Tyler Childers closed out his Tuesday night (June 10) show in Los Angeles with a show of solidarity toward the immigrants and demonstrators who have been involved in the city’s multi-day string of protests over ICE immigration raids.
The singer performed “Long Violent History,” a protest song that he recorded in 2020 as part of a studio album of the same name. Tuesday night marked the first time he’s ever performed the song live.
“Long Violent History” was originally inspired by the BLM movement, and specifically, it’s a criticism of those who had negative things to say about the property damage and “violence” incurred during those protests.
Read More: Brittany Aldean Criticizes Protestors for Violence Amid L.A. ICE Raids
Childers sang from the perspective of “a white boy from Hickman, [Ky.]” In the song, he asks his fellow white Southerners to put themselves in the position of the Black people being targeted, and wondered how many members of their community they would watch get killed or assaulted by police before “We come into town in a stark ravin’ anger / Looking for answers and armed to the teeth.“
He elaborated on that concept in a six-minute video message released around the same time as the song and album, and then put out the whole project, the bulk of which is instrumental fiddle tunes.
This week, Childers’ “Long Violent History” performance had a different political context, after several days of protests, arrests and clashes between protestors and heavily-armed law enforcement. The Trump administration deployed the National Guard and Marines to L.A. to help quell the situation. Sheriff’s deputies used flash-bang grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets on the crowd, and protestors threw rocks and bottles at law enforcement and shot fireworks.
Still, though the lyrics of “Long Violent History” were written about a different social movement five years ago, the song is strikingly applicable in this context, and Childers didn’t change a single lyric in order to apply its message to the protests in L.A.
“It’s the worst that it’s been since the last time it happened / It’s happening again right in front of our eyes,” Childers sang in the first verse. “There’s updated footage, wild speculation / Tall tales and hearsay and absolute lies.”
On Thursday (June 12), Childers announced a new album called Snipe Hunter, and released the first-ever recorded version of his longtime fan-favorite “Nose on the Grindstone.” Snipe Hunter is due out on June 25.
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Gallery Credit: Sterling Whitaker
