Throwing it WAY back. These days, it’s hard to have a conversation about the state of country music without bringing up the name Tyler Childers. Beyond his legendary discography that contains the likes of “Feathered Indians,” “Lady May,” “Nose On The Grindstone” and his latest viral hit, “Bitin’ List,” the Kentucky native has influenced a countless number of today’s hottest alt. country stars, ranging from Zach Bryan, Wyatt Flores, Charles Wesley Godwin and more. With seven studio albums filled with nothing but gold, six certified platinum singles and a whole bunch of underrated deep cuts, Childers has risen to God-like status in today’s independent country scene. This, of course, is for good reason. In a time (especially during Purgatory’s release in 2017) where mainstream country music has become so homogenized, safe and, quite frankly, bad, Childers breathed life into the genre with world-class storytelling, classic instrumentation and a tangible edge to his style. As we all know, Childers’ rise to fame was far from an overnight endeavor. Though he broke out more commercially over the past five or so years, the “All Your’n” singer has been cuttin’ teeth (pun intended) for nearly two decades at this point. After dropping out a semester into college at Western Kentucky University, Childers took up odd jobs while continuing to perform all around the state. During this time, we received early clips such as the legendary “Jersey Giant” that still remains unreleased, an early version of “Shake The Frost” before it found its way onto Live on Red Barn Radio I & II and “Harvest” before it would be released on his debut album, Bottles and Bibles, in 2011. With that being said, however, a new performance video that predates all of them has recently resurfaced. Yesterday morning, Mountain Arts Center, a performing arts center in eastern Kentucky, took to Facebook and Instagram to upload a never-before-seen video of a teenage Childers performing Dwight Yoakam’s 1986 Top 5 hit, “Guitars, Cadillacs,” in either 2008 or 2009. Of course, this would make him only 17 or 18 at the time. “Check out this extremely rare footage of Tyler Childers performing the Dwight Yoakam hit ‘Guitars, Cadillacs’ back around 2008/2009 on an episode of ‘Junior Jamboree’ right here at the Mountain Arts Center! How many folks remember seeing him perform at this age?” View this post on Instagram It’s pretty clear how nervous a young Childers was being onstage in front of (presumably) so many people at the time. With that being said, you can tell that the talent was there from the start. Given how wild his concerts have been in recent years, complete with some truly unhinged “Bitin’ List” rants and the simple fact that he’s shared the stage with legends such as Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir, Chris Stapleton, Wynonna Judd and more, it’s always fun to go back and see clips from the early days when he was still finding his footing as a performer. Snipe Hunt Tour Dates September 30 – Sacramento, California – Golden 1 Center – with Wednesday October 2 – Seattle, Washington – Climate Pledge Arena – with Wednesday October 3 – Portland, Oregon – Moda Center – with Wednesday and Scott T. SmithThe post Watch A Teenage Tyler Childers Cover Dwight Yoakam’s 1986 Hit “Guitars, Cadillacs” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.