Tyler Childers opened his Raleigh set not under the spotlight of the main stage, but standing alone on a round stage planted at the back of the seats & just in front of the lawn, right in the middle of us. No grand introduction, no thunder of drums or electric flair. Just him, a guitar, & the kind of hush that falls when something sacred is about to happen.
For those of us who found shelter in his songs long before the crowds showed up, we knew this boy from Kentucky wasn’t just a singer, but a prophet of sorts. This moment hit different.
He didn’t open with a hit. He opened with a heartache.
Nose on the Grindstone
Follow You to Virgie
Shake the Frost
Three songs. Live and untamed. No studio polish. Unforgettable
These aren’t radio singles. They’re the deep cuts we clung to like gospel. Songs we found on YouTube in shaky videos with muffled audio, passed from fan to fan like folklore. Back then, he only had a couple albums to his name, & a voice that felt like something we’d never heard before. So we dug deep, searching for more. Anything we could find. & when we found these songs, they stuck.
So when he opened the show with them, no lights, no spectacle, just Tyler & the truth, it felt like a gift. A gift to the ones who’ve been here. Not just to say we were here. Not just to snap a selfie in front of the stage in cowboy boots that touched the Earth for the first time the day before, tags still on the soles.
These songs weren’t for show. They were for the folks who came for the music. Who feel these songs in their bones. Who didn’t need anything more than the sound of that voice & a guitar to be moved to tears.
Tyler didn’t open with fireworks. He opened with fire. The kind that glows low & slow, & stays with you long after the music fades. If you were there, really there, you know what it felt like.
A gift. A gospel. A moment.
Tyler Childers plays Jersey Giant with the full band for the 2nd ever in Raleigh, North Carolina!
Tyler Childers sent waves through the crowd in Raleigh, North Carolina, when he played “Jersey Giant” with his full band for only the second time ever—solidifying the track as a viral fan favorite despite never officially recording it himself. Though it’s long been a cherished gem among his diehard listeners, the song gained a second wind when Elle King released her own version, introducing “Jersey Giant” to a wider audience and sparking a wave of covers from artists across the Americana and country scenes. That night in Raleigh, with the band behind him and the fans hanging onto every word, Childers reclaimed the tune that had become a modern folk anthem—reminding everyone exactly where its roots run deep.
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