Tyler Childers was born and raised in Lawrence County, Kentucky. His father worked in the coal industry and his mother is a nurse. He learned singing in church where he sang in the church choir. He started to play guitar and write songs when he was around 13. He moved from Lawrence County to Paintsville, Kentucky, where he attended Paintsville High School and graduated in 2009. Fellow country musicians Chris Stapleton and Loretta Lynn (Van Lear, KY) also hail from Paintsville. He studied for a semester at Western Kentucky University, and enrolled at Bluegrass Community and Technical College for a few semesters. He dropped out of college and did odd jobs for some time while pursuing a music career.
Childers began performing in Lexington, Kentucky and Huntington, West Virginia. In 2011, when he was 19, Childers released his first album, Bottles And Bibles. He has also released two EPs recorded in 2013 at Red Barn Radio, a radio show from Lexington. The two EPs were later released as one after the success of his album Purgatory, and reached No. 5 on Heatseekers Albums.
He had his first success with Purgatory, a breakthrough album released on August 4, 2017. The album was produced by Sturgill Simpson and David Ferguson and recorded at The Butcher Shoppe in Nashville. Simpson also played guitar and sang backing vocals on the album, with Miles Miller on drums, Stuart Duncan on fiddle and Russ Paul on other instruments. It debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart, No. 17 on the Country albums chart and No. 4 on the Americana/Folk albums chart. In September 2018, Childers won Emerging Artist of the Year at the 2018 Americana Music Honors & Awards, where he gave an acceptance speech noted for its criticism of the Americana genre label, saying that "as a man who identifies as a country music singer, I feel Americana ain't no part of nothing and is a distraction from the issues that we're facing on a bigger level as country music singers. It kind of feels like purgatory."
Country Squire, a second album under the Hickman Holler label, and Childers' third overall, was released on August 2, 2019, after being announced in May 2019. This album was again produced by Simpson and Ferguson. The video of the lead single from the album "House Fire" was also released on May 16, 2019.
Childers' music is influenced by his home state of Kentucky and its connection to country music and bluegrass. He often writes about coal mining, which was his father's occupation, and its effects. Rebecca Bengal, writing for The Guardian, described Childers' songs as a "counternarrative to the outsiders who seek to perpetuate stereotypes of backwardness and poverty." Childers emphasizes lyrical content in songs, comparing the songwriting process to telling short stories.
Banded Clovis
Tyler Childers Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
He invited me diggin', so I picked up my screen
And a shovel to dig and a jar of shine
Traded me fair for a bottle of wine
His brother's Barnes Mountain wine
We trudged through the snow straight up the hillside
Took a ridge for a while, then we slowly went down
We bent o'er our handles and we bit in the ground
The dark and bloody ground
Was a bitch to break ground but the wine kept us goin'
Moonshine was flowin' and keepin' us warm
'Cause you can't hold a girl with a fistful of shovel
Got to find your fire in the company of corn
We dug for a while then it all turned to ashes
Found a bunch of broke flint and a few bits of bone
Then I heard Jesse yell o'er the pile he was sifting
Shook the hills like the angels were callin' us home
Jesse, Zachary come home
It was banded as hell, it was fluted and Clovis
It was hot as the pistol I kept on my side
And I was fiending so fierce, I was broke ass and busted
I pulled out my pistol and I took Jesse's life
Clovis like that is a hard point to find
Makes pills swift to come by with a good chunk of change
Left over for burn on whatever meanness
Whatever woman is comin' my way
Darlin' come my way
I sit in this cell for the banded Clovis
I stole off of Nolan when I killed'm that day
I reckon the chase of the pills and the powder
Corn liquor and woman are the culprits to blame
The song “Banded Clovis,” by Tyler Childers, tells a story of a man named Tina Nolan, who invites the singer to dig for artifacts on his land. The singer takes his equipment, which includes a shovel and a jar of moonshine, and sets out with Nolan’s man to search for treasures. The duo trudges through the snow up a hillside and down to an overhang, where they begin digging. The moonshine keeps them warm as they work and dig through the dark, bloody ground. After a while, they uncover some broken flint and bits of bone, but then Jesse yells out that he’s found something incredible. As Jesse holds up the banded Clovis, the singer finds himself overcome with greed and, fueled by his addiction to pills, shoots and kills Jesse to take the Clovis.
“Banded Clovis” is a song that uses its lyrics to tell a powerful story about addiction and greed. The song’s narrative is not just a tale of digging up artifacts but rather a metaphorical story of the singer's addiction to pills. Even though the singer has been left in jail for his crime, he says that he still craves the banded Clovis in the hopes that he might sell it and have enough money for drugs, corn liquor, and women.
Line by Line Meaning
Tina Nolan had a man with a good place for siftin'
Tina Nolan knew someone with a good location for searching for valuable artifacts
He invited me diggin', so I picked up my screen
He invited me to help him search for artifacts, so I brought my sifters
And a shovel to dig and a jar of shine
I also brought a shovel for digging and a jar of moonshine to keep warm
Traded me fair for a bottle of wine
He gave me a fair trade for a bottle of wine
His brother's Barnes Mountain wine
The wine he traded me was made by his brother from Barnes Mountain
We trudged through the snow straight up the hillside
We walked through deep snow up the steep slope
Took a ridge for a while, then we slowly went down
After reaching the top of the ridge, we descended slowly
To an overhang hid from the ridgeline
We arrived at a sheltered spot hidden from sight on the ridge
We bent o'er our handles and we bit in the ground
We leaned over our tools and started digging into the soil
The dark and bloody ground
The soil was very difficult to dig into, and stained with iron-rich minerals
Was a bitch to break ground but the wine kept us goin'
The tough soil was frustrating to dig into, but the moonshine helped keep us motivated
Moonshine was flowin' and keepin' us warm
The homemade liquor also helped warm us up in the cold
'Cause you can't hold a girl with a fistful of shovel
Digging for artifacts won't help win a woman's heart
Got to find your fire in the company of corn
To attract a woman, one must have a love of moonshine and partying
We dug for a while then it all turned to ashes
We spent a lot of time digging but didn't find anything worth keeping
Found a bunch of broke flint and a few bits of bone
We found mostly broken pieces of stone tools and animal bones
Then I heard Jesse yell o'er the pile he was sifting
Jesse called out from where he was sifting through his pile of soil
Shook the hills like the angels were callin' us home
The excitement of Jesse's discovery echoed through the hills and made us feel like we were being summoned to heaven
It was banded as hell, it was fluted and Clovis
The artifact Jesse found was a rare, banded, fluted Clovis point
It was hot as the pistol I kept on my side
I was very excited to see the Clovis point and felt it was as valuable as the pistol I carried
And I was fiending so fierce, I was broke ass and busted
I wanted the Clovis point so badly that I was desperate even though I had no money
I pulled out my pistol and I took Jesse's life
I killed Jesse so I could keep the Clovis point for myself
Clovis like that is a hard point to find
Clovis points are very rare and valuable finds
Makes pills swift to come by with a good chunk of change
Selling a Clovis point can fetch a high price for the digger
Left over for burn on whatever meanness
After selling the point, there would be money left to spend on whatever vices one desired
Whatever woman is comin' my way
The extra money could also be spent to attract women
Darlin' come my way
The singer is inviting women to come be with him
I sit in this cell for the banded Clovis
The artist has been arrested and is in jail for killing Jesse and stealing the Clovis point
I stole off of Nolan when I killed'm that day
The Clovis point was stolen during the murder of Jesse, who was working with Nolan
I reckon the chase of the pills and the powder
The singer believes that his addiction to drugs and alcohol led to his desperation in killing Jesse for the point
Corn liquor and woman are the culprits to blame
The singer blames his love of moonshine and women for his current situation in jail
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Timothy Tyler Childers
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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