Quality Americana

The number one song on the Americana Music Association singles chart feels perfect for the changing seasons. An aging farmer tends a plow and examines a sprout from the dirt in the opening of Tyler Childers’ “In Your Love.” Miners walk down into a tunnel and break apart ore in a day on the job. Two men from the mine secretly meet in the woods and are spotted by a coworker, resulting in an assault by the crew.

“It’s a long hard war, but I can grin and bare it. Cause I know what the hell I’m fighting for,” Childers sings.

The film progresses and the couple have bought their dream home and built a life. They have family and friends over for supper and head out for an evening on the town. They express the joy of life and show the difficult trials and persecution the homosexual community has faced in rural America. One of the main characters passes away late in the night and the aging farmer from the opening scene holds up his four leaf clover as the credits run out.  

“It’s cold out there, and you know some men search for ages for the love that I have found,” Childers sings. “We were never made to run forever, we were just meant to go long enough to find what we were chasing after.” 

Tyler Childers’ Kentucky home

Childers was raised in Lawrence County, Kentucky and the themes from the coal industry were present in his home growing up. Childers’ father Cole worked in the field and his mother Loyran worked in health care. Childers’ first performed in choir and later worked as a bluegrass picker before finding success as a songwriter.  

Childers breakout success came in 2017 with the Sturgill Simpson produced Purgatory. The album went into the top 20 of the country and Americana charts. He was nominated for a Grammy for the Best Country Solo Performance category and has continued to headline major festivals. 

“One reason that I wanted to do this music video was my cousin growing up, who’s like my big brother, is gay. And he graduated from Northern Kentucky, went to Chicago and never came back,” Childers said in an interview with Ann Powers at NPR.

Childers said that he wanted to make a country video like you would have seen in the 1990s with Tim McGraw or Trisha Yearwood. He decided to split the timelines to show the environment surrounding the couple. In a lot of ways it reminds us of the Bruce Hornsby and the Range music videos from the 80s and 90s. You get imagery of the blue collar worker, the sentimental moments in life that keep us going, the forbidden romance and fight to forge your own path in a prejudicial society.

Childers’ keeps his independence

“My biggest fear was that this would be taken and used for other means that I didn’t necessarily intend it to be,” Childers said. “I was just praying that it didn’t get taken for some Christian nationalist idea. But I think that the other songs and the music video we made helped show that isn’t how this is.”

Childers’ concerns strike a chord recently as the viral hit “Rich Men North of Richmond” by Virginia songwriter Oliver Anthony trended in the political arena. Childers’ fierce independence as he climbs the ladder of the music industry is what keeps his fan base so strong, and the artist should be commended for spotlighting this issue of inclusion. 

More information on Tyler Childers can be found here. 

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