Tyler Childers Snipe Hunter
For some artists, a mega-successful debut becomes an unanticipated obstacle. Often, it’s not the subsequent music that fails to any degree – rather, that one album hits such a spot, at just the right moment, for so many listeners that it’s impossible to hit that mark again (Pearl Jam’s Ten has always been that album for me – maybe they have “better” albums, but I’ll never again be in that place and time again where that particular band will explode into my ears and change the way I listen). Tyler Childers seems to be living a version of that dilemma. His full-length debut, 2017’s Purgatory (has it only been eight years?) was a monumental record for left-of-center country listeners. And that post-release cycle was, for him, quite turbulent – remember his “acceptance” of the 2018 Americana Award for Emerging Artist: “I feel Americana ain’t no part of nothin.’” Fame and adoration weren’t really what Childers was after. They still aren’t. And that, for the most part, is good – he’s never, quite honestly, given a damn about pleasing or pandering to anyone. Whether it was the fiddle-driven Long Violent History, released in late 2020 with a title track that upset the “shut up and play portion” of his crowd, or the video for 2023’s “In Your Love,” which featured a love story between two (male) coalminers, he’s never felt the need to placate his “base” – he makes the music he wants to make. Which makes his latest album, Snipe Hunter, a stick in the eye of the Nashville posers who are the reason that we’ve been hesitant to label Childers as a “country” artist – he’s doing something entirely different than the denizens of Music Row.
A few years back, Childers famously explained why he refused to move to Nashville – essentially, because that’s not where the stories are. The Kentucky native stays true to his raisin’ by telling the tales of the types of people he grew up around. The thing is, there are only so many stories that can come out of hunting, small-time drug running and other hardscrabble ways to make a living, so Childers had to come at these topics from different angles. Snipe Hunter begins with a huntin’ song, although an admittedly funky one. “Eatin’ Big Time” is all rifle scopes, deer blinds and exsanguination, set against Matt Rowland’s riotous organ, but with more than a little braggadocio mixed in – “Keep my time on my Weiss/Ya goddamn right I’m flexing/’Cause a thousand dollar watch is fine enough flex for me.” “Cuttin’ Teeth” is a western swing-ish call-out of an (unnamed) musician formerly, briefly, in Childers’ orbit – “Fronting him a country band/Roaddoggin’ in a stripped out van/Bummin’ powder in the barlight” – before moving onto bigger (but most definitely not better) things.
In a glossy Nashville-driven world where “feat.” might be the most important verb in a press release, the only big-name guest on Snipe Hunter is producer Rick Rubin. And even though Rubin’s guru-like footprint has kicked the sounds of everyone from Tom Petty to Slayer to new places (and sales levels), his main role here seems to be delivering the noisiness (in a good way) of Childers’ long-time band, The Food Stamps, from stage to record. From the Zeppelin-ish intro of “Watch Out” to the uptempo indie feel of “Down Under,” this (like Childers’ live shows) is a balls-out rock experience. Even one of the two “old” Tyler songs featured, “Nose on the Grindstone” (receiving its first-ever studio treatment), adds a swirly organ crescendo to Childers’ acoustic picking. But subtlety has a place, as well. “Tirtha Yatra,” one of the few songs here to venture outside the holler (the title reflects a pilgrimage to connect with God), could have gone all India-cliche, but Kory Caudill relies on a number of more traditional keyboards (and a really cool Wurlitzer solo) to set the mood, relying on Childers’ words – “But comin’ from a cousin lovin’ clubfoot somethin’ somethin’/Backwood searcher I would hope that you’d admire the try” – to paint that picture of a self-confessed hillbilly venturing out to try something new (note – between this and “Down Under”’s images of pugilistic kangaroos and syphilitic koalas, I’d love to hear more about Tyler’s travels on a future record).
The central point, though, of either Snipe Hunter or an actual snipe hunt is to lure an unsuspecting rube into exposing his own ignorance. The early-on fans who subsequently dismissed Childers for, among other “sins,” getting sober (as if their musical enjoyment is more important than the man’s health), might be enticed by tunes like “Tomcat and a Dandy,” where they could see the singer missing his wilder days – “In the fledglin’ of my prime/Back when I blew through all my time.” Really, though, those “dandy” ways – and those not-so-careful listeners – are something that Childers is fine to leave behind while closing his circle to a few essential people – “When the curtain falls on the part I play/Too soon for the ones that know’d me” – even as the more fickle chunk of his fan base ebbs and flows. In the meantime, as Childers relays in “Snipe Hunt,” we’re all stuck trying to separate the real from the bullshit, the next hot thing from the truth – “That’s the way I feel when I look at our past/And the handshakes that you gave me if you’re callin’ them that.” At times, life, for all of us, is a snipe hunt.
Song I Can’t Wait to Hear Live: “Tomcat and a Dandy” – Childers’ gorgeously scratchy fiddle, along with Matt Rowland’s accordion and Nick Sanborn’s pump organ, create just the right amount of sonic gauze to layer over the singer’s self-eulogizing.
Snipe Hunter was produced by Rick Rubin (additional production by Tyler Childers and Nick Sanborn), recorded by Ryan Hewitt, Jason Lader and Tyler Harris, mixed by Shawn Everett and mastered by Greg Calbi. All songs written by Tyler Childers. Artists on the album include Childers (vocals, percussion, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, fiddle), James Barker (pedal steel, electric guitar), Craig Burletic (bass, background vocals), CJ Cain (acoustic guitar, electric guitar), Kory Caudill (piano, synthesizer, organ, Wurlitzer, harpsichord, Chamberlin synth, clavinet, jubilee cymbal, background vocals), Rod Elkins (drums, percussion), Matt Rowland (organ, piano, accordion, vocoder, Wurlitzer, synthesizer, mandolin winds, programming, background vocals), Jesse Wells (electric guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, acoustic guitar, background vocals), Nick Sanborn (modular synth, percussion, chimes, vocoder, tape, pump organ), Amelia Meath (background vocals), Alex Sauser-Monnig (background vocals), Olivia Child-Lanning (mouth harp, bow harp) and Kenny Miles (background vocals,
Go here to order Snipe Hunter (out now): https://tylerchildersmusic.com/collections/new-to-the-shop
Check out tour dates here: https://tylerchildersmusic.com/pages/tour-dates
Enjoy our previous coverage here: Show Review: Tyler Childers in Birmingham and Nashville with 49 Winchester opening