Before Tyler Childers was the indie powerhouse he is today, he was a relatively unknown independent singer/songwriter from Lawrence County, Kentucky. With only one studio album, Bottles and Bibles, under his belt, the release of Purgatory on August 4th, 2017, sent shockwaves through the independent country scene.
It’s no stretch to say that Purgatory is a modern-day classic from the Appalachian singer/songwriter. Coming in at 10 tracks and 37 minutes, Purgatory is arguably a perfect record. It traverses plenty of ground in the tight tracklist, containing songs about murder, religion, love, loss and even cocaine. Not a single song, lyric or even note feels wasted throughout the album’s 37-minute runtime.
For Childers, the album was a deeply personal release. In an interview with LEO Weekly, he said,
“The album is semi-autobiographical. I’ve never killed anybody for an arrowhead, so that was more of a story song. But, with a lot of it, I just wanted to try to convey the angst, I guess, of being a young fella from that area. A lot of these songs are songs that I’ve written over the last seven years, all the while trying to make it playing music. I was looking for something, an accumulation of that angst of being young and not really not knowing what you want to do with your life and trying to figure it out, and tripping and falling and failing along the way.”
Famously, Purgatory was produced by fellow independent star, Sturgill Simpson, and David R. Ferguson. In the same interview with LEO Weekly, Childers recounted how working with the You Can Have the Crown singer. While discussing the closing track, Universal Sound, he said,
“That was one that Sturgill took full reign on. I was playing it acoustic for a long time, but I was playing it faster. I hadn’t really tried it out with the band. I brought the song to him, and I was like, ‘I really feel like this song needs to go on the album.’ He was like, ‘Yeah man, I really like the song, and I think if it goes on there, it needs to be a little slower, because it’s a song about finding your center and inner-reflection and meditation, and you’re playing it so fast — nobody can mediate to the speed of bluegrass.’ So, that was the best example of Sturgill’s influence on [Purgatory]. And he’s all over the record.”
Commercially, Purgatory was an absolute smash hit for Childers, especially for an independent album. Feathered Indians, Lady May and Whitehouse Road were all certified platinum by the RIAA with Feathered Indians going double platinum in 2022. The album was certified platinum in August of 2022, making it Childers’ first and only platinum record.
Critically, Purgatory was also a resounding success for the Feathered Indians singer. Following the success of the record, Childers received an award for Emerging Artist of the Year at the 2018 Americana Music Honors & Awards where he famously criticized the genre during his acceptance speech.
Listen to Lady May, Feathered Indians and Tattoos here: