Tyler Childers is that rare artist that doesn’t share every waking moment of his life in the press or on social media. Which is what makes his brief but powerful interview with Newport Folk’s Sea to Shining Sea series such a must-watch.
Recorded in Childers’ barn in his native Kentucky, the singer-songwriter touches on John Prine, the importance of getting along, and the power that music has to help us do that. He also looks back at “Long Violent History,” the socially-charged song he released in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter protests following the murder of George Floyd.
“It’s ruffled some feathers,” Childers tells host Jay Sweet, “but hopefully the relationship that I’ve created with those people who listen to me had given me that space to just touch on some things: ‘Hey, we’re all here together, but some things aren’t cool and here’s why.’”
It took Childers nearly five years to ever perform “Long Violent History” live. In June of last year, he closed his concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles with the song. At the time, ICE raids targeting immigrants sparked protests across the city.
Childers goes on to stress the importance of knowing and loving your neighbor in his Sea to Shining Sea sit-down, using a road in disrepair as an analogy.
“No matter what you feel one way or the other, political leaning, if you’re both living in a community and there’s a pothole in the road between your house and town, the pothole doesn’t care if your tire voted one way or the other…It’s gonna mess your car up,” he says. “Music is a medicine to allow us to see those things in life that affect all of us, no matter what.”
For Childers, that music over the last year and a half has been provided by New Orleans piano player James Booker, particularly the song “Make a Better World.”
“It just seems like, man, if anybody can just hear this one, it’d be a good ice-breaker,” he says, going on to recite the chorus: “Whenever people shout/you gotta hear ‘em out/everyone is a beautiful soul.”
