Tyler Key’s songwriting exists in a world where absurdity and desperation walk hand in hand, where his characters—offbeat, teetering on the edge—grin through crisis like they’re in on some cosmic joke. His music has always thrived on that tension, with wild-eyed sincerity wrapped in sharp storytelling, sounding like a lost collaboration between John Prine and Kurt Vonnegut.

His latest single, “Oconee River,” leans hard into that duality. It opens with a call-and-response that could shake the walls of a revival tent just as easily as a dive bar at last call. Bright, ringing major chords lay the song’s foundation, their warmth underscored by the lilt of Key’s voice. It’s rousing, anthemic, and—early on at least—comforting. But as the song unspools, something starts to shift. That initial sugar rush plateaus outward, taking on a frantic energy with a joy that feels a little too raw at the edges. The uplifting chorus starts to sound different as Key reels, “But dreams don’t mean shit / When there’s a pistol at your temple / I won’t let the bastards take me, if I can.” It’s this push-pull that makes “Oconee River” so compelling—the way Key lets his melodies lean into brightness while the lyrics suggest something murkier under the water.

In the video, Key hams it up as a fire-and-brimstone preacher, pacing the pulpit. But his small congregation isn’t exactly hanging on his every word. As he rants and raves, the disinterested parishioners start nodding off in their pews and sneaking beer sips. It’s as American as busting unions: singing for your supper to folks whose own plates are too cluttered to even see you. The video was shot at The Portico outside of Athens by Brad Gerke (No Yonder) and features members of the Hibbs Family Band.

“I wrote the chorus of ‘Oconee River’ while driving during peak COVID,” Key reveals. “I had just gone for a run at the Athens Botanical Gardens, which butts up to the Middle Oconee, which is a dirty muddy old river after it passes Hwy 78. You’d go run by the river and see washed-up detritus. Once, I saw a car flipped over in the Oconee around there, looking like a giant insect that couldn’t get itself upright. Later on, after visiting the abandoned mill village of Scull Shoals in Greene County, I finished the verses. They had to be about a man working in that mill, with debt up to his eyeballs, but who can’t see the future where bad farming practices destroy the thing he’s running from (ah, capitalism). He works for a company that profits from natural resources while polluting them to the point where they’re unusable, and man, ain’t that America.”

Watch/listen above.

Tyler Key will release his next full-length LP, You Okay, later this year and can be seen on tour opening for Pony Bradshaw starting Friday. Check out the list of dates below.

Tyler Key Tour Dates
Feb 14 – Memphis, TN – 1884 Lounge
Feb 15 – Birmingham, AL – Woodlawn Theatre
Feb 19 – Little Rock, AR – White Water Tavern
Feb 20 – Tulsa, OK – Mercury Lounge
Feb 21 – Denton, TX – Dan’s Silverleaf
Feb 22 – Fischer, TX – Devil’s Backbone Tavern
Feb 24 – Tomball, TX – Main Street Crossing
Feb 25 – Baton Rouge, LA – Red Dragon Listening Room

More Info
Web: tylerkey.net
Bandcamp: tylerkey.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @tylerkeystrangers
Instagram: @tylerkeylegit