Whether you love or hate Tyler Childers latest music, no one can deny the fact that he will certainly go down as one of the most important artists of this era in country music when all is said and done.
His entire catalogue is chalk full with some of the best written songs we’ve ever heard, but his prowess may be best shown by the number and quality of unreleased songs that have never made a studio album.
“Woodward Creek”, “Her And The Banks”, “Onedia”, and that’s just a few that quickly come to mind…
But the best one is so popular, it’s shocking it hasn’t been an official release…
“Follow You To Virgie” is a song honoring his friend Cody’s late grandmother, who used to let him and a bunch of his buddies go to her house, play music, and just hang out for hours on end. The song was part of his Live On Red Barn Radio performances from back in 2013 and 2014, however, the recording were later re-released as one complete EP, Live On Red Barn Radio I & II, in 2018.
He performed a number of songs from his albums, including a cover of John R Miller’s “Coming Down,” and the unreleased gem, “Follow You To Virgie.”
He prefaced the song by saying he’d never gotten through a full performance without breaking down until his last time playing at Red Barn Radio, which shows how much she meant to him, and might explain why he’s never done the song in studio; it just wouldn’t feel right. Of course, a number of the songs Tyler has released recently are rather old, some written years and years ago, so I suppose it’s not completely out of the question.
While it sure seems we’ll never get a studio cut of this one, maybe it’s better to just have the raw, live performance. You get more of the passion and love out of it and it will forever remain a piece of Tyler Childers’ lore.
He also recorded it for his stellar OurVinyl Sessions.
