Charley Crockett

Some people politely wait for their turn, ask for permission, and take a shot at their dreams when the opportunity allows. Charley Crockett isn’t one of those people. He’s never just waited around, asked for permission, or let opportunity find him. Instead, the GRAMMY® Award-nominated Texas-born maverick defied the odds at every turn, tapping into a rebellious strain of country, releasing 14 albums independently, and grinding from obscurity to selling out some of the world’s most renowned venues. As Pitchfork points out, “in the decade it took Crockett to brush country stardom, the bygone era of music he loves and embodies arrived in the modern age. He is a key player in deciding where it will go next.” He has continuously pushed forward too. Since 2015, he has paved a singular path out of Texas. Beyond garnering hundreds of millions of streams, he picked up his first GRAMMY® nod for 2024’s $10 Cowboy. In the last year alone, he notably sold out Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, CO, the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, CA, and two nights at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN. Crockett and his music have also received praise from The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and Variety. Speaking to his impact, CBS Mornings chronicled his journey, and he’s sat down for an interview on The Daily Show. Plus, he’s graced the stage for performances on Austin City Limits, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and CBS “Saturday Sessions” in addition to playing behind NPR Music’s “Tiny Desk.”

With multi-GRAMMY® Award-winning Shooter Jennings as co-producer, the same unapologetic spirit, diehard work ethic, and no-nonsense honesty drive Crockett’s Island Records debut LP, Lonesome Drifter.

“I’d say, ‘They shouldn’t have let me in the door,’ but they didn’t,” Crockett grins. “If you can hang on as long as I have, you’ll have some good stories to tell. Shooter knows who he is, and I’m so grateful we made this record when we did. If I had tried to make it five years ago, I would’ve messed it up. By the time we got together, I was ready. I was able to see more clearly.”

Crockett knows exactly what he wants, but he also knows how to get it. For Lonesome Drifter, he knew he wanted to “capture the magic of performance on tape.” He just needed to get into a room with his band, press record, and play straight from the soul. The legendary Sunset Sounds in Los Angeles, CA had the “perfect classic room with an old board.” He adds, “I’m also a big Bill Withers fan, and he cut records there.”

Concurrently, he channeled inspiration for his own vision of what “Gulf & Western” could be from core influences such as Shooter’s old man—the one and only Waylon Jennings.

He elaborates, “Waylon is still the king to me, man. He broke free from the stranglehold of the labels and studios in Nashville with the whole outlaw spirit he pioneered. It’s the same thing with Shooter too. He knows who he is.”

His own friendship with Shooter stretches back for at least a decade, and the two kept in touch over the years. At the beginning of 2024, a casual phone conversation led to a month at Sunset, marking their first official collaboration and Charley’s first “proper” recording experience in California.

“On the call, Shooter said, ‘I signed a lease on Studio 3 yesterday’,” he reveals. “We realized the connection to the room, and we both said, ‘Let’s do a record’. We barely talked about it. I just brought all of my guys out, and the album made itself. It was live without a lot of overdubs. There were no inhibitions. I wasn’t being judged, and I didn’t feel self-conscious. Shooter knew how to cut loose and let this thing unfold.”

Fittingly, they pull the first thread with the single and title track “Lonesome Drifter.” A rolling drumbeat and steady tambourine underscore the slow-burning vocal delivery, “I’m just a lonesome drifter on the only highway.” Guitar wails like a siren in the background until Crockett’s fret-scorching solo shakes the bridge.

“I started writing the song back when I was still playing in subways in New York,” he recalls. “It’s how I learned to play electric guitar with an amp on my shoulder. While I was waiting for the next train, I wrote songs. A few years later, I was in California working on the ganja farms, and I came up with the ‘Lonesome Drifter’ section. When I arrived on the West Coast, I worked to stay out there as a drifter, so I could get away with playing music for a living. At night, I was doing heavy electric blues and hillbilly shit at local bars for six hours. Shooter got me back into that mindset. The burden of becoming a troubadour is you’re standing in a position that gives you a clear perspective of the struggles of humans. When all is said and done, everyone is just swinging a hammer to survive.”

In many ways, the title track evokes the essence of the album itself. For years, Crockett has quietly swung the aforementioned hammer to survive. He’s kept his head down and delivered music at a relentless pace, playing just as hard on the road to boot. Moreover, he busted ass to evolve as both a songwriter and a performer. All of that prepared him to record Lonesome Drifter with Shooter. As such, the album is the sound of dues paid, strength gained, and wisdom earned shared on tape.

That certainly goes for  “Game I Can’t Win.” The latter channels dusty Texas country with its loose guitar, banjo, organ, and plainspoken storytelling, “They can’t stand to see you free. Your check ain’t never coming in. I’ve always loved a game I can’t win.”

“I enjoy the sense of purpose from swinging the hammer when you love the reason you’re swinging it,” he says. “I’ve heard talk of paradise, but all I’ve ever known is a ‘pair of dice.’ I’m going to throw them down in the next life too. I moved to Island Records, and I think I have more work in front of me now than it even took to get here. I play guitar for a living, but it’s not a game to me.”

Then, there’s “Night Rider.” Piano and acoustic guitar accompany Charley’s soothing intonation, “I am a night rider. I ride like the wind.” Penned in his truck “parked on public land in the mountains of the New Mexico-Colorado border,” it evokes the central spirit of the record.

“Many of these songs are versions of a Lonesome Drifter,” he notes. “It’s like the bronco buster with just enough money to keep the shirt on his back and the fuel in his tank to get to the next county fair. For ‘Night Rider’, I was thinking about how I ride at night between all of these cities for a living. I have the best, strongest horse ever, which is this beautiful diesel bus. I run it hard, and we rely on each other.”

Beyond soul and outlaw country, it's impossible to overstate Woody Guthrie’s impact on Crockett. The straight-shooting plaintive lyricism of Lonesome Drifter certainly carries the DNA of the “Dust Bowl Troubadour.” Of course, Crockett has subconsciously and consciously thought about this a fair share over the years.

“To me, Woody was the original great storyteller,” he states. “I went to New York City because Woody’s songs were some of the earliest I had ever learned as a kid. My mama sang them to me from a songbook. Somewhere along the way, I thought, ‘I’m never going to get it if I don’t do it myself.’ You either get made, or you make yourself. This is me making myself.”

He also re-cut the crowd favorite “Jamestown Ferry.” Since originally laying it down back in 2017, he’s grown quite a bit and progressed vocally. Not to mention, the hundreds of shows in between gave the song breathing room to naturally grow and change. Close to his heart, he even duetted on “Jamestown Ferry” with Tanya Tucker during his first-ever headline gig at Red Rocks in 2024. So, he gave the song its due with this version.

He closes out the LP with a cover of “Amarillo By Morning”— originally written and performed by Terry Strafford in 1973 and popularized by George Strait in 1982. With its lush horns and cinematic strings, it doubles as the perfect tip-of-the-hat to his roots and a heartfelt send-off.

“The rodeo image of the lone cowboy represents American individualism and self-reliance to me. It’s more complicated than that, but we’re all born with a deep connection to it, whether we know it or not. I was nervous to cut ‘Amarillo By Morning,’ but Shooter said, ‘No one can sing this song like you. I want you to define the song’s story for today.’ Hope you like it, George,” Crockett laughs.

You could liken the latter to Charley’s story…

He grew up under the watch of a strong single mother in Texas, enduring poverty and all kinds of trials and tribulations throughout his childhood. With a guitar in tow, he struck out on his own. He lived itinerantly for over a decade, busking on streets to survive and performing in those train cars around New York. “Bad deals” came and went until he wound up in California and cut his first album, “on a weed farm.” All of these experiences shaped him. It would also be on the streets where he expanded his musical palette, spanning a myriad of genres. Among many instances, he heard and taught himself a Tom Waits song, thinking it was actually an old folk song. There are countless such moments, bringing him to this point.

Lonesome Drifter is just the next chapter of his journey though.

“I’d like to be known as a storyteller,” Charley leaves off.  “I’m trying to tell good true stories in song. My spirit won’t let me rest. If this Island thing goes well, maybe I’ll take a breath…but I’m just not ready to do that yet.”