Last November, Elle King turned some heads in the country music world by releasing her own cover of Tyler Childers’ unreleased fan favorite, “Jersey Giant.”
It was written and regularly performed by Tyler quite a few years back, and while it was always a favorite among loyal Tyler Childers fans, the song just recently had a viral moment on TikTok, broadening its appeal. We saw artists like Evan Honer and Josiah and the Bonnevilles deliver killer renditions, as well as a number of YouTube and TikTok covers take the song to new heights.
So naturally, Tyler’s label RCA was like, and I’m paraphrasing here, “dude, this song is blowing up, you need to record it officially to capitalize on the momentum.”
And Tyler said… no.
So, they asked him who on RCA would be a good person to record it, and perhaps to the surprise of many, he said Elle King.
King, who is quickly becoming a name to know in the country space, weighed in on the song:
“I was so humbled when Tyler asked me to record the song. And then earlier this year he surprised my fans and joined me on stage in Lexington, KY.
That was a badass moment for me personally.”
She also told Apple Music about how she first met Tyler:
“I met Tyler years ago because where he’s from in Kentucky is not very far from where my family’s from in southern Ohio. And I go back to my brother… My brother’s like, “Elle, there’s this guy, Tyler Childers. And he’s coming and he is playing the River Rat Festival.”
And he said, “You think you could get me to meet him? I just love him.” I know that he has millions of fans all around the world, but he’s like a hero where my family comes from.
And so I was like, “Sure, cool, let’s go.” And I went and it was really, really fun. I met him and he was so cool.”
“Jersey Giant” was a favorite on King’s critically acclaimed Come Get Your Wife album that she released earlier this year.
With that being said, we’ll now get to enjoy the song on country music radio as well, as King has officially announced that the song is headed to radio. Of course, that is if country radio actually plays it… we all know their track record of playing good music (and women) over the past decade or so.
Granted, things are getting better… so my hope in country music radio is slowly being restored everyday.
Ell will also join Childers on his 2023 Send in the Hounds Tour, making an appearance at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on August 2nd and 3rd.
And the liver version of Elle and Tyler together from Lexington, Kentucky:
