Tyler Childers‘ new “Highway 40 Blues” cover features two key special guests: Ricky Skaggs, who made the song famous, and Larry Cordle, who wrote it. Press play below to listen.
Originally released in 1983, as the third single from Skaggs’ Highways & Heartaches album, “Highway 40 Blues” hit No. 1 on the country charts: Skaggs’ fifth chart-topper.
Both Childers and Skaggs are Kentucky natives. Back in February, during one of his Ryman Auditorium shows, Childers shared that a Skaggs show was his first concert, when he was five years old. Skaggs joined Childers onstage that night for “Highway 40 Blues,” played a couple more feature numbers, then stuck around onstage to play with Childers’ band.
“Highway 40 Blues” is one of two tracks Childers released on Wednesday (July 29) for the Spotify Singles series; the other song is a performance of Childers’ own “House Fire” featuring the Travelin’ McCourys. Childers and company recorded both songs at Nashville’s Butcher Shoppe and released them to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the release of his Country Squire album on Aug. 2, 2019.
Recorded at The Butcher Shoppe in Nashville, Side A is a new rendition of Childers’ “House Fire” featuring The Travelin’ McCourys, and Side B is a cover of “Highway 40 Blues” with special guests Ricky Skaggs and Larry Cordle. Originally released in 1982, “Highway 40 Blues” was written by Cordle and made famous by Skaggs, both of whom are from Childers’ hometown of Lawrence County, Kentucky.
Childers was supposed to be spending his 2020 on tour with Sturgill Simpson, for the A Good Look’n Tour. Instead, he’s off the road due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Hear Tyler Childers’ New “House Fire,” “Highway 40 Blues”
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