CAN I TAKE MY HOUNDS TO HEAVEN
As a soft country fan—and hard FEATHERED INDIANS fan—I have been looking forward to this Friday for a while now. Tyler Childers’ long-awaited album has finally dropped, but it’s miles away from any of his previous music. Instead, it’s his take on a gospel cover album, in the form of eight songs recorded in three different ways. Best explained as a three-disc vinyl set, CAN I TAKE MY HOUNDS TO HEAVEN? can be broken into three sections: HALLELUJAH, JUBILEE and JOYFUL NOISE. The tone for the entire endeavor is set with the first song, OLD COUNTRY CHURCH - HALLELUJAH VERSION. Covering Hank Williams’ bluegrass country hit, Tyler breathes new life into the heart of the song. The HALLELUJAH version has the strong body and chords of a great gospel song, and the JOYFUL NOISE version is almost an ode to Tyler's youth, growing up in Appalachian churches. This wasn’t the obvious choice of follow-up for the artist, but I enjoy the risk he’s taking, letting listeners jump from gospel choirs to radio mixes all on the same album. I’m still out here waiting for a true follow-up to PURGATORY and COUNTRY SQUIRE, but this will tide me over at least through the fall…
—Jackson Ingraham, Executive Assistant
