Rustin' in the Rain

Elvis might be dead, but his spirit is alive and well on Tyler Childers’ sixth studio album. The Kentucky native and cult favourite compiled seven songs new and old with the King in mind, and the resulting collection is as arresting and electric as anything Childers has done to date. The opening title track is boogie-woogie blues with crunchy riffs and juke-joint piano, calling back to the Southern gospel of the LP’s predecessor <i>Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?</i> “Luke 2:8-10”, which boasts guest vocals from Margo Price, Erin Rae and S.G. Goodman, takes a simple, down-home arrangement to spin a yarn about the end of the world, using the fodder of its titular scripture in surprising ways. Childers’ cover of Kris Kristofferson’s “Help Me Make It Through the Night” is beautifully bruised, as he masterfully captures the conflicted sentiment of the original. And anchoring the album is the tender love song “In Your Love”, whose music video, a collaboration with the author Silas House, is a poignant short film celebrating a lifelong love between two fictional men who met as coal miners.