For as much as I’m against non-traditional sounds making their way into country music, I’m a huge fan of the rock/country scene that’s absolutely exploded over the past few years.
Artists like Koe Wetzel, Treaty Oak Revival, Pecos & the Rooftops, and Kolby Cooper have picked up where Cross Canadian Ragweed left off, twisting country lyrics towards the darker side before laying them over distorted guitars and heavy drums in a very enticing mix of two genres that I love.
Is this hypocritical of me? Criticizing Morgan Wallen and the like for using hip-hop beats in “country” music while heavily supporting this alt-rock/country scene? I really don’t think so because these artists will never call themselves traditionalists. Sure, they benefit greatly from their association with the country world but never once has any of the artists I mentioned said they belong in the same category as George Strait or Dolly Parton. Their fans, especially the real ones, are well aware that it’s not “real country” that they love so much.
Now, I realize what I’m about to say may ruffle some feathers, so let me be very clear that I love Tyler Childers and consider him the most integral part of the improvements we’ve seen throughout the entire genre. His song writing is close to unmatched, his voice and phrasing one of a kind, and his stage aura is hypnotizing even just from watching videos (I’ve yet to see him live… had tickets for a Sturgill and Childers show on March 15th, 2020 but a little virus hit and it became the first event of mine that got cancelled).
Fans have long wondered why some of his unreleased songs have never made their way onto an official studio project. From “Follow You To Virgie” to “Oneida” to “Losing You”, the list of Childers songs that you can only find acoustic on YouTube is long and filled with treasures, but there’s always been one track that fans near unanimously agree is on the top of that list and I now know why he never released it.
“Messed Up Kid”
At this point it would be pretty hard to track down the origins of “Messed Up Kid” but Childers used to play it at his shows quite regularly. Fans latched on to the unique lyrics and sharp melody and it became something of folklore until he released a quasi-official version during his SomerSessions appearance. That performance has now racked up over 10 million views and made this song quite well known for not being available on any streaming services, with a second verse that’s addictive beyond imagination.
She tells me I’ve got a problem with drinkin’
But loves going out on the weekends
Throws me the keys with a pretty please
And wonders if I’ll drive her home
Even when we wrote about “Messed Up Kid” back in 2020 we knew there was little to no chance of this one making an album. Today there’s an actual zero percent chance unless Childers decided to toss all his unreleased songs on some makeshift project to get people to stop begging for them, and odds of that happening are very, very long.
This leads us to a new cover of the song that hit streaming services just a few days ago and all of a sudden it clicked why Childers decided against releasing it in the first place.
Dexter and The Moonrocks
Last Friday, Texas based rock/grunge/country adjacent band Dexter and The Moonrocks put out a live version of “Messed Up Kid” and quite honestly, it’s incredible. Will there forever be people saying that no one but Tyler should sing this song? Of course, people get stuck in their ways, but if you give their cover an honest listen it’s abundantly clear that “Messed Up Kid” was always meant to be a grungy rock song, even if Childers didn’t know so when he wrote it.
Sure, the acoustic original is great but can you admit the song just sounds better with a full band, lead guitar, and emo-esk vocals? Doesn’t the full instrumentation really drive home the confusion of things happening too fast to process, trying to keep up with a girl you know is no good, and wondering how the hell you’ll ever get out of your situation? It sure does to me…
Tyler Childers couldn’t have released this song because he realized it didn’t fit his style. If this doesn’t prove how prolific he is with a pen, writing a song in a different genre that was so good his entire fanbase became addicted, than I don’t know what could.
Big shoutout to Dexter and The Moonrocks (definitely check them out if you’re unfamiliar) for getting this one on streaming services and unleashing the true potential that was hidden in plain sight all these years.
“She Likes Girls”
“Couch”
