Growing up in the South, I have been surrounded by country music for as long as I can remember.  Specifically, bluegrass has always stuck out to me. If a song has any sort of banjo component, it will automatically become my favorite. 

Therefore, I am a massive Tyler Childers fan. I attended his concert at the Smoothie King Center on April 3, and it was the best night of my life. 

Childers’ music is a combination of bluegrass, country, and folk music. He is a simple guy with bright red hair and the smoothest voice. He uses this melodic voice to make you feel like you are standing in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains, with the wind in your hair and the sun setting on nature in front of you. Maybe even with a glass of moonshine in your hand.

I have been a Tyler Childers fan since the beginning of high school when I discovered his song, “Feathered Indians”, and my love for him has only grown. His music reminds me of going to visit my grandma in southern Virginia, playing with my sister in the corn fields, and feeling unending bliss.

Now onto the concert. I went with one of my best friends, who is also an avid Tyler lover,  and we had the time of our lives. We sat in the nosebleeds, and it didn’t make any difference or take away from our overall experience. 

First of all, he has such an amazing crowd presence. He doesn’t talk too much (which I think can get annoying), but just enough so that you are still hanging on to his every word. He played my top three songs (“All Your’n”, “Space and Time”, and “Way of the Triune God”), which I freaked out and shed a boatload of tears over. I didn’t know every single song he played, but the best part about Tyler is that you don’t have to know his music to enjoy it. You can still get into the moment and the songs without having ever heard them a day in your life. 

Childers performed with his seven man band, all playing straight from their souls. He introduces each of his band members extensively, sharing their backstory of how he met them and the memories they have shared. It’s an emotional moment that makes you feel like you are on that stage with them. He moved to the middle of the arena to a small circular stage to get closer with the people that were farther away and it made the experience that much better. Then he played my all-time favorite song  “Way of the Triune God” and I lost my ever loving mind. 

I kind of blacked out after that from adrenaline and excitement, but all I need to say is that if you have the opportunity to go see Tyler Childers live, take it. Embrace his quirky backwoods folk music and don’t let the laws of man tell you what you ought to do.