Man, Tyler Childers knows his way around a cover.
Whether he’s strumming some Willie Nelson an acoustic guitar, or full band performances of Kenny Rogers “Tulsa Turnaround,” Charlie Daniels’ “Trudy,” and even the Hank Williams classic, “The Old Country Church,” all of which are regular parts of Childers live set these days.
But at Warren Haynes’ 31st Annual Christmas Jam in Asheville, North Carolina, over the weekend, Tyler and company broke out a new one… from Charley Crockett. Well, sorta…
Following the band intros, Tyler introduced this song as:
“I’ve been doing a lot of baby duty here lately, and when the little guy gets fussy, this is one of his favorite songs”
Titled “Tom Turkey,” the song appears to actually be based on an old Bob Dylan tune that was released for the 1973 film, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.
Starring James Coburn and country music legend Kris Kristofferson, the film’s score was composed by Bob Dylan (who also starred in the film) and included the iconic “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.”
Titled “Billy 4,” Charley borrows the 7th and 8th verses of the Bob Dylan song… and then the rest is written by Charley.
Similar to the way that Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show took Dylan’s “Rock Me Mama” chorus (which was actually a demo written for this very same movie) and finished up the verses for a new song called “Wagon Wheel,” Charley took a piece of this song for… Tom Turkey.
The more you know…
From Bob Dylan to Charley Crockett… and now Tyler Childers is singing it to his baby boy (and us)… what a journey for this little piece of art.
Here’s Charley’s version:
And Bob Dylan’s “Billy 4”