It’s damn near impossible to do a country classic of this significance justice, but Tyler Childers somehow pulled it off.
Sadly, Kris Kristofferson passed away at the age of 88 years old this past weekend, at his home in Maui, Hawaii. Of course, he will be greatly missed, and his contributions to not only the country genre, but the music world in general, cannot be overstated.
And I, like many others, have been reflecting on his significance to music, and I was reminded of a great cover Tyler did of one of Kris’ signature songs, “Help Me Make It Through The Night.” In 2019, he reimagined it for Apple Music, and it’s an all-time great cover that truly gets better with time.
Of course, Tyler has an incredibly unique and powerful voice, which certainly contributes to the greatness in a huge way, but he also sings it with such conviction and sincerity that you’d just about think he’s the one who wrote it… in my opinion, that’s the mark of a genuinely great cover.
A solo write by Kris, “Help Me Make It Through The Night” was included on his 1970 album Kristofferson, and has been covered by countless other artists since then like Willie Nelson, Elvis Presley, Loretta Lynn, Gladys Knight & the Pips and even Morgan Wade.
The track peaked at #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1971, and of course, remains one of the all-time great country songs to this day.
Funny enough, Kris first got the inspiration from the song after reading an old Esquire interview with the late Frank Sinatra, where he was asked what he believed in and replied:
“Booze, broads, or a bible… whatever helps me make it through the night.”
And one of the greatest country songs of that decade, and possibly of all-time, was born… quite a story.
Kris actually first offered it to Dottie West (who he was living with at the time), however she declined and it was recorded by a handful of other artists, including Sammi Smith and Ray Price, before Dottie herself wound up cutting for her 1971 album Careless Hands.
Should’ve jumped when she had the chance…
Either way, it’s become an all-time country classic and standard beloved by country fans all over the world even still, but there’s something so special about Tyler’s version that I can never, ever get enough of too.
Of course, he’s performed it live dozens and dozens of times, and this isn’t a particularly new cover as it was recorded four years ago now, but I thought the studio cut needed to be given proper credit and it’s own dedicated post…
And if you have Apple Music, do yourself a favor and download the full version (if for some reason you haven’t already), but if you don’t have Apple Music and haven’t heard this studio version before, you can listen to a clip of it here:
It simply doesn’t get better than that… I’d say it’s second only to the man himself, Mr. Kristofferson.
The top Youtube comment on Tyler’s kicka** performance of “Help Me” at Willie Nelson’s Farm Aid a couple years ago summed it up best, I think:
“Out of the countless renditions of this classic by numerous legends, this one might take the crown.”
Amen… I can’t (and won’t) argue with that:
“Help Me Make It Through The Night”