Charley Crockett is bringing country music back to its roots, both in sound and style. The singer-songwriter has been building a following through his throwback style, incorporating folk, Americana and classic country melodies into his songs that make his music sound like lost ballads of yesteryear.
If you don’t know his story, Crockett grew up in poverty, busking his way to recognition, and recently survived a life-saving heart surgery after being diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome and Aortic Valve disease. This only pushed him harder to release a new album that captured the sound he truly was after. The results are Welcome to Hard Times, coming out July 31st.
The first single and title track is also the beginning of a video series Crockett has co-directed to help visualize the sound and mood of the album. Shot in the Sierra Nevadas, the video features vivid imagery of the arid landscape with surrealist touches, as Crockett’s character wanders through the American wilderness. The imagery presents a vision of how we see the “Wild West”, matching its beauty to that of the world-weary song, where Crockett looks at a world that seems rigged from the start.
Watch the video above, and stream the track here.
