Tyler Childers will issue his fourth album of the decade with Snipe Hunter. Out July 25th via RCA Records and Childers’ Hickman Holler Records, the album hears the alt-country singer-songwriter working with famed producer Rick Rubin and Sylvan Esso’s Nick Sanborn.
Along with the announcement, Childers shared a long-awaited proper studio recording of “Nose on the Grindstone”. The track has been a live favorite for years, but never received the full studio treatment. A solo acoustic recording Childers made for a 2017 OurVinyl session remains one of his most popular streaming songs, with over 300 million listens on Spotify. The version he shared on Thursday sounds fairly identical to his live solo version, with the notable amendment of the line “f–cked up his back” to “messed up his back,” the addition of Food Stamps keyboardist Kory Caudill‘s emotive organ swells, and the general polished tone of Rubin’s production.
Other than the facts that Snipe Hunter is 13 tracks, produced by Rick Rubin, and out on July 25th, there’s not much more official information on Childers’ seventh studio album. The enigmatic singer-songwriter recently fueled speculation that the forthcoming release will include some of his long-sought-after but never professionally recorded songs. The release of “Nose on the Grindstone” lends some weight to that theory, along with Childers recently including “Jersey Giant” in his live shows after avoiding the song for years despite Elle King, Evan Honer, and Sam Barber all finding modest streaming success with it recently. On Wednesday, the day before the album announcement, Childers also shared a mysterious video that seemed to hint at a proper release of fellow rarity “Oneida” and teased the “Nose on the Grindstone” single.
Related: All Of The Clues About Tyler Childers’ New Album [Videos]
Additionally, the name Snipe Hunter recalls the original “Snipe Hunt” Childers performed 13 times in 2018 and 2019 before shelving it, per Setlist.fm. For those unfamiliar, the “snipe hunt” is a common summer camp and camping trip tradition where kids are sent out to hunt a mythical (and non-existent) bird, the snipe. Given Childers’ affinity for toying with his audiences in pursuit of his singular artistic vision—see the “Joyful Noise” disc of Can I Take My Hounds To Heaven?—some have theorized that Snipe Hunter will consist of songs fans have already heard. Is Childers sending fans on a snipe hunt for an album of new material? We’ll find out July 25th.
Childers’ last studio effort arrived in 2023 with Rustin’ in the Rain. Similarly to Snipe Hunt, he didn’t immediately share the tracklist. When it finally arrived a month after the announcement, many fans were disappointed to find it was only seven songs, two of them covers of Kris Kristofferson and S.G. Goodman. Since then, he has also issued an official studio recording for “Song While You’re Away“, another old-school favorite that never made it onto an album.
Pre-order Tyler Childers’ forthcoming album Snipe Hunter here and check out the live video and official audio for “Nose on the Grindstone”.
Tyler Childers — “Nose On The Grindstone” [Official Live Video]
Tyler Childers — “Nose On The Grindstone” [Audio]
