How Tyler Childers’ ‘Country Squire’ Captures Small-Town Romance

“Country Squire” isn’t your cookie-cutter country love song filled with clichés. Instead, Tyler Childers’ “Country Squire” celebrates the kind of small-town romance built on worn-out pickup trucks, modest dreams, and a whole lot of heart. It’s a reminder that true love in rural America isn’t about grand gestures; it’s about finding joy in simple, everyday moments that actually make a life together.  

“Country Squire” is about a genuine love story that is more based on reality than what we fantasize an ideal love to be. It talks about the struggle of a musician forced to work odd jobs in a factory: “Well, tonight I'm up in Chillicothe / Downwind from the paper mill / I'm out here spittin' on the sidewalk / Takin' in the factory smells.”  

The next verse reveals that the singer often wonders if his partner is thinking about him: “And I know she tends to smokin' out the window / In the air of that gas pipe leak / I wonder if she's cringin' at same time / Thinkin' pretty thoughts of me.”  

While the chorus talks about his dream of creating a home together: “Spendin' my nights in a bar room, Lord / Turnin' them songs into two by fours / Dreamin' 'bout the day that I sit by the fire / Huddled with my honey in our Country Squire.”  

The track is actually inspired by Childers' relationship with his wife, Senora May, whom he married in July 2015. The song reflects their real life, including moving in with parents to save money and living in a used camper (“It's a twenty four foot long vessel / It measures eight feet wide / It's a fifty-three year old camper / It's made to pull behind”) dreaming of buying a land, having their own home, and starting a family.   

The music video depicts their experience of renovating a pull-behind trailer. It also symbolized Childers’ gradual rise in his music career, from fixing a “fifty-three year old camper” to “One day I aim to have myself a family / And a cabin on the hill.”  

There are specific details that Childers mentions in the lyrics that set the rural-life theme of the song, like the sidewalk outside a paper mill in Chillicothe, Ohio. The choice to set the song in Chillicothe represents how Kentucky residents look for work and where Childers graduated from high school. He also mentions the unpleasant smell emitted by paper mills, showing the hardships faced by the characters in the song at the beginning.  

The song’s third verse about “I was up for hours this mornin' / Pullin' traps 'fore I said goodbye / I plan to tan myself a fox hide / And hang it on my darlin' bride,” creates a vivid picture of rural life where romance isn’t about buying expensive gifts but crafting something with your own two hands. The picture he paints with the track reflects mundane details that listeners find easy to relate to.   

“Country Squire” successfully captures small-town romance through Childers’ personal experience. It also proves that a good country song need not be fancy; sometimes a song about practical dreams and working-class love resonates more with listeners. Listen to the song with a new appreciation, especially with Childers' creative decision to be more honest in the lyrics, reflecting the real experiences of rural Americans.