For an artist to appeal to masses and remain true to themselves, to nurture their weirdness and still find a sizable audience that embraces it, is a rarity in country music. Call it the Sturgill Simpson effect. Or better yet, call it the Tyler Childers effect. Amid the overwrought and often fraught debate about “authenticity” in country music, Childers is a breath of fresh air because he can’t help but just be himself. His latest, Snipe Hunter, finds Rick Rubin at the helm, and true to the legendary producer’s touch, Childers has never sounded so sure of himself as he reflects on his own road to success. Recollections of his younger, impressionable road dog days intermingle with meditations on sobriety and what it means to be successful, and always with a wink. It sparkles with arrangements big enough to match the bombast of Childers’ full-throated voice and knife-sharp twang, a genuine sense of humor, and the kind of charisma that just can’t be faked.
ALBUM REVIEW: Tyler Childers Doubles Down on Grit, Wit, and Heart On ‘Snipe Hunter’
