Last Sunday (January 28), Nashville’s City Winery hosted Hello from the Hills. The benefit concert raised money for the Hope from the Hills Foundation and the Hello in There Foundation. The lineup featured several country and Americana artists including Wynonna Judd and Tyler Childers.
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Childers took the stage at the City Winery without his full band, The Food Stamps. Instead, he opted for a stripped-down acoustic set accompanied by a fiddle and mandolin. Many longtime fans of the Kentucky-based singer/songwriter agree that the stripped-down versions of his songs are better than the full-band versions. During the benefit show, he gave those die-hard fans exactly what they wanted.
Tyler Childers Plays the Classics at Hello from the Hills
Over the last couple of years, some fans have complained that Childers stopped playing some of his biggest songs at his concerts. More specifically, they complained that he didn’t play songs like “Lady May,” “Honky Tonk Flame,” or “Feathered Indians” anymore. That wasn’t the case for his set at the City Winery.
He started his set with “Born Again” followed by “Country Squire” and “Nose on the Grindstone.” Then he said, “Let’s play a love song, huh?” before launching into “Lady May.” Next, he dipped into his deep well of cover songs and gave the crowd a rendition of “Paradise” by John Prine. Playing a Prine song was fitting in this instance. Prine’s family started the Hello in There Foundation in his honor after his passing in 2020.
After giving a nod to the late great Singing Mailman, Childers went back to his catalog. He played “Honky Tonk Flame” and finished the set with “Follow You to Virgie.” Watch the entire set below.
Childers’ Collection of Love Songs Has a Sweet Origin
In 2021, Childers released a behind-the-scenes video that showed him in the studio working on re-tooled versions of some of his songs. During the video, he explained why he has so many love songs in his catalog. In short, he wrote most of them for his wife, Senora May.
“I write a lot of love songs for Senora,” he said. “It used to be that I’d get in trouble or upset her, it was just as easy as writing her a love song,” Childers continued. “It’s not nearly as effective as it used to be. Nowadays, I usually have to do something else on top of that,” he added.
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