Purgatory (Tyler Childers album)

Purgatory is the second studio album by American country music singer Tyler Childers. It was released in August 2017 through two independent labels, Childers' own Hickman Holler Records and Nashville-based label Thirty Tigers.^[3] The album was certified platinum by the RIAA.

Purgatory
Studio album by Tyler Childers
Released	August 4, 2017 (2017-08-04)
Studio	Butcher Shoppe (Nashville, Tennessee)[1]
Genre	Country bluegrass honky-tonk Appalachian Americana folk
Length	37:41
Label	Hickman Holler Records Thirty Tigers
Producer	Sturgill Simpson David R. Ferguson[2]
Tyler Childers chronology
Bottles and Bibles (2011) Purgatory (2017) Country Squire (2019)
Singles from Purgatory
"Lady May" Released: June 9, 2017 "Whitehouse Road" Released: June 23, 2017 "Universal Sound" Released: July 7, 2017

Musical style and composition

Purgatory has been described as a country,^{[4][5][6][7][8]} bluegrass,^{[9][5][10][11]} honky-tonk,^[9][12][13] Appalachian,^[14] Americana,^[15] and folk^[9] album, with its Appalachian storytelling compared to albums such as Steve Earle's Copperhead Road, Sturgill Simpson's Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, and Patty Loveless' Mountain Soul.^[7][16]

Reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	82/100[17]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[18]
American Songwriter	[10]
Record Collector	[19]
The Independent	[11]

The album has received a Metacritic rating of 82 based on 6 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".^[17]

The album has sold 638,178 copies, both CD and streamable, in the United States as of December 2020.^[20]

Accolades

Publication	Accolade	Rank	Ref.
Noisey	Top 100 Albums of 2017	75	[14]
NPR Music	Top 50 Albums of 2017	39	[15]
Rolling Stone	Top 40 Best Country and Americana Albums of 2017	14	[8]

Album cover artwork

The album cover artwork, drawn by an artist local to Kentucky, references the geographic outline of Lawrence County, Kentucky, Childers' birthplace.^[9]

Additionally, the coloration and shape are reminiscent of Kentucky agate, a type of agate found in Estill, Jackson, Powell, Madison, and Rockcastle counties in Kentucky that has distinctive red, black, yellow, and gray bands due to its derivation from the Mississippian Borden Formation.^[21]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"I Swear (To God)"	3:20
2.	"Feathered Indians"	3:45
3.	"Tattoos"	3:23
4.	"Born Again"	3:28
5.	"Whitehouse Road"	4:41
6.	"Banded Clovis"	4:19
7.	"Purgatory"	2:46
8.	"Honky Tonk Flame"	4:57
9.	"Universal Sound"	3:42
10.	"Lady May"	3:04

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2017) Peak position US Billboard 200[22] 71 US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[23] 9 US Folk Albums (Billboard)[24] 2 US Independent Albums (Billboard)[25] 3 Chart (2024) Peak position Canadian Albums (Billboard)[26] 78

Year-end charts Chart (2019) Position US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[27] 61 US Folk Albums (Billboard)[28] 21 Chart (2020) Position US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[29] 19 US Folk Albums (Billboard)[30] 3 Chart (2021) Position US Billboard 200[31] 149 US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[32] 14 US Folk Albums (Billboard)[33] 3 Chart (2022) Position US Billboard 200[34] 113 US Independent Albums (Billboard)[35] 16 US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[36] 11 US Folk Albums (Billboard)[37] 4 Chart (2023) Position US Billboard 200[38] 97 US Independent Albums (Billboard)[39] 13 US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[40] 21 US Folk Albums (Billboard)[41] 6 Chart (2024) Position US Billboard 200[42] 133 US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[43] 29

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[44]	Platinum	80,000‡
United States (RIAA)[45]	Platinum	1,000,000‡
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Usage in film

Multiple songs from Tyler Childers' Purgatory have been used in movies and television shows. In the hit series, Yellowstone, "Lady May" is featured in season 3 episode 2. ^[46]

See also

• Lawrence County, Kentucky