Venue grumbles aside Childers and band refreshingly appear on stage at the appointed hour without the usual rock star nonsense of keeping the crowd waiting unnecessarily. We are straight into a cover of Charlie Daniels’ ‘Trudy’ which features both organ and bass solo and what follows is a ninety-minute juggernaut of the finest country bluegrass, folk and soul you are likely to hear. The pace is relentless with very little between song chat as the band rattle through twenty-two songs in that time. And what a band. This is arguably the finest tightest country band that I have seen since Sturgill’s band a few years ago.
What strikes me after seeing Tyler for the first time is how reminiscent vocally, he is of early Steve Earle, circa ‘Guitar Town’ and ‘Exit O’ and in the live setting with the Dukes. There’s a great contrast in styles at play tonight from straight country and Bluegrass but also a real soulful side with the organ taking front of stage at times.
After a breathless set the band are dispatched and we are left with Childers solo acoustic for a four-song finale. It’s a delicate end to a perfect set. The highlight for me was easily the extended version of ‘House Fire’ with its multi minuted instrumental intro which showcased the band to its maximum as they built and built until launching into the song proper. This moment will be difficult to be bettered this year.
The only sour note for me was the amount of people who insisted on talking throughout the gig. Why bother coming to listen to music and then rabbit on. This was especially noticeable for the hushed acoustic section at the end and these thoughts have been echoed by other comments I have seen from others there.
Let’s not end on a down though as this was a truly memorable night with a band on top form and certainly sets the benchmark for the rest of the year. Come on Sturgill next week show us what you’ve got. (ed’s note. sadly, for us in Europe our pals across the pond get to see these two as a double header)
Keep on country rockin y’all