Charley Crockett – Welcome to Hard Times LP

Description

It could be argued thatCharley Crockettis productive to a fault.Welcome To Hard Timesis his second album of 2020 and his third in less than a year, an output that can be excused as a reflection of his knowledge of the fleeting nature of life. Unlike its predecessorThe Valley,Welcome To Hard Timeswasn’t written with the prospect of his own mortality looming over his head. By the timeThe Valleyhit the stores in September,Crockettsurvived the surgeries correcting a congenital heart condition, which leavesWelcome To Hard Timesas the album he wrote in its wake. Death still rears its ugly head but it’s often in scenarios as picturesque as “Black Jack County Chain,” a throwback to doomed cowboy songs that experienced a revival in the middle of the 20th Century. The key toCrockett‘s appeal is how he melds flinty storytelling with music so colorful, it feels cinematic.Welcome To Hard Times, like its predecessors, easily swings between country, blues, swing and folk; rock & roll is never heard but felt in the passion and grit of the performances. This easy eclecticism isCrockett‘s calling card, also evident on his covers collection Field Recordings, Vol. 1, and its burnished by a production that cannily recalls the echo-drenched LPs of the 1950s and early 1960s without ever succumbing to nostalgic fetishism. ToCrockett, this sound is as timeless and telling as old folklore, which is why the retro vibes ofWelcome To Hard Timesfeels so vital: it’s not a revival, it’s part of the continuum of great American music. -All Music Guide