David Childers and Serpent Trio slide into White Horse

David Childers is the most prolific North Carolina songwriter alive, according to Bob Crawford, bassist for the Avett Brothers.

"Everywhere I go, people ask about him. It is great to see people people constantly discovering this man and his massive body of work.” Childers, a native of Mount Holly, will pay a visit to White Horse Black Mountain at 8 p.m. Friday, May 18 at 8 p.m. He'll sing his tough, literate country/folk-flavored songs, with bass and lead guitar accompaniment supplied by the Serpent Trio. 

Childers attended UNC Asheville in the early 1970s, when, as Bob Dylan wrote, “there was music in the cafes and revolution in the air.” Childers made note of Dylan’s habit of taking older source material and reworking it into something poetic and vibrant. Childers absorbed that approach into personal songs that explore the tension between the secular and the sacred. 

Childers played banjo as teen, and guitar since his college days. But he was a 37-year-old lawyer by the time he got serious about songwriting. The two careers ran parallel for several years until Childers burned out from the pressures and stopped performing in 2007. He stepped back for a few months before experiencing a spiritual awakening. “I became happier and more at peace,” he said, “and now I try to set an example with my life and be decent to other people.” 

He started performing again in 2010 and has since recorded two albums, "Glorious Day" (2010) and 2013’s "Next Best Thing" with his band, The Overmountain Men. He’s recently been touring behind his sixth solo album, the newly released "Run Skeleton Run."