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Tyler Childers
American singer and songwriter (born 1991)
Timothy Tyler Childers is an American country singer-songwriter. His music has been described as a mix of neotraditional country, bluegrass, folk, and honky-tonk.
His breakthrough studio album, Purgatory (2017), was named one of the best albums of the year by several publications, and earned Childers an Americana Music Award. He subsequently received Grammy Award nominations for his albums Long Violent History (2020) and Rustin' in the Rain (2023) and the singles "All Your'n" (2019) and "In Your Love" (2023), the latter of which was his first top 10 hit on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart.
genres: country music, neotraditional country, bluegrass music, folk music
awards: Americana Award for Emerging Act of the Year
plays: voice
Facts from Wikidata and Discogs, free to use.
americanaalternative countrycountry
Radio Free Elsewhere BulletinExtra
Early life
Tyler Childers was born and grew up in Lawrence County, Kentucky. His father worked in the coal industry and his mother is a nurse. He was born with clubfoot and had to undergo surgeries to remedy the condition when he was 18 months old, and again when he was aged five. He had learned to sing in church as a member of the choir. Childers started to play guitar and write songs at approximately 13 years of age. He attended Lawrence County High School (LCHS) and transferred to Paintsville High School, Johnson County where he graduated in 2009. Fellow country musicians from Johnson County include Chris Stapleton (Staffordsville), Loretta Lynn (Butcher Hollow), and Crystal Gayle; Sturgill Simpson, a known acquaintance of Childers, is from...
Childers began performing in Lexington, Kentucky, and Huntington, West Virginia. In 2011, when he was 19, Childers released his first album, Bottles and Bibles. In 2012, he uploaded an acoustic recording of "Jersey Giant" to SoundCloud with vocals from Senora May. He released two EPs recorded in 2013 at Red Barn Radio, a radio show from Lexington. The two EPs were later released as one recording called Live on Red Barn Radio I & II after the success of his album Purgatory; they reached No. 5 on Heatseekers Albums. He performed with his backing band, The Food Stamps.
On September 18, 2020, Childers released Long Violent History, an album consisting mainly of traditional fiddle tracks. The album closes with the title track, which discusses racism, civil unrest, and police brutality. He released a video message to accompany the song; in it he discussed his intention for the album in general and the title track in particular, calling for empathy above all else. He said the profits from the album would support underserved communities in the Appalachian region, through Childers' Hickman Holler Appalachian Relief Fund.
Childers' music is influenced by his home state of Kentucky and its connection to country music and bluegrass. He often writes about coal mining, which was his father's occupation, and its effects. Rebecca Bengal, writing for The Guardian, described Childers' songs as a "counternarrative to the outsiders who seek to perpetuate stereotypes of backwardness and poverty." He emphasizes lyrical content in songs, comparing the songwriting process to telling short stories about past relationships and his youth.
American country singer, songwriter, and guitarist, born June 21, 1991 in Paintsville, Kentucky.
Also known as: T. Childers, Tyler
From Discogs (free to use). Their entry
Liner notes
Tyler Childers, the records, oldest first
Bottles and Bibles
2011 album
Live on Red Barn Radio
2013 ep
Live on Red Barn Radio II
2014 ep
Purgatory
2017 album
Country Squire
2019 album
Long Violent History
2020 album
Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?
2022 album
Rustin’ in the Rain
2023 album
Snipe Hunter
2025 album
Records from MusicBrainz; covers from the Cover Art Archive.
