Lonesome Drifter Charley Crockett

• 1 Lonesome Drifter 03:02
• 2 Game I Can’t Win 03:21
• 3 Jamestown Ferry 03:26
• 4 Easy Money 03:02
• 5 Under Neon Lights 03:08
• 6 This Crazy Life 03:02
• 7 The Death of Bill Bailey 03:06
• 8 Never No More 03:34
• 9 Life Of A Country Singer 02:59
• 10 One Trick Pony 03:28
• 11 Night Rider 03:18
• 12 Amarillo By Morning 02:39
• Total Runtime 38:05

Info for Lonesome Drifter

Lonesome Drifter is the new album from GRAMMY Award-nominated artist Charley Crockett. Crockett co-produced the album alongside multi-GRAMMY® Award-winning musician and producer Shooter Jennings. Over the course of just 10 days, they cut 12 tracks live at the legendary Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, CA. Crockett’s Island Records debut is a culmination of all that has come before, with the same unapologetic spirit, die-hard work ethic, and no-nonsense honesty that has driven his artistry across his 14 previous studio albums. In the end, Lonesome Drifter takes stock of Charley’s road in the rearview as it paves a path into the future.

During the sessions, Charley and Shooter invariably bottled “the magic of performance on tape.”

“Shooter and I barely talked about it,” says Charley. “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.”

His vision crystallizes on the first 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. The visual translates the tune’s energy to the screen, speaking to his incredible journey thus far in the process.

“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, refining his “Gulf & Western” sound, and 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 work and life effectively prepared him to record ‘Lonesome Drifter’ with Shooter. Musically, he traces a roadmap through his own myriad of influences, tipping a hat to everybody from Waylon Jennings, Bill Withers, Bob Dylan, and Woody Guthrie, drawing on countless, often unbelievable true experiences since he first left his native Texas. From the spellbinding vocal performances to the raw and rustic instrumentation to the unforgettable storytelling, Lonesome Drifter stands out as his most cohesive body of work to date.

As such, the album is the sound of dues paid, strength gained, and wisdom earned shared on tape.

Charley Crockett

Charley Crockett
Hailed as a “must-see live performer” by Rolling Stone, and a “force to be reckoned with” by CMT, Charley Crockett crafts his singular “Gulf & Western” sound — described as “very 21st century and very vintage” by NPR Music — by synthesizing country, blues, soul, Cajun, R&B and other pieces of American Roots music. And when his voice comes out of your speakers, there is no confusing him for any other artist. As the Wall Street Journal writes, “Mr. Crockett’s unique vocal style is one third Ernest Tubb honky-tonk with clipped-word diction, one third Bill Withers low-key, soulful crooning, and one third jazzy French Quarter second-line swagger.”

With his latest album $10 Cowboy, Crockett didn’t set out to make a themed record. He had released a concept album in 2022, the critically acclaimed The Man From Waco, propelling Crockett to new heights and establishing him as one of the leaders of a sparkling revival of traditional country and folk music.

For the follow up album, Crockett wrote freely, over a two-month period, as he wound his way across the United States on the back of a tour bus. The resulting songs—raw, personal, vivid portraits of a country in transition—ended up being connected after all.

“This material is written at truck stops, it’s written at casinos, it’s written in the alleys behind the venues, it’s written in my truck parked up on South Congress in Austin,” explains Crockett. “A ramblin’ man like me, a genuine transient, is in a pretty damn good position to have something to say about America.”

The album begins with the title track, a personal song that also offers a provocative idea about America. “A $10 Cowboy is a country singer who made himself on a street corner in America,” Crockett says. “But the cowboy way, the cowboy mindset, that applies to anyone who doesn’t feel free, who feels fenced in and bound to something.”

As the album unfolds, you begin to understand that a $10 Cowboy is anyone who has hustled to get by, who didn’t fit in, who has slept on other people’s couches, or the street, who has fallen down, gotten up, and ventured from home chasing a paying gig, or a new start.

The album was recorded at Arlyn Studios in Austin, produced by Crockett and his long-time collaborator Billy Horton. It was recorded live to tape, with anywhere from 6-12 musicians on each track, giving the songs the feel of a live performance. It’s a sound Crockett has been after for years. “The reason I cut it on tape is, when you get the right folks in the room, great players rise to the occasion. When that red light is on and the tape is rolling, you get the magic of a performance.”

Crockett released his last full-length album The Man From Waco - which Rolling Stone named the #2 best Country album of the year - in 2022, and the momentum he built continued into 2023. Crockett made his NPR Tiny Desk debut, was a guest on The Daily Show, and appeared on the June 2023 cover of Texas Monthly. Crockett performed at both nights of Willie Nelson’s 90th birthday celebration at the Hollywood Bowl in April 2023, and made his Bonnaroo debut last summer. Crockett also released The Man From Waco Redux, a companion to The Man From Waco featuring alternate versions of five songs, and Live from the Ryman, which documented Crockett’s sold out November 2022 debut at the Mother Church of Country Music.

This album contains no booklet.