The singer-songwriter’s breakthrough, though, came a little later: 2017’s country classic ‘Purgatory’ was recorded in Nashville but, tellingly, boasted the outline of Lawrence County on the front cover. Produced by outlaw country maven Sturgill Simpson and David Ferguson, the sound engineer in Johny Cash’s ‘American Recordings’, it’s a sheer celebration of Appalachian fiddle-and-banjo-inflected storytelling, bluegrass and honky-tonk-fuelled adventures inspired by the time when Childers left his family home, getting into trouble and seeking direction: “Purgatory is hell, with hope. You have a fighting chance,” he said in a Rolling Stone interview as he steadily climbed the Billboard charts and made several end-of-year lists. Childers was the voice of country’s future, firmly rooted in Eastern Kentucky traditions. And fans far and wide listened.

‘Country Squire’ followed in the same vein in 2019 and dominated Billboard’s Top Country Albums, with blues-rock-hued love song ‘All Your’n’ earning the singer a Grammy nod for Best Solo Country Performance. One by one, these steadfast creative steps laid the groundwork for the Childers of ‘Snipe Hunter’, his 2025 collaboration with producer Rick Rubin, whose genre-spanning resume included Run-DMC, Ed Sheeran and Metallica. Together, they crafted a record weaving themes from Hinduism to opioid addiction in Appalachia with local folk, ragtime, gospel and psychedelic diversions. The album affirmed a genuine anticipation in where the songsmith is going to take country next, and in how many shades his Appalachian legacy is truly capable of manifesting itself.