Tyler Childers : " Rustin in the Rain"

 Childers' sixth album finds him writing songs he thinks might appeal to Elvis. But not the King's "Hound Dog" persona, but Presley's early country roots. This opens with the twang of the honky tonk opener, than finds the 32 year old singer belting it with his trademark brassy tenor. Lyrically clever, and always heartful, he never dials it in for the radio, and if it happens to have pop appeal it's an added bonus not an objective and certainly not the product of the Nashville writer's room. The ballad "Phone Calls and Emails" sounds like it could have come right out of the 50s aside from the fact he is referring to emails. 

Leave it to Childers to write a song that is the country version of ancient aliens with "2:8-10", which is sung from the perspective of a farmer seeing an angel arrival and deciding it's the end of the world. This offsets the gospel mood the music captures. He somewhat  breaks from theme as Kris  Kristofferson's "Hel Me Make it Through the Night" was already covered by Elvis in the 70s. So he is right Elvis would like it as he already did it. That fact aside Childers makes it his own, with an impassioned vocal that is far from the King's baritone, but works none the less. 

His band the Food Stamps, earns their pay with what they lay down for him on "Percheron Mules" that finds them dealing in very authentic Appalachian country. It is one of the album's most upbeat song and for people who like actual country music and not some of this trailer park pop the entertainment machine tries to pass off as country. "In You Love" is closest as he comes to appealing to the mainstream, which is an air tight ballad, that would work on the radio, but he makes the radio come to him, rather than pandering for it. "Space and Time" is another ballad , but it is hard to fault him for it as it works so well, you hear some lower notes at the edge of his range, which is a nice change. It bears that 50's swing to it that makes me think the King would have approved and perhaps given a couple of them his own take. It goes with out saying that if you can write a song for the King, it's a 10.