Charley Crockett - Lonesome Drifter

When artistic independence has been foundational to your persona and your music for so long, how do you create a record which remains true to that ethos whilst breaking away from that structural support?

Enter Charley Crockett’s Lonesome Drifter, his first album with major label Island Records.

When Holler caught up with Crockett at his Hoxton Hall show last year, he spoke proudly of the freedom that he’d maintained in his career thus far. “I have not been sold off, I’m independent. I’ve got a 300-song catalogue and I own it,” he said. So, what impact has working with a major label had on his characteristic sound, with its quality, vintage-steeped and sharply-cut mix of blues, R&B, soul and country?

Much like Crockett, the answer isn’t straightforward. When he spoke to Holler about his independent spirit last year, Lonesome Drifter had already been recorded. In fact, the album, co-produced by Crockett and Shooter Jennings, was recorded before his last two albums, released under his own Son of Davy label, ever hit the airwaves. Because of this, Lonesome Drifter retains the essence of the Charley Crockett experience, with its mystique, shady characters and bygone vibe, whilst also marking the evolution of his storytelling and songwriting beyond style, which many detractors have previously accused him of sacrificing substance for.

Here, we see a more personal and sometimes sentimental side, driven by another major development in his life. Not only is Crockett now working with a major label, he’s also a happily settled and committed man, having married fellow singer Taylor Grace last year. His softening and willingness to show a few more of his cards is apparent, particularly when compared to 2024’s $10 Cowboy, which presented the Charley Crockett lore of the pavement-worn busker on the cut-throat streets of America front and centre.

Across the dozen tracks, there’s the at least partly autobiographical ‘Easy Money,’ with its romantic, misty-eyed details of a mother with no money for air conditioning but enough to buy her son a guitar. Elsewhere, the deceptively downbeat and existential start of ‘This Crazy Life,’ evolving with its lush, orchestral strings into a contented ‘Que Sera Sera’ style shrug on life, sounds like it could be sung by Dean Martin or Frank Sinatra in their country era. “This crazy life will lead you down a long and winding road / It will break your heart / Tear you all apart / But it’s the only way to go,” he croons, all white teeth and twinkling eyes.

It’s evident that Crockett hasn’t sacrificed anything sonically in working with a major label, the record veering from swampy, psychedelic blues and soul on love song ‘Never No More,’ to the slick, soulful R&B of its title track and the home-on-the-ranch easy listening of ‘Life Of A Country Singer.’

Of course, in true Crockett fashion, he still manages to take some swipes at the establishment, most notably on the cheerful, honky tonking ‘Game I Can’t Win,’ singing “Them boys in Nashville, they don’t mess around / Better watch ‘em when your deal goes down / Gotta play along, let ‘em lead you by the hand / And they love it when you don’t understand.”

‘Jamestown Ferry,’ which he previously covered on 2017’s Lil G.L.’s Honky Tony Jubilee, gets another spin here, breathing new life into the track via a junky, Mardi Gras horn section added in place of the previous version’s jovial, steel guitar pleasantries. At times feeling like a kid with his first fistful of pocket money, with random sprinkles of instrumentation fluttering in and out like dollar bills as he shows his new riches via the range he can now afford, the range doesn’t come to the detriment of the music, with drops of tinny banjo and tinkles of keys perhaps used more liberally yet to equal effect.

He cleverly closes the album with a cover of George Strait’s ‘Amarillo by Morning,’ reminding the listener that if exulting the joys of owning nothing but freedom can be done by one of the most commercially successful country singers of all time, then one major label album surely can’t dent that same spirit.

Lonesome Drifter may be less sharp than previous efforts, and will slip quietly into the vast expanse that is the Charley Crockett discography. But as a record that captures the evolution of an artist at a turning point in both their musical and personal life, it’s exactly what we’ve come to expect from Crockett. A musical success that compromises nothing as a victim of its owner’s success and is, above all else, a damn enjoyable listen.

8/10

Charley Crockett’s 2025 record, Lonesome Drifter, is available everywhere now via Lone Star Rider / Island Records.

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