Top country concert that had it all
Photo: Stian Schløsser Møller
Tyler Childers held a crowd-pleasing concert in front of a packed Sentrum Stage, where many in the audience were young. But they weren’t wearing cowboy hats, unlike those who that same night filled Oslo Spektrum to see Brad Paisley.
Playing a mix of traditional country, bluegrass and folk, the 32-year-old from Kentucky has meaningful (often raw) lyrics and a soulful, strong voice. This evening offered both singing together, virtuosity, humor and seriousness. Accompanied by his six talented musicians, he sang over 20 songs in 2 hours, taken from 4 of his 6 albums (2017-23). He himself played some acoustic guitar and some fiddle, but often nothing.
Photo: Stian Schløsser Møller
He started with Whitehouse Road (2017) and Country Squire, the title cut from his breakthrough record from 2019. We immediately saw that the two electric guitarists also mastered steel guitar and fiddle respectively.
Rustin’ in the Rain (the title cut from last year’s album) is country rock at its best, with a brilliant guitar riff. There was also massive sing-along on the ballad All Your’n. It was clear that many in the audience knew the lyrics by heart.
Another highlight was an as yet unreleased instrumental, Cluck Ol Hen. This is bluegrass with thunderous bass and drums, psychedelic organ solo and jazz piano solo. The first of two cover songs this evening was Hank Williams’ The Old Country Church, complete with gospel organ intro and taken from Childers’ gospel album anno 2022.
Childers had been silent so far in the concert, but now he talked about his first visit to Norway (2017). He had no money when he came to Oslo in the early morning to play at John Dee’s in the evening. So he played for over an hour on the street and got some coins in the guitar case. But they didn’t have enough for a beer, which he said cost NOK 5,000! In a monotonous preacher’s voice, he then introduced the band in a funny way.
Photo: Stian Schløsser Møller
The musicians left the stage after In Your Love, which last year became Tyler Childers’ first major country hit. It’s actually about gay miners in Kentucky in the 50s.
Then we got five hillbilly-style shows where Childers sat and played acoustic guitar. There, too, the audience impressed by recognizing the tunes already at the intro and singing along.
With the band back on stage, the keyboardist sang “hare krishna” while the musicians played Indian tunes. Or were they voting? Strange session. Anyway, all was well again when a fiddle intro started I Swear (To God). It’s one of Childers’ most popular songs, but he said he shouldn’t play it anymore because he’s stopped drinking.
The rest of the concert was a parade march. Honky Tonk Flame had a fiddle solo and a steel guitar solo with fuzz that made me think of Sneaky Pete Kleinow from the legendary Flying Burrito Brothers.
Percheron Mules featured an accordion solo by the keyboardist, while the bassist sang gospel bass harmonies on Way of the Triune God. Then followed a long House Fire with banjo intro, Universal Sound and the SG Goodman song Space and Time
Before the latter, Tyler Childers said they don’t do encores. And that was perfectly fine, because after two hours he had shown us many sides of his career. Not least we were entertained, and the mood was high throughout the concert, which was better than the one he gave at the Interstate Americana festival in Oslo in 2020.