conjuring images of pickup trucks and red Solo cups, then that's exactly what Tyler Childers is not. His third studio album, Country Squire, was one of my favorites of 2019.
Born and raised in Kentucky, Childers' music occasionally gets lumped into the Americana category, but he rejects that label. He even spoke out publicly about being called Americana in his acceptance speech when he took home Emerging Artist of the Year at the 2018 Americana Music Honors & Awards. "I don't know what it's called but I've been calling it country," he explains in this session. "I think a lot of times it's become just a costume."
Tyler's passionate about what "country" really means, the true tradition and roots of the genre. To him, that means staying authentic and telling real stories. You can hear that mindset in his songs, many of which are based on real life stories. Hear today's session with Childers in the player above.