Tyler Childers Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven? 3LP

Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven? is the highly anticipated fifth studio album by Tyler Childers and his longtime band The Food Stamps. This unique collection is separated into three parts, each with a different sonic perspective, but all part of one album vision. The Hallelujah disc is a pared-back version of the music featuring Tyler and his band only; Jubilee is full band including strings, horns, bgvs and a touch of sitar; and an exciting new sound in Joyful Noise.

From Tyler Childers' vision, it's a genuine concept album meant to showcase the incredible musicianship of The Food Stamps.

Part of the appeal of Tyler Childers is his sense of control - his songs and albums are never any longer than they need to be - so the prospect of a triple album from the Americana troubadour is alarming: it suggests his focus has become diffuse, even blurry. As it turns out, Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven? is, in its own way, a testament to Childers' vision, telegraphing his clarity and ambition....Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven? doesn't feel like a retro throwback as much as a continuation, a record that comfortably fits into American roots lineage while making a convincing case for Tyler Childers as a singular artist.

Hallelujah features Tyler and his backing band The Food Stamps playing live in the studio like a no-frills rock band, and breaking out into jams that would make the Grateful Dead and Allman Brothers proud. On Jubilee, Tyler takes those same songs and brings in strings, horns, dulcimer, sitar, gospel backing vocals, and more, coming out with something that sounds straight out of the early '70s album-oriented rock era. And then Joyful Noise renders the songs nearly unrecognizable, turning them into avant-garde pieces full of sampled soundbites, glitchy studio wizardry, and more. Throughout it all, religion and religious music plays a huge role, but not in a way that's preachy or traditional. Each of the three albums bring something of unique value to the table, and even with repeated songs, the experience of listening to all three in a row is a lot more unpredictable than you might expect.