Childers continues habit of spurning his most popular songs on stage
The second weekend of Bluesfest kicked off on Friday with performances from Canadian country music singer Brittany Kennell, Stittsville native TALK, and sly country storyteller Tyler Childers on the RBC Stage.
I’m an adherent of the old “wait 24 hours before you react to something you’re mad about” rule, so it took me a couple of days to respond to Tyler Childers’ set at Bluesfest.
Listen, I wasn’t expecting him to play “Feathered Indians”, his 2017 breakthrough hit that he has seemingly long since retired.
It left me feeling a bit underwhelmed — sad, even — that the Kentucky-born and raised crooner didn’t sing any of “Nose On The Grindstone,” “In Your Love,” “Follow You To Virgie,” or “Charleston Girl” on Friday night. It wasn’t just my fragile ego, either — it seemed like everyone I spoke to after the concert left feeling the same way.
But to be clear, I respect the hell out of Tyler Childers. He’s never been one to sell out to the country music radio enterprise, and some of his most popular songs — including both “Nose On The Grindstone” and “Follow You To Virgie” — have never even seen a studio release.
The excruciating emotion he sings with — which includes his signature “crazy” eyes — lends him an air of authenticity that is rarely found in the wider genre from artists who are simply trying to push out radio hit after radio hit.
And though he didn’t play those fan favourites, he certainly showed off his gravelly but somehow still silky-smooth voice right from his very first songs, as he began with the blue-collar love song “Lady May” followed by the reminiscent relationship post-mortem “Shake the Frost.”
Childers continued to impress with songs like the love ballad “All Your’n”; a cover of the legendary Hank Williams’ “Old Country Church”; and rowdy originals like “Whitehouse Road,” “House Fire,” and “Universal Sound.”
Before Childers came Nicholas Durocher — known as TALK — who was happy to cater to the crowd. TALK walked out to “Trumpeters Cry,” known better in the nation’s capital as the Ottawa Senators’ walk-out song, and also sang shortened covers of “Joker and the Thief,” “Everlong,” and “The Middle,” as well as a full cover of Radiohead’s “Creep.”
And of course, TALK played his 2021 viral hit “Run Away To Mars,” but not before entertaining the crowd. One fan threw a container of Zyns at the singer early in his set, who promptly put one in his lip before calling them “too strong.”
After the anxiety-ridden “Afraid of the Dark,” TALK brought out around a dozen pizzas from Willy’s. “I know you’re drunk as fuck,” the 27-year-old told the crowd. “Let’s get you some pizza.” The singer described the west-end chain with six locations across Stittsville, Kanata, and Nepean, “the best pizza in the city”, and “nostalgic.”
“I had an absolute blast with you guys,” said Childers at the end of his set, to which I would say “likewise, Tyler and Nicholas.”
