The Gospel of Tyler Childers: Gay Coal Miners, Sobriety, and Way of the Triune God

This paper is the first to provide a systematic analysis of the theology of the Appalachian singer and songwriter Tyler Childers and to explore how Childers' music and biography both reflects, and contributes to, constructing contemporary religious, regional, and political identities in the United States. Childers' music and popularity are significant to religious studies because attention to his music, videos, biography, and fan base can help us better understand the complex interplay between religious, regional, class, and political identities at a time when democratic backsliding and authoritarian creep is a significant threat. Childers' theology consistently engages complex religious themes at the intersection of race, class, gender, sexuality, addiction, church, and the afterlife, but does so in a way that is compelling both with the rural white southerners and also embraced by a diverse group of listeners that do not fit the typical country music consumer demographics.