Long Violent History

In September, with no pre-release fanfare, vaunted country/bluegrass singer-songwriter Tyler Childers released his fourth album, Long Violent History, accompanied by a six-minute-long video address, posted across social media, which puts the album's nine tracks in the context of a general feeling of angst in America. Citing systemic, institutionalised racism as the root cause of the problem, Childers appeals directly to “my white rural listeners” to practice empathy, particularly when considering civil disturbances arising from the Black Lives Matter movement. “What if we were to constantly open up our daily paper and see a headline like ‘East Kentucky Man Shot Seven Times on a Fishing Trip'?” Childers asks. “Read on to find the man was shot while fishing with his son by a game warden, who saw him rummaging through his tackle box for his license and thought he was reaching for a knife.”

The mostly traditional stringband/bluegrass songs on Long Violent History are splendidly interpreted by an ace ensemble featuring multi-instrumentalist Dom Flemons, banjoist John Haywood, mandolinist Andrew Marlin, guitarist Josh Oliver, bassist John R Miller, fiddler Chloe Edmonstone and cellist Cecelia Wright. The title-track delivers the album's only vocal lines, which carry the same message Childers delivers in his video address; before reacting with prideful outrage, ‘imagine just constantly worrying, kicking and fighting, begging to breathe?'