Tyler Childers is back with an ambitious and unique new project. On Sept. 30, the celebrated singer-songwriter will release Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?, a brand new album featuring eight new songs presented in three parts.
These three chapters — titled Hallelujah, Jubilee and Joyful Noise — supply three different sonic interpretations of Childers’ latest collection of tracks. The Hallelujah segment features a more organic, stripped down style of production formed during a two-day live recording session at guitarist James Barker’s home studio. For Jubilee, Childers supplies a more layered sound featuring the addition of strings, horns, background vocals as well as dulcimer, mbira and sitar. The sonic landscape found on Joyful Noise will be kept secret until release day.
To coincide with the album announcement, Childers and the Food Stamps have shared the official music video for the Jubilee version of “Angel Band,” which you can watch below.
Childers co-produced Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven? with his band, the Food Stamps, which is comprised of Barker (pedal steel), Craig Burletic (bass), CJ Cain (guitar), Rodney Elkins (drums), Chase Lewis (keyboards) and Jesse Wells (guitar, fiddle).
The project was inspired by Childers’ own early experiences with religion and how they helped to shape his own views and beliefs.
“I grew up Baptist and I was scared to death to go to hell. And a lot of that stuck with me,” Childers says. “Filtering through that and trying to find the truth, and the beauty, and the things you should think about and expelling all that nonsense has been something I’ve spent a lot of time on. This is a collection that came together through those reflections. In a lot of ways, this is processing life experiences in the different philosophies and religions that have formed me, trying to make a comprehensive sonic example of that.”
“Working with the same song three different ways is a nod to my raising, growing up in a church that believes in the Holy Trinity: The Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and what that means,” notes Childers. “The Father being the root, the place from which everything comes from, and The Son coming to free up some of those things, allowing it to be more open and welcoming. And then you have the Holy Ghost once The Son is gone — that feeling that’s supposed to keep us sustained until we are reunited, in whatever way that looks.”
The Kentucky native hopes that the record — which serves as his first full-length release since his acclaimed 2020 LP Long Violent History — will highlight the important threads that connect us all.
“Message wise, I hope that people take that it doesn’t matter race, creed, religion and all of that like — the most important part is to protect your heart, cultivate that and make that something useful for the world.”
Tyler Childers and the Food Stamps, Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven? Track List:
HALLELUJAH
1. “Old Country Church”
2. “Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?”
3. “Two Coats”
4. “Purgatory”
5. “Way of the Triune God”
6. “Angel Band”
7. “Jubilee”
8. “Heart You Been Tendin’”
JUBILEE
1. “Old Country Church”
2. “Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?”
3. “Two Coats”
4. “Purgatory”
5. “Way of the Triune God”
6. “Angel Band”
7. “Jubilee”
8. “Heart You Been Tendin’”
JOYFUL NOISE
1. “Old Country Church”
2. “Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?”
3. “Two Coats”
4. “Purgatory”
5. “Way of the Triune God”
6. “Angel Band”
7. “Jubilee”
8. “Heart You Been Tendin’”
13 John Prine Lyrics That Prove He Wrote Like No One Else
Prine’s lyrical stories were both fantastical and simple; he wrote with a Midwest-bred honesty and humor that kept listeners on their toes. His catalog, spread over 18 albums, contains vivid stories (“Lake Marie”), insightful looks at the human condition (“Hello in There”) and sweet love songs (“Aimless Love”).
These 13 Prine lyrics — largely pulled from his songs’ choruses — are some of his very best: