North Carolina Release Radar: Our Favorite New Music Releases of 2023

David Childers is one of those “your favorite songwriter’s favorite songwriter” kind of musicians. His decades of sardonic, existential songwriting have made him a favorite of roots rock staples like The Avett Brothers, and his most recent effort has proven one of his most subdued to date. Childers has dampened his fiery energy from previous releases for an understated mixture of country and folk aesthetics. The bulk of his record features powerful original tracks like “Kiss Me Like Judas” and “All Our Good Times Are Through,” but Childers brings some exciting new takes on beloved old tracks like Prince’s “I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man.” Melancholy Angel shows a sense of restraint to Childers’ renown sound, but still posits the musician as one of the state’s finest songwriters.

ALBUM REVIEW: David Childers Puts Hellfire Aside for ‘Melancholy Angel’

To hell, with snakes, could be David Childers’ mantra. Since his 1994 debut, Godzilla, He Done Broke Out, he’s been a hellish tour guide, leading a series of bands from the Mount Holly Hellcats to the Modern Don Juans to the Serpents of Reformation, now doing business as just The Serpents. Slithering through the charred depths of the fiery realms exploring the depths of human depravity, Childers has entertained fans with up-close-and-personal glimpses of Hades. “My mama usta beat my ass,” he snarled on “Mama,” the opening cut from 2007’s Burning in Hell. “And if I cried she beat it twice / she didn’t like me too well / My mama was a devil out of hell.”

Read full review here.

David and Robert Childers Bond Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell

"In Lullaby, David’s proselytizing approach is told mostly through hardscrabble victories, yet it’s one of the most melodic, approachable records he’s ever put out."

"His vocals have never sounded better, a smooth crooner delivering a sermon on “The Streets Of Nashville.” The mellow melody belies the bitter subject matter, a wannabe country idol’s abortion."

Read full story here

Laurel Canyon Magic, Plus The Claudettes, David Childers, Hot Club Of Los Angeles

“The resulting CD exudes the homespun feel and spontaneity you’d expect from a setting like that. Childers is an engaging singer and guitarist who’s love of language comes through in every song. Reference points includes Jame Talley, Guy Clark, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Billy Joe Shaver.”

Read full story here.

Driving melodies: NC musician joins NASCAR legend

“Childers, a skilled, incisive songwriter who sits comfortably at the three-way intersection of rock, folk and country just like Guy Clark or John Hiatt used to, made the album in his boss’ living room, playing the songs live with his band and recording them in all-analog sound.

The result is a natural-sounding collection of easy-rolling songs, with acoustic and electric instruments meshing together underneath Childers’ blurry howl of a voice. The 14 rough-hewn gems on the album might not grab you by the throat (Childers is far too subtle a writer for that), but once a tune like the gentle, loping ballad “Twilight Road” gets in your head, good luck getting it out.”

Read full story here.

Jazz Weekly: Run Skeleton Run Review

Singer-songwriter David Childers mixes sounds from the Cumberland gap with indie and pop moods on this album produced by Don Dixon of R.E.M. fame. Childers sings with a rich blue-grassy voice while playing guitar and harmonica along with Robert Childers/dr, orey Dudley/b, Geoffrey White/fid, Dale Shoemaker/g, and Dixon/key, The team sounds folksy with the violin on the acoustic “Greasy Dollar” and the team can deliver and easy beat boogie during “Promise to the Wind.” An indie-British pop feel is on the bouncy “Radio Moscow” and punk riffs are strumming on the title track, whereas a trucker’s mood is created on the ballad “Ghostland” and a Nashville Skyline is seen with mandolin on the charming “Thanks to All (Long Ago). Modern western wear.  Read More >

Creative Loafing Charlotte: David Childers Is Just Another Middle-Age White Guy Making Sublime Art

There are certain singer-songwriters, brilliant ones, who live and work in towns across the United States. White guys, in their 50s and 60s, who've benefitted in countless ways from the advantages of their demographic classification, yet remain unsung heroes of music in the Woody Guthrie continuum. These are guys who never achieved the recognition of a Bob Dylan or Steve Earle. The larger pop world pays little attention to their work, but they create anyhow, because that's what they do. Guys like Nathan Bell, over in Chattanooga, Tenn., or Butch Hancock, out in West Texas.

Here in the Charlotte area, we have David Childers.  Read More >

Glide Magazine: INTRODUCING DAVID CHILDERS – A MOST UNIQUE CREATOR OF SONG (INTERVIEW)

Run Skeleton Run, David Childers’ sixth solo album (Ramseur Records, March 5th), starts off with the title track, a raucous warning to a discontented skeleton that refuses to rest in peace, and it ends with “Goodbye to Growing Old,” a declaration of his acceptance of the passage of years. In between, Childers sings about the lure of Communism in his youth and about a flood that took down a train. He tells stories: an American sailor cutting loose on leave, a snowy hunting trip with a dog, a hermit who died on the beach. He uses the characters to explore the demons humans all wrestle with–lust, dishonesty, fear and loneliness. The album travels on a wide, rambling road through the Americana landscape, bringing in rockabilly and country influences, a folk sensibility, and some Cajun-spiced fiddle along the way.

You don’t have to know anything about David Childers to appreciate this album, with its addictive collection of evocative vignettes, but I’m going to tell you some things anyway. Read More >

No Depression: David Childers' Bone Rattling Roots

"For his latest, even though he calls his current band the Serpents, the title cut reverts to his Mt. Holly Hellcats rockabilly sound. Son Robert is back on drums, pounding out a stiff framework supporting Dale Shoemaker's twangy surf guitar, Childers laying down some Jerry Lee-style vocals on top. Scott Avett sets up the tone with a poem about two drunkards' offspring who never got a word of thanks for his bank robbing career and died “so cold and sober his corpse never stank.'' Read More 

Relix: Song Premiere - David Childers “Run Skeleton Run”

Singer-songwriter David Childers will release his new album Run Skeleton Run on May 5 and today we're excited to premiere the title track from that album. Produced by early R.E.M. production team of Don Dixon, the album also features a guest appearance from Scott Avett of The Avett Brothers. 

Read more: https://www.relix.com/blogs/detail/song_premiere_david_childers_run_skeleton_run#ixzz4fz7V9rVA

The Rocking Magpie: 'Run Skeleton Run' Album Review

"The album opens with the sound of an old radio broadcast that leads into the title track RUN SKELETON RUN; a punchy Country Rocker with a fiery fiddle and tsch-tsch drum back-beat that takes you on a fast car chase between bank robber ‘Skeleton’ and the poh-lise.
I didn’t have to hear another song to see why my friends rate Childers so highly. The story is exceptional and had me gripping the edge of my seat hoping ‘he would make it.’" Read More >

Shutter16: Run Skeleton Run and Tales of Bloody Bones, Welcome to a conversation with David Childers

There isn’t much better than when you get to your mailbox expecting the same ol’ junk, only to find there is a non-descriptive brown envelope in there with your name on it. “I wonder what this is,” I asked myself. I threw the many circulars and statements to the side, and did the standard package shake to see if I could hear anything rattling around. Read More >

The Bluegrass Situation: LISTEN: DAVID CHILDERS, 'COLLAR AND BELL'

In Their Words: "Shannon Mayes, a school teacher from Gallipolis, Ohio, sent me some lyrics he had written a while back -- those lyrics pretty much told the story in this song. I had trouble finding a way to convey what I wanted the listener to feel from the story, but after a couple of years of trying different approaches and re-writing a lot of the words, I found an enjoyable way to play and sing it. It’s about a man and a dog going hunting in a deep snow. Shannon is a hunter and he brought elements and details into the story that I would not have known to use." -- David Childers  Read More and Listen to 'Collar and Bell' >

Huffington Post: An Exclusive First Look at David Childers’ new album Run Skeleton Run

"I first heard of David Childers in December 2014, at an Avett Brothers show in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. As soon as Scott Avett sang the opening verse—“It was a New Years Day at the seaside bar / there was a special on PBR / the ocean roared outside the door / no one but us and some hardcore drinkers / lost in the stormy day / how blue were the blue of your eyes / against the sky of grey”—a good segment of the crowd cheered and began to sing along. I hadn’t been to many Avett shows yet, so I was lost. I turned to my equally clueless sister and said: “that isn’t an Avett song, whose song is that?” We looked it up on the way back to the hotel, discovered it was called The Prettiest Thing, and immediately downloaded Childers’ excellent 2011 album Room #23. I realize now that The Prettiest Thing is a wildly popular part of the Avett Brothers live show. They have played it almost 100 times in the past five years and the 10,000 member Facebook group Avett Nation recently voted it as the top cover song performed by the band. The beauty and narrative power of David Childers’ music was clear to me the first time I heard his work. Based on my preview of his new album, Run Skeleton Run, Childers is poised to win even more fans—if they have the opportunity to hear his music. So consider this your heads up." Read More

No Depression Magazine: An Afternoon with David Childers

It was kind of David Childers to invite me over for a visit after I broke my promise to him. 

I had conducted a backstage interview with David not just once but twice with the intention of writing a newspaper article, but the story remained unwritten as I went from full-time writer to part-time, then to occasional contributor as newspaper space for arts coverage decreased.