Always a good day when Childers releases new music.
After a solid decade of being overlooked, underrated and one of Appalachia’s hidden gems, Tyler Childers has cemented himself as a bona fide star in country music. Though you’ll never see him step on stage at the CMA and ACM Awards, he’s garnered one of the most eclectic, diehard fanbases in the genre right now, and it just keeps growing.
2025, in particular, was the Kentucky native’s most successful year to date. Though Snipe Hunter didn’t come without its controversy, it once again proved why he’s one of the best in the business and pushed his sound in a new directions. It ended up paying dividends for him as well. Upon its release, Snipe Hunt debuted at #7 on the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart, along with a #1 entry on their Americana/Folk Albums chart and a #2 entry on their Top Country Albums list.
Additionally, he’d score not one but three Grammy nominations for Best Contemporary Country Album, Best Country Song (“Bitin’ List”) and Best Country Solo Performance (“Nose On The Grindstone”) for the record, taking home his first career Gramophone with “Bitin’ List.”
Riding the highs of 2025, Childers set out on his biggest set of shows to date on the Snipe Hunt Tour, which sold out arenas across the country and notably sold out the iconic Wrigley Field in Chicago back in July. Despite all the success this year, which also included an Album of the Year win at the Americana Awards, the “Lady May” was quiet from a release standpoint.
That all changed today, however.
With the release of the sixth installment of The Hunger Games franchise, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, coming to theaters next week, the star-studded soundtrack featuring the likes of Ella Langley, Stephen Wilson Jr., Kacey Musgraves, Kashus Culpeper, Carter Faith, Noah Kahan, Stevie Nicks, The Smashing Pumpkins and many more was released on streaming today, with Childers dropping a brand new track titled, “Old Money.”
If there’s one thing that’s certain about Childers, much like his contemporaries such as Jason Isbell and Kacey Musgraves, it’s that he’s never been one to shy away from expressing his politics and beliefs quite regularly. Being one of the most prominent liberal voices in the genre, the “Whitehouse Road” singer has never shied away from speaking out on controversial topics.
This, of course, was highlighted most prominently on his 2020 album, Long Violent History. Though eight of the nine songs present on the record were instrumentals, the album’s closer and title track was written in response to the infamous killing of fellow Kentuckian, Breonna Taylor, as well as the prominence of the Black Lives Matter movement making waves through the country at the time.
And he did it once again on “Old Money.”
Here on “Old Money,” which he penned independently for The Hunger Games soundtrack, the Kentucky native takes aim at the ultra-wealthy in a scathing critique, remarking that many of the top 1% wouldn’t be able to make it in the real world without their generational wealth.
Towards the latter half of the track, Childers addresses the ongoing inflation crisis affecting the country. Here, he criticizes major corporations exploiting workers, the government refusing to raise the minimum wage despite the cost of living increasing at an exponential rate and the simple fact that “old money” would never feel the effects of hard times financially.
“Birthing corporations
Raising them up right
Raising them like people
Neath the ever-watchful eye
Of a government unwilling to raise the minimum wage
It’d only cause inflation
It would not fix a thing
You’d just see prices rising, your milk, your eggs, your cheese
It would not change a thing about the ways of old money”
Of course, the irony is that Tyler has certainly has achieved a 1% kind of wealth in his career, which he comically detailed with the almost self-deprecating “Eatin’ Big Time.” He might not come from old money himself, but if resources are stewarded well, who knows…. maybe his grandkids or great grandkids might be able to say that.
Overall, “Old Money” is yet another track that is sure to cause a stir between Childers’ left and right-leaning fans. With that being said, however, it’s nothing short of a stunning, timely outing from the 35-year-old singer/songwriter. Backed primarily by a haunting organ that lets Childers and Co.’s stunning harmonies bring the lyrics to the forefront, the track is a standout on an already impressive soundtrack.
“Old Money”
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (The Album)Tracklist:
01 | The Raven I – Whitney Peak
02 | Ash and Snow – Noah Cyrus
03 | First in Line – Stephen Wilson Jr
04 | See It Coming – Bella Kay
05 | The Wheel – Lizzy McAlpine
06 | The Raven II – Whitney Peak
07 | Dove Song – Sydney Rose
08 | Here Then We’re Gone – Ella Langley
09 | Wrestle with God – Madeline Edwards
10 | Ruthless (Arena Mix) – Kacey Musgraves
11 | No Destination – Billy Vincent
12 | The Raven III – Whitney Peak
13 | Favor – Gigi Perez
14 | But You Wanted More – Hudson Freeman
15 | Black Stars – The Smashing Pumpkins
16 | Half Alive – McKenna Grace
17 | Doing The Best That I Can (Arena Mix) – Stevie Nicks
18 | The Goose and The Common – Whitney Peak
19 | Survive (Arena Mix | KÁRYYN Rework) – Depeche Mode & KÁRYYN
20 | Same Blood – Emelie Trahan
21 | May Brings Flowers – Kashus Culpepper
22 | The Old Therebefore – Scot Greenan
23 | Can’t Let You Go – Carter Faith
24 | Old Money – Tyler Childers
25 | Show Me Where The Ending Starts – Madison Cunningham
26 | Deep in the Meadow – Jennifer Lawrence
27 | Draw You Out – Noah Kahan
28 | Metal Birds – Violet Grohl
29 | Alone (Live in Berlin 2022) – The Cure
