Charley Crockett

Charley Crockett

Charley Crockett is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter working in blues, country and Americana. He is born in 1984 and is from San Benito, Texas; he is also a distant relative of Davy Crockett. His style sits within Americana, contemporary country, country, hill country blues and neo-traditional country.

Early life

Crockett is raised in a trailer park in Los Fresnos, Texas, and later moves with his family to Dallas. He spends summer months with an uncle in the French Quarter of New Orleans. He leaves high school at 17 and begins travelling with a guitar his mother buys from a pawn shop.

He teaches himself to play and starts writing songs without formal chord knowledge. He says he learns by ear and does not know what key he is in for many years. His early musical interests come through hip hop samples, which lead him to artists including Curtis Mayfield and Nina Simone; he also hears J. Cole’s “Kenny Lofton”, which uses a sample from the Manhattans’ version of “Hurt”.

Street performing and early career

As a teenager, Crockett plays on the streets in the French Quarter and in Deep Ellum, Dallas. He later travels by hitchhiking and riding freight, and by 2009 he is busking in New York City. He forms a street band called the Trainrobbers, which brings attention from a representative for Sony Music based in Manhattan. He signs a two-year management contract but rejects a publishing deal.

Recorded output

Crockett releases ten albums from 2015 onwards. His release Lil G.L.'s Blue Bonanza reaches number 11 on the US Billboard Blues Albums chart. In 2020 he releases Field Recordings, Vol. 1, a mixtape of low-fidelity recordings, and the studio album Welcome to Hard Times.

In 2021 he releases 10 for Slim: Charley Crockett Sings James Hand, a tribute to James “Slim” Hand, and Music City USA. His tenth studio album, Lil G.L. Presents: Jukebox Charley, follows, and later that year he releases The Man From Waco.

Later travels

After leaving the streets, Crockett relocates to Northern California, where he spends three years combining farm and commune work with performing. He then lives on the streets in Paris for a year, and also spends time in Spain and Morocco.