Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

William Tyler, 'The Sleeping Prophet'

When he's not on the road, William Tyler calls Nashville home. Outside the main drag, it's a beautiful, no-frills Southern town where the day-to-day often happens in strip malls and small neighborhoods. To coincide with a reissue of his 2008 album Deseret Canyon— originally released under the name The Paper Hats — his sister Elise Tyler presents a day in the life of the guitarist for "The Sleeping Prophet."

Set to a country-tinged melody with flourishes of lap steel and ambient underbrush, the video shows William Tyler as he scrambles eggs, works out, gets those finger-picking nails done, hits up his favorite dive — he's so clearly in his element that we forget it's a music video. Here's Elise Tyler:

When William asked me to direct a video for him, I knew that I wanted to make a video only I, his sister, could make. For me, that meant an intimate look into his world. Every location and scene is true to his day-to-day life in Nashville. An important aspect for me was driving — on tour or off, he loves to drive. He has driven alone across the country multiple times on tour. At home, he often relaxes with a cruise around town. We shot the entire video in one day, with my crew including Dustin Lane as director of photography. It was a rewarding experience and speaks very true to my brother and the beautiful simplicity of his life off the road.

Deseret Canyon is out now on Merge and iTunes.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Listen to the Viking's Choice playlist, subscribe to the newsletter.