The Cosmic Kentucky Parallels of Tyler Childers and Sturgill Simpson

The Cosmic Kentucky Parallels of Tyler Childers and Sturgill Simpson

Dudes, there must be something in the water in Eastern Kentucky.

Maybe it’s the iron, maybe it’s the ghosts of coal miners past, perhaps it’s just good old-fashioned heartache fermented over banjos and bourbon.

But whatever it is, it’s got a grip on two of the most soul-slapping, genre-bending artists this state has ever birthed: Tyler Childers and Sturgill Simpson.

They’re both sons of Appalachia.

They both sound like they’ve time-traveled from another dimension with a mission to punch mainstream country in the teeth.

And most importantly, they both dropped albums that, on the surface, seem vastly different but feel spiritually aligned if you squint through a fog of Marlboro smoke and moonshine vapor.

Let’s talk about it.

A Sailor’s Guide to Earth and Rustin’ in the Rain

In 2016, Sturgill Simpson's A Sailor’s Guide to Earth dropped, a tender, weird, Grammy-winning letter to his newborn son.

With horns, Nirvana, and a sound like it was recorded on a battleship orbiting Saturn, it confused your dad and made us all realize: this ain’t your uncle’s country music.

Fast-forward to 2023: Tyler Childers’ Rustin’ in the Rain felt like a Kentucky fever dream. Its standout, 'In Your Love,' caught everyone off guard with its unapologetic, groundbreaking video about gay love in the coal mines.

He sang it unflinching, just like Sturgill. But where Sailor’s Guide was a son's love letter, Rustin’ felt like a prophet's torch passed, less polish, more sermon.

Snipe Hunters and Space Cowboys

Now here’s where it gets weird in the best kind of way.

Now, Tyler’s latest, Snipe Hunter, continues this arc. It’s mystical, rambling, half joke, half parable.

With fiddle saws and gospel swings, its lyrics feel pulled from a fever dream after a week alone in the woods with a fifth of Four Roses.

It dares you to listen deeper. You’ll realize it’s not about snipes, but chasing the unseen: God, truth, yourself.

Sound familiar? Back in Sailor’s Guide, Sturgill navigated fatherhood and fame, tethering to reality in a world gone sideways.

Tyler, hunting snipes in the same landscape, searches for meaning as the world spins.

Both albums are spiritual roadmaps: one to sea, one to the holler. Both about coming home changed.

Kentucky Ain’t Just a Place. It’s a Vibe.

Childers and Simpson aren't just making music; they're building a mythology.

They're dragging Kentucky behind them like a rickety wagon of ghosts, geodes, and old hymns.

One's the preacher-poet, the other the outlaw philosopher. Together, they're shaping Appalachian art for a new generation.

It’s not nostalgia or parody. It’s reverent, revolutionary.

So if you're on your porch tonight, staring at the stars, wondering what a snipe is or how to be better in a broken world, queue up Sailor’s Guide then Snipe Hunter.

Pour something strong.

Let the spirits speak.

Because in Kentucky, our prophets wear trucker hats and sing truth with grit.