The towering musical forces of Tyler Childers and the late, great John Prine came together on Sunday in Nashville for the second-annual Hello From The Hills benefit concert. Headlined by Childers, the show at Nashville’s intimate City Winery was a joint venture organized by Childers’ Hope In The Hills organization and Prine’s Hello In There Foundation.
Hosted by country singer Kathy Mattea (NPR’s Mountain Stage), the lineup featured a wide swath of country and folk artists including Wynonna Judd, Ben Folds, S.G. Goodman, Abby Hamilton, Gabe Lee, Lindsay Lou, and Jeremy Short with local guitar prodigy Grace Bowers. The showcase moved briskly as each singer-songwriter performed two to three songs each, interspersed with personal anecdotes and connections to the charitable beneficiaries. Childers’ non-profit Hope In The Hills was created in response to the opioid epidemic in Appalachia while Prine’s Hello In There Foundation supports groups who have been marginalized or forgotten by society.
The main event came when Childers hit the stage for a seven-song set, the lengthiest performance of the evening. City Winery was a far cry from the arenas and amphitheaters that Childers has been consistently selling out since he returned to touring last year, but the Kentucky bard capitalized on the intimacy of the 450-person seated room as he made quips between songs and engaged with the hushed crowd.
The streamlined set featured several of his staple songs like “Country Squire”, “Nose on the Grindstone”, and “Lady May”, but the true highlight came when Childers gave a nod to the dearly departed Prine with a cover of “Paradise”. The song choice brought the evening full circle, as here was Childers—a direct descendent of Prine’s witty conversational songwriting style—singing a song that John wrote about the beauty of Tyler’s home state.
Check out a full video of Tyler Childers’ set at the Hello From The Hills benefit in Nashville, with the John Prine cover starting at 18:20.
Tyler Childers – City Winery – Nashville, TN – 1/28/24 – Full Set
[Video: Casey H.]
Setlist: Tyler Childers | City Winery | Nashville, TN | 1/28/24
Set: Born Again, Country Squire, Nose on the Grindstone, Lady May, Paradise (John Prine), Honky Tonk Flame, Follow You to Virgie