But even as Childers’ own career began to take off, he still made (and continues to make) semi-regular pilgrimages at the Barn and Grill, taking time out from runs of sold-out shows to play W.B.-curated events at The V Club about 70 miles away in Huntington, WV.įittingly for a radio show whose name includes the phrase “old soul,” the official website for Walker’s show is, shall we say, “old-timey” and prone to causing browser crashes. “When I first started playing, it maybe didn’t help us as much, because nobody really knew who he was,” Walker said. Colter Wall’s much-lauded self-titled 2017 LP features an intermission in which Walker praises the Saskatchewan wunderkind, saying, “From my understanding, you all enjoy Colter Wall’s music pretty damn good.” Walker was also one of the first to recognize Childers’s talents, attending his early gigs and highlighting his music on his show, with no real end goal in mind other than turning more people onto the Kentuckian’s work. Walker’s affiliation with, and knack for discovering, the hottest up-and-coming underground country artists is the biggest factor in OSRS’s consistently growing fanbase. Never mind that Colter’s now at leading the cowboy country revival’s vanguard, and Tyler’s late-night talk show performances are briefly on hiatus as prepares for a major co-headlining tour with avant-country superstar Sturgill Simpson early next year. They do so because they’re longtime friends of Walker hoping to shoot the shit and drink some beers together while listening to their favorite records. usually prefaces with “Ol’ Brother” - don’t drive out to Mungo County for the amenities. Seven years later, and OSRS has become one of the most respected indie and outlaw country podcasts in the world, with listeners as far-flung as Hanoi tuning in each week as Walker curates a freshman class of American troubadours.Īrtists like Colter Wall and Tyler Childers - both of whose names W.B. A brief stint working at a radio station in the early 2000’s taught him production basics, and back in 2012, Walker got the idea to start his own program online from his living room. It’s not uncommon for conductors like himself to log 90-hour workweeks, but the money’s good enough to support both his family and hobby back in Dingess. The railroad was something that, growing up, I always heard, ‘Man, them guys make really good money,’ and this and that.”įor the past 13 years, Walker has driven freightlines as far north as the New York-Canada border and out west towards St. Over the phone, Walker told me that his brother and both grandfathers worked in the area’s coal mines, but as he put it mildly to me over the phone, “it just wasn’t real appealing… to want to be that far underground.” He continued, “Unless you go to college, I mean, there isn't a lot of options. I use the word “earned” because, no offense to W.B., but there’s not a whole lot else that would have them drive all the way out to Dingess, West Virginia, an unincorporated municipality nestled between the crook of Virginia, Kentucky, and his home state. in the “Barn and Grill,” the backyard shed-turned-studio where the Old Soul Radio Show records. Many of underground country’s newest sensations, like Colter Wall, Ian Noe, Tyler Childers, and Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, have all earned a seat next to W.B.
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