Last week I talked about the independent country songs that have been certified gold over the last few years. And things aren’t slowing down: since I published that post a week ago, I learned that Keep the Wolves Away by Uncle Lucius has been certified gold. (If hits on a blog post are any guide, I shouldn’t have been surprised.) Even more impressive than the songs certified gold, independent country artists are getting songs certified platinum. Leading the way are Tyler Childers and Cody Jinks. (S.O.B. by Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats was also certified platinum, but I already featured it here and it is really country-adjacent.)
The writing that opens Feathered Indians is simply exquisite.
Well my buckle makes impressions
On the inside of her thigh
There are little feathered Indians
Where we tussled through the night
If I’d known she was religious
Then I wouldn’t have came stoned
To the house of such an angel
Too fucked up to get back home
Cody Jinks comes in with a very different sound than Childers. Jinks absolutely has some killer writing chops, but Loud and Heavy is, to me, the definitive sonic expression of a new generation’s take on outlaw country (Jinks is in good company, most sharing Jinks’ 1970s working class stylings).
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All good stuff. I pay no attention at all to “mainstream” country music. There’s no point in bitching about it. Better to spend that energy getting behind a stable of really excellent writers and performers like Childers and Jinx.
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I have very little idea what is happening on country radio these days. There has never been less reason to need to. I have little reason to turn on the radio, and if I do, I can turn on a bluegrass station, a classic country station, a rock station.
I’m really looking forward to spending some money on live music as things open back up, especially now that I am back in good indie country, er, country.
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I only discovered Tyler Childers back at the beginning of March 2020. Went on a fishing trip down to the Mississippi Delta with my father in law and a couple other guys. One of them would play Childers on his phone while we played cards at night. Blown away by his voice, the lyrics, and the pain in his songs. Then realized he’s from Eatern Kentucky and it hit even closer to home. He’s just phenomenal.
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