By Satyne Doner, Co-Editor-in-Chief
Country music fans, rejoice! September was a home-run month for lovers of fiddle and heartland grit, with new album releases from Tyler Childers and Zach Bryan to usher in the autumn season.
On September 8, Kentucky native Childers dropped his sixth studio album, Rustin’ In The Rain, a seven-song love letter to the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley.
“I started thinking a lot about Elvis and I was like, I’m going to try to collect some songs that I’dwritten, and some covers that I would want to pitch to Elvis. So, the songs that I wrote, I was writing like an Elvis impersonation,” says Childers in an interview with NPR.
With its juke-joint piano, gentle guitar sways, and foot-tapping rhythms, the album pays homage to rural favorites such as the 1970’s love ballad Help Me Make It Through the Night and original melodies like Percheron Mules alike.
Standout track In Your Love immediately polarized listeners and viewers of the controversial music video, which portrays the tragic love story of two coal miners in Appalachia. In partnership with friend and Kentucky poet laureate Silas House, the two wrote a video to highlight the clash between rural life, art, and what it truly means to be an ally.
At the month’s end, fellow grassroots country star Zach Bryan released his self-titled album on August 25. The fourth studio album features collaborations with Kacey Musgraves, The Lumineers, Sierra Ferrell, and The War and Treaty.
The stripped-back songs encapsulate Bryan’s gritty voice as he hums about life, death, love, and everything in between. East Side of Sorrow tells a tale of war and pain, while ballad I Remember Everything reflects on Bryan’s Oklahoma upbringing and how that transpires in his adult life as he grapples with a newfound stardom.
Stunningly, on September 22, Bryan released EP Boys of Faith, a five-song pocket album with a punch. With help from Noah Kahan and Bon Iver, Bryan surprised fans with what feels like a continuation of his previous album.
“Locked myself in a studio all week, wrote myself through a notebook, walked around with people I love in the city then went campin, felt restful and hopeful, thankful for breathing no matter the day… just grateful,” says Bryan in an Instagram post from September 17.
Nine Ball kicks open the EP with a humming harmonica while the previously unreleased Pain, Sweet, Pain gently yet powerfully pulls the curtain down.
For country music fans looking for an off-the-beaten-path harmony, these three albums would be a stellar inclusion in any playlist. From Childers’s jamboree homages to the country of old and Bryan’s steely introspection on the country of new, this month ushered in a new era of American heartland music.
