Image: Tyler Childers on stage; RCA Record
It was a cool fall evening when the world was shocked by the news that a nationwide monopoly is, in fact, not a good thing.
While I felt for the Taylor Swift fans of the world, I didn't bother doing anything other than wishing those that were seeking tickets, and beginning their journey towards radicalization, well. I haven't listened to Taylor Swift since she pretended to make country music.
Then, it all came crashing down on my head. My apathy for the plight of the Swiftie bit me hard.
It was the morning of November 16th. Pre-sale tickets for Tyler Childer's Send in the Hounds tour opened for the first day. 2,000 souls (bots) beat me to the queue. Oh well, I'll try again tomorrow. Again the queue filled, and as the lines of malevolent code that made up the bots filled up slots that should have been set aside for actual humans, so did my heart with burning malice. The trials and tribulations set before me would only strengthen my resolve, just as Job did not stray from the path of God when all was taken from him, so too would I persevere.
The next day all the general sale tickets sold out and were immediately put on resale websites for double the price. The fires of hell won after all.
Ticketmaster and LiveNation, o' Great Devils, thou must be cast back into the pits from whence ye' came.
Tyler Childers is sending in his hounds, and so too must the powers that be.
All joking aside, there is a lot going on in the world. On the list of crimes against humanity, a entertainment monopoly is pretty far down the list. That being said, entertainment brings the world together. Music, movies, and all the rest have long brought comfort to people during the best and worst of times. Staring at that little queue button knowing most of the tickets that were being sold were going to simply end up on resale websites disheartens me more than simply being late to the punch.
If 2,000 other Tyler Childers fans beat me to them then Raise Hell, Praise Dale. They just wanted them more. But to see the source of my failure be lines of code that can purchase tickets in 0.2 milliseconds? Its rage inducing.
Maybe that's the way of the world. Computers have taken over every other aspect of our lives, why not our entertainment too? There are still enough rich idiots out there with the money to but $600 tickets, are they too blame as well? Maybe.
If we collectively answer yes, than we must also address the fact that the artist themselves are to blame. Taylor Swift eventually put out some PR-drenched, empty meaning statement that she was upset without ever actually saying the puppet master of her fans pain: Ticketmaster. While not as severe, Childers has yet to say anything either. For a long while he was the King of Small Venues and now that he's playing in the big ones he has nothing to say when tickets are gobbled up? Who knows. I don't hold it against him, nor do I hold it against Taylor Swift. I don't know what's going on behind the scenes. Its just frustrating and everyone is feeling it.
As a long time listener to Tyler Childers, I'm proud of his success. He might not have started the revitalization of country music, but he has definitely been its Moses. I don't know what his ten commandments might look like, but I do know the Childerites have followed him faithfully and been rewarded. So has he.
New artist that are dedicated to bringing back that good old sound in a modern way are on the rise. Charley Crockett, Zach Bryan, Colter Wall, and probably my favorite artist right now besides Childers, Sierra Ferrell, all have Tyler Childers and Sturgill Simpson to thank for an increased interest in their sound.
They can still be seen in small, intimate, venues not attached to LiveNation or Ticketmaster but not for long. Ferrell is poised and ready to break through and Crockett already has. Soon enough the wider music world at large will know all about them.
Until then, I'll be buying up every $40 ticket I can to see them at the local watering hole until they make it big and I have to write this article all over again.
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