Charley Crockett

Matthew Charles "Charley" Crockett (born March 24, 1984) is an American traditional country music singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and actor. He has released 23 projects, including 17 studio albums since 2014, with The Man from Waco, $10 Cowboy, Lonesome Drifter, and Dollar a Day all breaking into the US Billboard 200 in 2022, 2024, and 2025, respectively.

Early life Charley was born in San Benito, Texas, to Branton "Brant" Eddens Crockett and Jan Onda Applehans. and his paternal great grandfather was Texas senator George Clark Purl Sr. (1892–1943). His mother is of Volga German descent. His third great-grandfather was Jacob Goodwin Crockett of New Hampshire. Crockett is also the nephew of Cotton Bowl Classic Hall of Famer and former Texas Longhorns Defensive Back, Tom Campbell, through his father's second marriage.

Raised by a single mother His mother relocated the family to Dallas, The lo-fi collection contained a cover of the Flying Burrito Brothers' "Juanita". In The Night contained a selection of Crockett-penned numbers, along with a cover of his hometown hero Freddy Fender's "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights", as well as Jerry Lee Lewis' 1968 hit, "What's Made Milwaukee Famous". Crockett spent the next year touring to promote his work, playing over 125 shows in total.

After relocating to Austin, Texas, The album was dedicated to Henry "Ragtime Texas" Thomas. His dates included venues such as the House of Blues in Houston, Washington, DC's 9:30 Club, The Mint in Los Angeles, and The Fillmore in San Francisco. In addition, he performed at festivals such as the Wheatland Music Festival, Portland, Oregon's Pickathon, and Austin City Limits Music Festival. In addition, Crockett covered work by Ernest Tubb, George Jones, and T-Bone Walker. Lil G.L.'s Blue Bonanza peaked at number 10 in the Billboard Blues Albums chart.

Crockett released The Valley on September 20, 2019. The album features the single "Borrowed Time", which was co-written with Evan Felker of Turnpike Troubadours.

Field Recordings, Vol. 1 was released on April 3, 2020, and is a mixtape of 30 low-fidelity covers and originals recorded in Mendocino County, California. Crockett and Kyle Madrigal recorded the collection over the previous year using a four-track recorder, an old CB radio microphone, and an old rotary telephone. Crockett said the songs came "from my street stuff and folk tunes, stuff I wrote that might not necessarily be best for these studio albums".

Crockett released his seventh album, Welcome to Hard Times, on July 31, 2020. It was produced by Mark Neill and includes songwriting contributions from The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach and singer/songwriter Pat McLaughlin. The album followed a life-threatening health scare in which he was diagnosed with a congenital heart condition that required heart surgery. It received glowing reviews, including from American Songwriter, who stated, "Crockett finds the sweet spot between country, soul, blues, and folk on deceptively modest songs, effortless in their easy-going groove", while Texas Monthly stated, "Crockett makes a beeline for the album's central theme: wily survival in a socially, politically, and economically rigged system."

On February 26, 2021, Crockett released his next album, titled 10 for Slim: Charley Crockett Sings James Hand, a tribute album to James "Slim" Hand. It was met with critical acclaim from Rolling Stone, The Boot, Austin American-Statesman, Forbes, and American Songwriter among others.

Crockett released his ninth album, Music City USA, on September 17, 2021 via Son of Davy/Thirty Tigers. The lead single, "I Need Your Love", was featured on Rolling Stone as well as Brooklyn Vegan, who called it "a sweet and sultry slice of southern soul" and The Boot, who named it "a dose of horn-filled soul". Later that month, he earned the 2021 Emerging Artist of the Year award at the Americana Music Honors and Awards in Nashville. Crockett closed out the year with his debut on Austin City Limits, which aired in October on PBS. He followed that up a few months later with an appearance on CBS This Mornings "Saturday Sessions", performing "I Need Your Love", "Music City USA", and "I Feel for You" from Music City USA.

In March 2022, he announced Jukebox Charley, a new album of cover songs and his third album release in just over a year. The fourth installment of his Lil' G.L. covers series, the album was released on April 22 and featured country tunes from Tom T. Hall, Willie Nelson, George Jones, and more.

In September 2022, Crockett released his 11th album, and his first concept album, with The Man from Waco, featuring 14 original songs. Crockett performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on December 9, 2022.

In February 2023, Crockett performed at NPR for a Tiny Desk Concert. It was followed by an appearance on Comedy Central's The Daily Show in April, where he was interviewed by the host Jordan Klepper, along with a live performance of "Name on a Billboard" from his 2022 album, The Man from Waco. Later that summer, he was on the cover of Texas Monthly, for a lengthy profile detailing the artist's background and rise to fame. In September, he released Live from the Ryman, an album and concert film of his sold-out headline debut at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium recorded on November 14, 2022. He was also the 2023 recipient of the Stephen Bruton Award at the Lone Star Film Festival, which celebrates exceptional artists whose careers are anchored not only in music, but also include artistic expression in film.

In early 2024, Crockett announced that his album $10 Cowboy would be released on April 26. He celebrated this with another appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where he performed the album's title track. In July 2024, Crockett released Visions of Dallas, an album of six cover songs and six originals, billed as chapter two to $10 Cowboy.

2025: First major label deal, Island Records releases In January 2025, Crockett signed with Island Records, and released his first album via the label, Lonesome Drifter, on March 14. The album included 12 tracks, co-produced with Shooter Jennings, including a new version of his cover of "The Jamestown Ferry" and a cover of George Strait's "Amarillo by Morning". In June 2025 Crockett would announce two additional records would be coming while on The Joe Rogan Experience; the first being a studio album Dollar a Day, which would drop August 8, 2025, and the second being a live album from his performance at the 2025 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo on March 17, 2025, which featured over 50,000 in attendance for the performance, slated for a late 2025 or early 2026 release. He also announced the production of a movie he filmed in 2024 based around the $10 Cowboy album, with the film being of the same name, however, he left it up in the air as to whether it would be released or not.

On August 19, 2025, Crockett posted on Instagram about his frustrations with the double standards of the industry, calling out the hypocrisy of many who criticized Beyoncé's attempt to jump into the genre but remained silent during the past two decades about the pop music being injected into the genre through the bro country era with artists like Morgan Wallen. The post went viral and quickly garnered widespread media attention from outlets like Billboard and quickly received a shot on Twitter the same day from Gavin Adcock, who called him a "cosplay cowboy". On August 21, 2025, Crockett sent Adcock a copy of Dollar A Day as well as five dozen roses in an attempt to make amends, as they were both nearby in back-to-back nights. Adcock posted a response, sarcastically accepting the album and roses while falsely claiming that Crockett did not sell enough tickets and was forced to move down the street the night before. Crockett's show was actually rescheduled from a May date due to inclement weather, not a lack of ticket sales, as Crockett played to a sold-out concert crowd at a larger venue than the one originally planned.

On November 7, 2025 Crockett would be nominated for a Grammy once again. This time he would be nominated for the inaugural crowning of the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Country Album for his album Dollar a Day alongside Lukas Nelson, Willie Nelson, Zach Top, and Margo Price. A little over a week later Charley would take to social media, writing an open letter to The Recording Academy asking for his nomination to be given to the Turnpike Troubadours for their 2025 album The Price of Admission.

Age of the Ram, the third installment in his Sagebrush album trilogy, released on April 3, 2026.

2026: Return to being an independent artist Following a 3 run series of albums from 2025–2026 for Island Records, Crockett would surprise release Clovis on April 28, 2026, a little over 3 weeks after the conclusion of his Sagebrush Trilogy of albums with Age of the Ram. The record would mark his first independent release since 2024's Visions of Dallas and his first fully independent, with no major distribution deal since 2016's In the Night.

On May 7, the record was pulled from release due to a contract dispute between Crockett and his former label, Island Records. Crockett in protest would start handing out CD's of the album for free at CMA Fest on June 5, and do the same at all of his concerts shortly thereafter.

On June 29, Crockett announced the record would return on July 3, 2026 in time for America's 250th Birthday after signing a distribution deal with Atlantic Records through their Atlantic Outpost imprint.

On July 9, 2026, Crockett confirmed via a statement to Rolling Stone that he had removed opening act Twin Temple from his Age of the Ram Tour due to their Satanic imagery.

Personal life On New Year's Day 2020 Crockett began dating Taylor Grace, a fellow musician, after running into each other at The White Horse Saloon. They first met at Antone's in Austin, Texas at the end of 2018. They became engaged in January 2023 and they married in July 2024 at Willie Nelson's Luck Ranch in Spicewood, Texas.

Health issues In January 2019, Crockett nearly died on his tour bus, which was formerly Willie Nelson's "The Redheaded Stranger", and had to undergo open-heart surgery. Pre-assessments for the surgery showed that Crockett had a congenital heart condition where his heart had two out of three aortic valve flaps fused together, which caused Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome. Surgeons placed a new valve in his heart that was obtained from a cow.

Legal issues In March 2016, Crockett was convicted in Virginia for a August 2014 charge for possession of cannabis. He was denied entry into Canada in February 2026 due to the conviction, forcing him to cancel his planned tour in the country.

Discography

Get Up Outa Texas (2014) A Stolen Jewel (2015) In the Night (2016) Daytrotter Session (2016) Lil' G.L.'s Honky Tonk Jubilee (2017) Lonesome as a Shadow (2018) Lil' G.L.'s Blue Bonanza (2018) The Valley (2019) OurVinyl Sessions (2020) Field Recordings, Vol. 1 (2020) Welcome to Hard Times (2020) 10 for Slim: Charley Crockett Sings James Hand (2021) Music City USA (2021) Lil' G.L. Presents: Jukebox Charley (2022) The Man from Waco (2022) The Man from Waco (Redux) (2023) Live from the Ryman (2023) $10 Cowboy (2024) Visions of Dallas (2024) Lonesome Drifter (2025) Dollar a Day (2025) Age of the Ram (2026) Clovis (2026)

Tours Headlining The Honky Tonk Jubilee Tour (2017) Jukebox Charley Tour (2022) The Man from Waco Tour (2022–2023) The $10 Cowboy Tour (2024) The Lonesome Drifter Tour (2025) The Crooner and The Cowboy Tour (2025) (with Leon Bridges) Age of the Ram Tour (2026)

Filmography +Film Year Title Role Notes 2021 The Road To Music City USA Himself Documentary surrounding the recording of his 2021 album Music City USA. 2023 Live from the Ryman Himself Concert film. 2025 Broke Snowplow Driver First feature film role, end scene 2025 Highway 99: A Double Album Himself Documentary surrounding the career of Merle Haggard. 2025 $10 Cowboy Himself Documentary surrounding the release of his 2024 album $10 Cowboy. 2026 A Cowboy in London Himself Documentary surrounding the UK leg of his $10 Cowboy Tour in May 2024. 2026 Texas Music Revolution Himself Documentary surrounding the 25th anniversary of the Texas Music Revolution festival in 2021.

Awards and nominations