Charley Crockett

When trying to describe the voice of American singer-songwriter Charley Crockett, one has to compete with some daring phrases. The Wall Street Journal, for example, once wrote: „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“ You really can’t write it any better than that now – so we’ll leave it at that.
Charley Crockett is one of the most successful musician in the Country & Western pigeonhole, but in his case it seems inadequately labeled. Crockett draws his earthy sound as much from Blues, Soul, Cajun, R’n’B and other parts of American Roots Music. Most recently, the album „The Man From Waco“ was released in the fall of 2022 and was named the second best country and Americana album of the year by US Rolling Stone. Crockett recorded it live in large parts under the aegis of producer Bruce Robison. Most of the songs are one-takes with minimal overdubs. The musician says: „The magic is in the performances on that tape. That’s what Bruce wanted to do, that’s what I wanted to do. When we were done, I said ‘these are masters, not demos.’“