Who says a love ballad with sweeping strings has to be excessively sentimental? Tyler Childers’ “In Your Love” narrates a love story that even skeptics can appreciate, due to its focus on resilience, hardship, and the sacrifices two people are willing to make for each other.
The music video for “In Your Love” vividly portrays the potential severity of those sacrifices. Set in 1950s-era rural Appalachia, the narrative follows the journey of a romance between two male coal miners who eventually break away from corporate employment to forge a life as subsistence farmers. The toil of building a life together is just the beginning: They must also confront isolation, the threat of homophobic violence, and the devastating black lung disease that claims one of the men’s lives, leaving the other to spend his remaining days in relative solitude.
Yet, even without these challenges, love is demanding. As a husband and new father, Childers intimately understands this. Prior to his ascent to Americana and alt-country stardom, he held a series of blue-collar jobs while residing in a trailer with his then-newlywed wife, fellow singer-songwriter Senora May. Childers naturally conveys the grit and weight in his voice when he sings of laboring and waiting for his love, and the enduring struggle one undergoes to secure their slice of happiness.
Childers’ themes often delve into complex territory—addiction, faith in turmoil, and the demanding lives of the working class in rural Kentucky, to name a few. However, when he delves into love, he accomplishes a level of sincerity that, in the hands of other artists, might come off as overly sentimental.
This authenticity is a testament to his voice. Weathered by life’s trials, marked by a tremor, and often raw and unbridled, Childers’ vocals unveil the weariness and upheaval even behind the most tender subjects. In the verses of “In Your Love,” when he pledges, “I will wait for you,” it’s not just an idle vow: You can sense his fatigue, and picture the demons he confronts at his doorstep to forge a safe and joyful home. In Childers’ rendition, a love song transcends mere sentimentality. It becomes the culmination of a hard-won battle for happiness, against a world that seeks to undermine at every turn.
“In Your Love” is featured on Rustin’ in the Rain, Childers’ sixth studio album. This seven-track compilation also includes renditions of “Help Me Make It Through the Night” (penned by Kris Kristofferson and later covered by Sammi Smith) and the work of fellow Kentuckian S.G. Goodman, “Space and Time.”
