Skip to main content

Album Review: Tyler Childers' A Long Violent History

Words by Zach O’Hare

The United States has felt like it's been in constant turmoil for most of 2020. A lot of public figures have spoken about the COVID-19 pandemic, police brutality etc. Tyler Childers, in doing his part, released an album along with a statement from his YouTube channel on September 18th. In the 6 minute long video Childers gives the audience insight to his own observations regarding America’s current events. The statement also clarifies the intentions for the title track “Long Violent History." Childers humbly explains that his objective was to create “fairly legible sounds on the fiddle” and let Long Violent History speak for itself.

In the first 8 tracks, Childers achieves his goal by covering old folk songs from various artists. Origins of the instrumental tracks range from American Civil War songs to a Broadway show tune. These tracks are sonically pleasing to even a bluegrass and folk layman, but can overall be difficult to interpret. It is speculated that a few of the songs have hidden meaning, which, considering how cerebral Childers’ is known to be, is absolutely feasible. Though, while tracks like “Squirrel Hunter” and “Send In The Clowns” appeal more to the veteran bluegrass crowd, “Long Violent History” is easily digestible for anyone willing to listen.

In the title track Childers gives an honest observation on the topic of police brutality while contrasting the issue to his own life. The first couple verses point to the general feeling of dread and distrust when consuming much of the relevant media coverage. A feeling that resonates with the general public entirely too well. Childers then goes on to question listeners on what they would gain from hearing his opinion. Given his general lack of qualifiers, being in his own words a “white boy from Hickman”(a Kentucky county that is 87% white).

Childers sings, the world has “called me belligerent, it's took me for ignorant, but it ain’t never once made me scared just to be.” Implying that while not always being looked at favorably he’s never been scared to literally be himself. After, he asks, “could you imagine just constantly worryin', kickin’, and fightin, beggin' to breathe?”, in an attempt to provoke thought and trigger self awareness into listeners.

The remainder of the song Childers tries to put things into perspective for his own demographic. “How many boys could they haul off this mountain, shoot full of holes, cuffed and layin' in the streets, 'til we come into town in a stark ravin' anger, looking for answers and armed to the teeth?” Wondering aloud if they, themselves would take matters into their own hands facing the same adversity.

Long Violent History effectively states the feelings of Childers while putting it into perspective for Americans that look like him. He continues to possess the innate ability to convey a meaningful message with the country genre, while still maintaining the high quality of music that Childers fans expect.

Proceeds from Long Violent History will be sent to the Hickman Holler Appalachian Relief Fund.

longviolenthistory.tylerchildersmusic.com

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Livetronica Sampler 3.22.11

Words by Greg Molitor ( ReMIND Photography ) Ozric Tentacles This British group has proven innovative throughout the years offering a space-rock meets psytrance sound that remains alive to this day. Though never having a major record label, Ozric Tentacles has produced 28 albums of diverse psychedelia throughout its career. The band met at the Stonehenge Free Festival in 1983 and truly fathered livetronica music with its use of sequencers and synthesizers. Simply put, there would be no livetronica without Ozric Tentacles. www.ozrics.com Octopus Nebula Colorado’s Octopus Nebula has certainly hit its stride as of late with its constant touring and increased festival interest. The group expands on the deep sounds of highly regarded acts such as STS9 and Shpongle but also carves a path of its own with its fresh takes on synthesizer tones and sampling in the live setting. Octopus Nebula Live at Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom on March 26, 2010. <--- Direct Archive Link www.octopus

Buckethead: Gimmick or Guitar God?

Words & Photos By Nicholas Stock ( phatphlogblog.blogspot.com ) At what point does the gimmick overshadow the performance? The obvious answer is Buckethead. The man is an amazing guitarist but something is not right in this world. The idea a performer who dons a KFC chicken bucket on his head for a concert has always intrigued me, and some of his side projects such as Colonel Claypool’s Bernie Bucket of Brains have been huge successes. However his performance last weekend in Fort Collins simply left me perplexed. From his robotic dancing, to his nunchuck display, to the fact the he performed with an iPod rather than a band all added to my confusion. Going into the show I was ready to be blown away, despite rumblings of disgruntled fans from the previous night’s show at The Gothic. Buckethead had had some sound issues and some missed cues in Denver but I was still trying to be positive for the show in Fort Collins. It did go off without a hitch technically but that was the least

The Origin of MusicMarauders

Words By J-man "What should I name this fucking thing?" I asked myself in the midst of a joint in my Upstate, NY apartment. "It's got to be something with just 'Music'in the title. Nothing more specific than that, as we'll be covering a wide variety of genres." One more drag on the joint yielded the memory of driving down Woodward Ave. in Detroit, listening to Tribe Called Quest's Midnight Marauders. "MusicMarauders! That's it... It completely encompasses what we do in the sense the we are 'maraudering' or 'pillaging' for music," I thought as I stared out of the window at about three and a half feet of fresh Upstate snow. First things first, the domain had to be registered. "Do I have ten dollars in my account?" I thought to myself from a position of just scraping by. Pulling out my shiny, rarely used debit card, I put it to the test and was able to secure MusicMarauders.com. "What's next?" I