Latest from maverick Texan purveyor of Gulf* & Western, seals entry to the country mainstream.
Read reviews of any of Charley Crockett’s previous 15 albums or indeed almost any piece that’s been written about him over the 10 years since his debut record and the idea you will come across most often is his ‘outsider’ status. In a flagship LA Times piece, just two days before the release of “Lonesome Drifter” this idea was again brought up within the first few lines, with them noting that “He’s been tangling with the industry in some form or fashion since one insider saw him as a would-be pop star more than a decade ago”. Crockett himself likes to live up to this impression of the outsider stating that he believed there was “no place for me in the broader business” and releasing his records independently, on his own Son of Davy label.
“Lonesome Drifter”, remains aligned with this convention. The album title and opening track pitches Crockett in the role of one of country music’s oldest outsider tropes with the video for the song opening with a storyboard announcing the lonesome drifter as a “mysterious stranger” whose “isolated rebellion” against the “shadow syndicate” sees him choosing “not to ride for the brand”, instead seeking to “be free and on the open road”. Cue shots of our reluctant hero as the lonely figure with battered guitar case trudging down an endless desert highway in the blazing sun. So far so familiar. We may have seen and heard this kind of stuff many times before (it has echoes of Leone’s Spaghetti Westerns for sure) but it is quintessential Crockett. He has never deviated from this role or played a note / uttered a syllable that told any other story. It is undoubtedly authentic Crockett.
Crockett may well have been functioning outside the mainstream but he has been following the mainstream’s playbook; working his ass off, building a career, always with an eye for what will take him to the next level – 16 LPs in 10 years, that’s an old school grafter’s agenda right there. His commitment to the music and to the career of the Charlie Crockett he presents to the world has never been in doubt. To underscore just how hardworking he is, “Lonesome Drifter” was recorded in March of 2024 before his previous two albums ‘$10 Cowboy’ and ‘Visions of Dallas’ came out. This latest album is the first in a trilogy of LPs Crockett is calling ‘The Sagebrush Trilogy’ and the other two parts of the trilogy are already in the can.
In addition to this unyielding recording schedule, Crockett also tours relentlessly, having been to the UK many times in recent years. As a result we are familiar with his back story and its almost folkloric and formulaic country tradition. His wandering journey to date has been characterised by this traditionalist work ethic, a die-hard spirit and the no-nonsense honesty and desire of the unrepentantly ambitious. Releasing ‘Lonesome Drifter’ on Island Records – his first output on a major label – can be seen as just the next step on his journey. Maintaining creative control was absolutely vital to Crockett in choosing to sign with Island and there is no evidence on the record that this is anything but a Crockett LP, exactly as he planned it. Indeed “Lonesome Drifter” was completed before the deal was signed and yet Island went ahead without actually hearing the finished record first.
What they got for their money is classic Crockett a record that embodies the golden era of music he loves and the myriad of influences that characterise his work. Co-produced with Shooter Jennings in a concise 10 day stint at the fabled Sunset Sounds Studio in Los Angeles. There is always much talk of the influence of the full gamut of American Roots music on Crockett’s sound; outlaw country, blues, soul, Texas R&B, Cajun, bluegrass. Name it and it’s been implicated at some point over the last 10 years. In this case Bill Withers is someone who crops up as being instrumental to the sound of ‘Lonesome Drifter’, with Crockett citing his love for Withers and the fact that he cut his first record in the same room at Sunset Sound – “a perfect classic room”. Whilst there are moments on “Lonesome Drifter” when the soulfulness of Withers is apparent; the trademark RnB groove of ‘Never No More’, ‘Easy Money’s’ expressive almost anthemic string arrangement (courtesy Stephen Barber) that would fit happily on a record by neo soul revivalists such as Thee Sacred Souls or Durand Jones, it remains steadfastly a country record.
This is a truth that Crockett himself acknowledges on ‘The Life of a Country Singer’ when he opines: “There’s a long, long line of country singers, Singing songs about living late at night, I ain’t the first one or the best, but I’m different, Baby I’m just me, nothing more nothing less”. Not only placing himself firmly in the country lineage but also evoking the soul of Shooter’s old man Waylon and other country greats that shape the music here. This is a lush, cohesive and immediately accessible record. It’s full of gorgeous melodies, affecting arrangements and compelling storytelling. It’s not some kind of throwback jukebox, which the constant mention of different styles and influences might suggest. All the songs have a sound and mood that works together coherently, a sonic consistency that sits firmly in the country space. This is something that can be laid at the door of Jennings’s consummate production skills, such as have contributed to the burgeoning success of Brandi Carlisle and it is not hard to see the same thing happening with Crockett, especially with the clout of Island behind him.
As the country genre evolves and grows in popularity there seems to be space in the mainstream for artists with a stronger connection to country’s traditional sound but with a distinctly 21st century vision. Tyler Childers, Sturgill Simpson and Margo Price for example have all experienced significant success in recent times and with “Lonesome Drifter”, Crockett may well be the next. Perhaps the biggest thing he has in his favour is that sonorous, smoky, ever so slightly slurred country baritone, which invests his stories with palpable candour and resonance.
A decade of hard work seems to be really paying off for Charley Crockett and nobody should begrudge him for that. With two more records in the ‘Sagebrush Trilogy’ ready to go, his eyes are firmly on the future and what he could achieve there. At this momentous point in his career, 10 years and 16 albums in, he may be forgiven for sneaking a glance in the rear-view, examining his journey to date with a certain satisfaction. With “Lonesome Drifter” though there really is very little sense of such relaxation. This vibrant, confident and thoroughly engaging record may just be his best so far. It sounds like he is in a place that fits him well and where he feels able to fully realise his true self. There’s no doubt that what he presents is always the ‘authentic’ Crockett and also the one he wants us to see. Perhaps for the first time, on “Lonesome Drifter” we get the sense that there is much more Charley Crockett to connect with and the promise of making his acquaintance over the next phase of his career is one we should look forward to with relish.
*… of Mexico not … of America, he’s very clear.
