{"id":1990546,"date":"2023-08-04T04:08:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-04T08:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tyler-childers-cant-successfully-sell-music-that-both-appeals-to-and-scorns-real-country-folks\/"},"modified":"2023-08-04T04:17:05","modified_gmt":"2023-08-04T08:17:05","slug":"tyler-childers-cant-successfully-sell-music-that-both-appeals-to-and-scorns-real-country-folks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tyler-childers-cant-successfully-sell-music-that-both-appeals-to-and-scorns-real-country-folks\/","title":{"rendered":"Tyler Childers struggles to effectively market music that simultaneously attracts and criticizes true country enthusiasts."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftyler-childers-cant-successfully-sell-music-that-both-appeals-to-and-scorns-real-country-folks%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1990546&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<h2>Country Music: A Reflection of\u2064 the Common Man<\/h2>\n<p>Country music has always provided an honest reflection of the virtues and \u2064vices of the \u2064common man. In\u2064 this sense, Tyler Childers seems to be \u200cyour quintessential\u200b country\u2063 music \u200bartist. Whereas Hank Williams woefully reflects \u2064on the \u200dperils of \u201cthe\u200d lost highway,\u201d Childers \u200cchillingly recounts the difficulty in keeping \u201cyour nose on the \u2063grindstone and\u200c out\u200b of the pills.\u201d Love, \u200cheartbreak, vice, redemption \u2014 if the Appalachian Mountains \u2063could croon,\u200c they\u2019d belt out in the voice of Childers.<\/p>\n<p>For the many of \u200cus disillusioned with the unceasing slew of \u201csnap-track country,\u201d Childers\u2019 raw and unfiltered style seems like a welcome return to \u200dcountry music\u2019s roots. In turn, the red-headed\u2062 Kentuckian \u2064has become one of the most popular country music artists, despite having little to do with the Nashville establishment.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-345689867\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-2257115d4c7c32f2454033c89648bb0e fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-2257115d4c7c32f2454033c89648bb0e\"><\/div>\n<h3>A Controversial Twist<\/h3>\n<p>As revealed by \u200chis \u200dmost recent single, however, Childers is anything but your traditional country\u200d music artist. \u2064The song itself,\u200d titled \u200d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=II-L8Hq0_i4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cIn Your\u2063 Love,\u201d<\/a> sounds like your run-of-the-mill \u200ccountry love song. \u2062The controversy surrounds the single\u2019s\u200d music video, which features the romance between two \u2063<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/popular-country-artist-goes-fully-woke-with-new-queer-love-song\/\" title=\"Country artist embraces inclusivity with new 'Queer Love' anthem.\">gay coal miners<\/a> and the \u2063prejudice they must overcome. Childers has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wuky.org\/local-regional-news\/2023-07-27\/tyler-childers-stands-his-ground-in-new-song-and-video-following-love-story-of-two-gay-men-in-appalachia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">defended<\/a> his chosen theme, claiming that \u201cthese are human stories, \u2063not political stories.\u201d\u2062 However, that\u2019s hard to believe, both because\u200c of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nolte-fox-news-drinks-the-trans-kool-aid\/\" title=\"Nolte: Fox News Drinks the Trans Kool-Aid\">current social climate<\/a> in which feigning neutrality \u200cis hardly believable, as well \u2062as his history of \u2063political messaging.<\/p>\n<p>During the summer of \u2062George Floyd, the full force of the\u200b woke regime\u2019s propaganda machine \u2063deployed to shame white men into feeling\u200b complicit in\u2063 Floyd\u2019s death. If you didn\u2019t\u200d go out of \u2062your way to condemn the\u2063 incident,\u200d you were condoning it. \u201cSilence is violence,\u201d as they said. Joining this choir \u2062was Tyler Childers\u2064 with \u201cLong \u200bViolent History.\u201d In it, \u2063Childers challenges\u200c his \u200cpresumably white, conservative audience to\u200c consider \u2062how long they\u2019d be willing\u200b to withstand police \u200cbrutality. As he sings:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>How\u200c many boys could they haul off this \u200dmountain<\/p>\n<p>Shoot full of holes,\u200b cuffed, and laid in the streets<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Til we come into town in a stark ravin\u2019 anger<\/p>\n<p>Looking\u2063 for answers and armed \u2063to the teeth<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Following this stunt, Childers seems to have redeemed himself with a follow-up gospel album titled, \u201cCan I Take my Hounds to Heaven.\u201d After all, what could be\u2064 more conservative than a gospel \u200balbum? Childers\u2064 himself \u200drecognized the\u2062 implication of this fact and recently expressed \u2062his anxiety\u2063 about\u200b the project being \u201ctaken for some\u200c Christian nationalist idea.\u201d To assure that it\u200c didn\u2019t, Childers sprinkled in some subtle woke \u200dmessaging for good measure.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, in the song \u201cAngel Band,\u201d he \u200drecounts the \u2064joyful experience of a woman\u2019s first walk\u2062 with Jesus and is careful to \u200cnote that it \u201cdidn\u2019t even \u200dbother her that he ain\u2019t a blue-eyed man.\u201d In the next verse, you learn that diversity is the Kingdom of\u2062 God\u2019s strength and that it\u2019s a place \u200bwhere \u201cHindus, Jews, Muslims, \u2064Catholic girls, and Amish boys\u201d\u200c all join hands together and wonder \u200d\u201cwhy exactly they\u200d been fussing the whole time.\u201d\u200d While I\u2019m \u2062not qualified to comment on the\u200c doctrine of universal \u200creconciliation, I can for sure say one thing \u2014 when making gospel tunes, \u2063\u201cI\u2062 don\u2019t think Hank\u2064 done it\u200d this way.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>A Diverse Fan Base<\/h3>\n<p>So who is Childers\u2063 making this kind of music for?<\/p>\n<p>Childers\u2019 \u2064fan base\u2064 spans\u200c two\u2062 closely related \u200cbut \u200ddistinct\u200b music genres:\u200d folk \u2064and the burgeoning alternative-country scene. While Childers views himself first and foremost \u200das a\u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fans-carry-morgan-wallen-to-3-billboard-music-awards-after-ban-deplatforming-over-leaked-n-word-video\/\" title=\"Fans Carry Morgan Wallen To 3 Billboard Music Awards After Ban, Deplatforming Over Leaked N-Word Video\">country artist<\/a>, he has nonetheless developed a large swath of \u200bfans across both\u200c the historically conservative world of country and the historically leftist world of \u200bfolk. The cross-section\u200c of Childers\u2019 \u200cfan base is perhaps \u200bbest described by fellow independent country artist Cody Jinks. In \u201cHippies and Cowboys,\u201d Jinks boasts \u200babout how\u2063 he has \u201cnever been a part of any musical scene\u201d and prefers, \u200cabove all else, \u201craising \u2063hell with the hippies\u2062 and the cowboys.\u201d That is to say, the bedrock of the alternative country scene are those\u2062 who don\u2019t \u201ccare about trends\u201d or \u201csongs that sell.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Childers, along \u2063with other associated acts \u200csuch as \u200dColter Wall or Sturgill Simpson, appeal to\u200d both ends of the anti-establishment crowd, explaining why his demographic is\u2063 simultaneously both \u200byoung\u200c blue-collar Trump voters and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tyler-childers-cant-successfully-sell-music-that-both-appeals-to-and-scorns-real-country-folks\/\" title=\"Tyler Childers struggles to effectively market music that simultaneously attracts and criticizes true country enthusiasts.\">granola liberal arts grads<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>That\u200d said, \u200dthe two \u200dsides of Childers\u2019 fan base are \u2063not made equal. Admittedly,\u2062 I\u2019m not\u200c from Appalachia; my roots sprouted \u2063within \u200dthe high-desert foothills of the\u200b Sierra Nevada. That difference, however, is more geographical \u200bthan it \u200cis \u200ccultural. I have much more in common with the inhabitants of\u2062 Eastern \u200dKentucky than I do some Las Vegas\u200b yuppies. To paraphrase the great Hank Williams Jr., we hail \u201cfrom the West Virginia coal mines \u2026 the Rocky Mountains\u200c \u2026 and the western skies,\u201d but we\u2019re all country boys. We are the last vestiges of old America, and country music \u2063is our cultural heritage.<\/p>\n<h3>A Disconnect\u200d from \u2062Rural\u2064 America<\/h3>\n<p>In a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2023\/07\/27\/1190148625\/tyler-childers-in-your-love-interview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">interview<\/a>, Childers criticizes modern country music for deviating from these roots. As he\u2064 correctly notes, \u200bthere is a \u201chard disconnect\u201d between the\u2063 Nashville establishment and rural America \u2062because\u200b many\u2064 of the writers \u201cdidn\u2019t necessarily grow up in \u2062a rural setting.\u201d They can only conceptualize capturing\u200b the nostalgia of old America via \u201cstereotypes\u201d because they\u2019ve\u2064 never lived in\u2064 those communities, depriving them of the proper \u201creference point.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Coincidentally, the same criticism \u2064could be leveled at the other half of Childers\u2019 fanbase. \u2063For the hipsters, their hollow interest in Childers \u2062is nothing \u200bmore \u2062than an aesthetic, a costume they can put on to show off their diversified tastes. The plight \u200bof rural America is nothing\u2062 but a voyeur for them. They \u2063don\u2019t actually \u200crelate to the\u200b music \u2062in\u2063 any meaningful way or \u2062even like country music in general. Moreover, \u2063they almost certainly hate the\u2064 actual people who inhabit \u200dthe places Childers sings about.<\/p>\n<p>In \u2064Lawrence County, where Childers was born, Trump won roughly 80 percent of\u200d the vote in both 2016 and\u200c 2020. With songs like, \u201cIn Your Love,\u201d Childers is\u200c enabling a false impression that those regions are actually chock-full of\u2063 other hicklibs like him \u2014 more of the \u201cgood ones.\u201d But would those fans feel the same way about his music if it were more explicitly about the trials and tribulations of a bunch \u2064of \u201cdeplorables\u201d? It\u2019s\u2062 doubtful.<\/p>\n<p>Childers has been able to maintain this \u200crather quizzical convergence of diametrically opposed demographics within a single fan \u200bbase so long as he primarily\u2063 stuck to songs about Appalachia and cocaine benders.\u200c However, as he continues to lean further \u200dand further into his image as\u200d a hicklib, it\u2019s hard to \u2063imagine he will continue \u200bto \u2062successfully be \u200cable \u200bto do \u200dso. Good ol\u2019\u200d boys \u2062have no\u2064 interest in hearing the agenda of coastal liberals put to three-chords\u2062 and a fiddle. As Childers \u200cadmits, the prospect of\u200b such a backlash \u2014 \u201cthe Chicks effect\u201d \u2014 used to \u200bscare him, but not anymore. He \u200dbelieves it\u2019s\u2064 his time to give his\u2062 \u201ctithing\u201d\u2063 to the \u2062world.<\/p>\n<p>Contrary to whatever Childers may believe,\u2063 there\u2019s nothing bold or \u201cpowerful\u201d about making \u2062woke country music when the entirety of mainstream\u200b culture has \u200balready gone down that path. But the bigger problem with Childers\u2019 virtue signaling \u2064goes well beyond its banality. For an artist who bills himself as a voice \u200dfor \u2063rural\u2062 America, it\u2019s disturbing\u2063 that he\u2019s so eager to alienate \u200dthe people who actually relate to his music for the sake of fans \u200bwho get their\u2063 country music recommendations \u200dfrom the\u2062 editors at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-country\/tyler-childers-in-your-love-video-new-album-rustin-in-the-rain-1234795496\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Rolling\u2062 Stone<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>What \u200bChilders evidently fails to understand is \u2062that country music\u200c is so much more than its iconic sound. Rural \u200bAmerica\u2019s cultural heritage, and in turn country\u2063 music,\u200d is inseparable from the \u200btraditional Christian values that \u2064have always defined it. It simply\u200b cannot exist without the things he believes \u201cneed to be shed.\u201d\u2062 By\u2063 attempting to do so, Childers isn\u2019t redeeming country music, he\u2019s hastening it\u200c to its \u2062death and inviting those who have always hated the people it represents to dance a\u200c jig on\u2062 its grave.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Country music reflects the common man&#8217;s virtues and vices. Tyler Childers embodies this as a quintessential artist. While Hank Williams mourns the dangers of the &#8220;lost highway,&#8221; Childers hauntingly recounts the struggle to stay focused and work hard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2082,"featured_media":1990547,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1990546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1990546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2082"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1990546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1990546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1990547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1990546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1990546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1990546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}