Texas musician Charley Crockett is back with his 15th album in just nine years, Lonesome Drifter.
Produced by Shooter Jennings, this record follows his Grammy-nominated 2024 release $10 Cowboy and finds Crockett straddling the line between the classic and the contemporary — channeling 1970s Nashville country with one foot firmly planted in 2025.
Lonesome Drifter is mostly autobiographical (with some storytelling liberties) offering glimpses into Crockett’s life navigating the music industry. Songs like “Game I Can’t Win,” “Under Neon Lights” and “This Crazy Life” reflect the tension between the raw hustle of his early days — busking on the streets of New York City, New Orleans and abroad — and his more recent rise as a country darling.
While many of the songs speak to life on the road and inside the music machine, a handful zero in on heartbreak, evoking a vintage country sound that recalls legends like Waylon and Willie like in “Jamestown Ferry" and "Life Of a Country Singer."
One standout, “Never No More,” brims with swagger and a kind of shoulder-shaking looseness. It defies convention with a structure made entirely of verses — no chorus — which somehow feels seamless until you listen closely and realize what’s missing.
Crockett wraps up Lonesome Cowboy with a cover of George Strait’s “Amarillo By Morning” — a rendition that feels like the perfect soundtrack for making pancakes at deer camp.
Must listens
- "Lonesome Drifter"
- "Game I Can't Win"
- "Jamestown Ferry"
- "The Death of Bill Bailey"
- "Never No More"
- "One Trick Pony"
- "Amarillo By Morning"
