Album Review – Charley Crockett’s “Lonesome Drifter”

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It wasn’t a hit single or record that landed Charley Crockett where he is today, and it most certainly didn’t happen overnight. His strategy more closely resembles something certain people in the industry would probably label as sheer stupidity. But it’s a strategy that has now revealed itself to be sweat equity and dogged persistence that brick by brick has built one of the most momentous and fortified music careers out there to study. It started on street corners, and might end up in arenas before he’s done.

Charley Crockett isn’t the greatest singer out there, and his songwriting is simple and plainspoken. As he says in his new song “Life of a Country Singer,” “I ain’t the first one, or the best, but I’m different.” That difference is Crockett’s ability to get you to completely suspend disbelief and fully immerse yourself into his musical universe while he weaves seamlessly through the roots music disciplines of country, blues, soul, and early rock ‘n’ roll without you ever recognizing the difference.

For his latest album Lonesome Drifter, Charley Crockett solicits the services of Shooter Jennings as producer, where previously throwback genius Billy Horton had been employed for many of Crockett’s records. No concerns about pulling Charley towards rock present themselves as sometimes Shooter projects do. Instead, the notable difference is the presence of strings on numerous tracks, which helps lend to the cinematic experience of listening to a Charley Crockett record.

There’s always been a very visual component to Crockett’s audio experience. Lonesome Drifter is sold as the first installment of an album trilogy with a deeper story. Crockett loves to speak in wide and sweeping notions, which lends to that cinematic immersion. Weather we get three albums with a deeper narrative remains to be seen, but he certainly gets you buttered up for it with Act One.

Many of the new, original songs of Lonesome Drifter seem to be inspired by Charley’s own experiences, while perhaps embellished with fiction. “Game I Can’t Win” is about his philosophy of dealing with the music industry, which he’s always been wary of, and found his success in spite of. In “Easy Money,” he talks at one point about his brother going to prison and Charley ending up in New York, which loosely shadows Crockett’s own experience.


“Never No More” feels inspired by his wife and fellow performer Taylor Grace, who Crockett married at Willie Nelson’s little Luck, TX Western town outside of Austin. An interesting note about the song: it sounds like Crockett played his own guitar solo on the track in his more aspirational than adept, but still entertaining plucking style.

The night before the release of Lonesome Drifter, Crockett played an intimate acoustic set in Willie’s legendary chapel in Luck as part of the Luck Reunion. He said his new song “Life of a Country Singer” was partly inspired by Willie, along with his own story of course, with the reference to “Houston” calling to mind Willie writing “Family Bible” while living in the city, and having to sell the song for $50 to buy his family bread.

Lonesome Drifter gives you another good haul of original Charley Crockett songs that are immediately entertaining, and that endear you ever further to the man and the mythos, even if he writing is never groundbreaking. You also can’t wait to hear some of these songs live.

You also get another fine selection of cover songs. Some will ask why we need another version of “Jamestown Ferry,” which Crockett first helped blow up way back in 2017, or “Amarillo By Morning” by George Strait. But one of Crockett’s biggest bullet points has been his ability to revitalize classic country songs. “These kids don’t know this f—king song,” he recently said about “Amarillo By Morning,” and unfortunately he’s right. Being an interpreter of songs across time and generations is a critical attribute to Crockett’s career and legacy.

But what ultimately has made Charley Crockett a wonder of music and an unlikely story is the magic and charisma he exudes that has made a poor kid from south Texas who started as a street busker seem larger than life. He was a Lonesome Drifter for many years as he tried to find himself and the world tried to find him. Now, he’s Charley Crockett.

1 3/4 Guns Up (8/10)

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