Charley Crockett

Charley Crockett spent 15 years positioning himself firmly outside of the cogs and gears that drive the music industry. The road to stardom never interested the San Benito, Texas, native. It was another path, the one forged by Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, which captivated Crockett. “What is classified as solid country gold from Willie and Waylon now,” he says, “was absolutely what they saw as disruptive, not country, dangerous, counterculture, whatever you want to call it.” Now, proudly in the crosshairs of those same labels, Crockett is not just in his element, he’s thriving. The April 3 release of Age of the Ram marks Crockett’s third studio album in just over a year and third with Island Records. The LP completes The Sagebrush Trilogy, joining 2025’s Lonesome Drifter and the Grammy-nominated Dollar a Day records to paint a vivid picture of Crockett’s journey from Texas dreamer, New York street singer, and twice-convicted felon to the belly of the country music beast. Like the previous two, Age of the Ram was produced by Shooter Jennings at the venerable Sunset Sound Studio 3 in Los Angeles. In Jennings, he found a friend, a peer, and a producer with a grasp on Crockett’s approach that most others missed. “They didn’t have a good handle on how I create and how fast I can move when I’m inspired and the microphones are on,” he says of the traditional music industry. After threading characters and storylines across the first two albums in the project, Age of the Ram finds Crockett and Jennings pushing their creativity with a concept record echoing the legacies of Nelson, Jennings, and even Gram Parsons. This is Crockett’s vision of hard country music. Guitar and pedal steel are the rule on the album, often accompanied by piano, harmonica and keys. The liner notes set the expectations: “Age of the Ram is the story of Billy McLane, a small-time cattle rustler who finds himself in the crosshairs of the Santa Fe ring. Pursued by bounty killers working for the shadow syndicate, Billy McLane escapes into the crazy mountains, where the outlaw will become a legend.’ In McLane’s character, Age of the Ram puts a name to Sagebrush Trilogy characters like “The Lonesome Drifter” and, time and again, threads Crockett’s life in music to the story he has crafted. A series of short theme tracks — “The Life and Times of Billy McLane” which Crockett penned, plus covers of “Rancho Deluxe,” Jimmy Buffett’s dueling themes for the 1975 cattle-rustling comedy of the same name — frame the narrative. Throughout the album, sounds of galloping horses, crackling old western movie dialogue and gunfights emerge over the blues, bluegrass, waltzes and old-school two-step numbers. The sound may be vintage Crockett, but his creativity is in overdrive, ensuring his spaghetti western tale shines through the music. This is his version of Red Headed Stranger, but where Nelson’s definitive concept album remained dark and shrouded in mystery, Crockett lays his vision bare. “Lonesome Dove” reveals his numbness to artists chasing glory. “Kentucky Too Long” passes as a bank-robbery song until Crockett deadpans “I’d have split the take if you really know me,” reminding listeners of his loyalty to the people in his corner and evoking the heavy introspection of Parsons’ Grievous Angel record. Then, on “Billy McLane,” Crockett drives the concept home as he sings, “I ain’t nobody, just another traveler, trying not to get killed by his name.” Not until his cover of Billy Joe Shaver’s “Low Down Freedom” does Crockett break from his characters and his concepts to pay tribute to late nights hanging with his producer — and a lyrical cameo by Crockett’s wife and partner, Taylor Grace — on “Me & Shooter.” After all, that’s still his right as the biggest thorn in Music City’s side. “Any time a Texan goes into the Nashville machine and keeps his faculties,” Crockett says, “that machine’s bound to change.”