Monday 31st October 2022

The Deaf Institute, Manchester, England

It starts without much in the way of preamble; the band first, the Blue Drifters, come on to cheers and the background stereo of Ennio Morricone’s ‘For a Few Dollars More’. The spaghetti western theme is quickly replaced by Crockett’s own, played by the band as they settle in: the short ‘The Man from Waco Theme’ opening the show. The cheers turn to roars as Charley Crockett himself takes the stage.

Dressed in pale grey jeans and a white jacket – and the obligatory cowboy hat – Crockett quickly launches into ‘Cowboy Candy’, the first song from the new album. Before we pause for breath, we’re into ‘Time of the Cottonwood Trees’, another new song, one written for his girlfriend Taylor Grace.

This is followed by ‘Just Like Honey’ and ‘Black Sedan’, two more new tunes, though catchier than the two that preceded it. Not only are all the songs so far from the latest album, but astute fans will also notice they’re in roughly the same sequencing as the grooves already struck into vinyl. A moment of doubt crosses my mind: are we just going to run through all the numbers, however enthusiastically, with no thought to making the night special? The rest of the crowd doesn’t seem to share my doubt: the titular ‘The Man from Waco’ is next up, to a great reception.

There’s good reason for the frantic pace tonight. It’s Halloween, and there’s a strict 10 p.m. curfew at tonight’s venue – The Deaf Institute in Manchester – apparently to make way for another event. It’s not very rock ‘n’ roll, but we’re country tonight anyway. Crockett and the band deliver an old Tom T. Hall song, ‘Lonely in Person’, before another number from the new album, the slower-paced ‘Odessa’. But for all the solid musicianship on display and the enthusiasm of the crowd, my earlier doubts haven’t gone away. We’ve been burning through the numbers, like a jukebox has grabbed ahold of Crockett’s newest album and set it spinning. The next song is ‘Jukebox Charley’, as though to confirm me in this view.

Fortunately, I’ll soon be proved wrong. On this Halloween night, as the rain beats the roof, the jukebox is soon to become possessed.

‘Music City USA’ is up next, followed by a fan favourite, the autobiographical ‘The Valley’. The latter is the oldest original played so far, coming from the 2019 album of the same name. It seems strange to think of ‘The Valley’ as an old song, but so prolific is Charley Crockett as an artist that the song’s delivery tonight brings a more well-worn groove from the band, something not always possible on the newer songs. Most of tonight’s songs weren’t even released when I booked my ticket: Crockett has released two full albums of material since the day I set my card down in April. Even the venue’s website can’t keep up with the man: its biographical spiel is three albums old.

Crockett’s work ethic is something to be marvelled at, but there’s also a risk in it. Not only is it hard to keep up, it’s hard to savour. I’d only listened to The Man from Waco a few times before I showed up at the Deaf Institute tonight, so when the chords of those new songs are first struck by the band, there’s less of the delight and anticipation with which the crowd meets a more established number, as we’ve already seen with ‘The Valley’.

There are a lot of songs to be heard tonight; not counting the thirty-second ‘The Man from Waco Theme’ which opens the show, Charley Crockett and the Blue Drifters will run through a total of 27. With the support act, Theo Lawrence, also doing 14 tunes before Crockett takes the stage, it’s a prodigious amount of music for two-and-a-half hours. It seems Theo was even planning more: he gestures off-stage for one more at the end of his opening set, only to be denied. That 10pm curfew must be met. I find myself wondering what the final number would have been: the young Frenchman has delivered his own impressive set of original songs (as well as the Porter and Dolly crowd-pleaser ‘The Last Thing on My Mind’), characterised by strong writing and a throwback croon. Looking like a long-lost third Everly Brother who’s stepped through a wormhole into 2022, he stood solo behind his guitar and did a great job of warming up the crowd. At one point he says he’s usually backed by a rock ‘n’ roll band, and such is the strength of his set that he may well be one to watch in future. Throughout the night, Crockett is full of praise for his band the Blue Drifters, but he also makes sure to remind the audience to check out Theo Lawrence. It’s not an idle recommendation.

Crockett, meanwhile, is soon to bring that crowd to boil. After ‘The Valley’, he launches into three James Hand songs from the 10 for Slim cover album: ‘Midnight Run’, ‘Lesson in Depression’ and ‘Don’t Tell Me That’. The slick Fifties rock ‘n’ roll energy given to these three Hand numbers mean they’re perhaps the most crucial part of the night for Crockett. From here on out, Mr. Jukebox becomes a man possessed. He reaches that sweet spot he’s been searching for with the frantic pace all night: that blissful moment in a night of live music when energy turns into momentum.

‘Borrowed Time’, a song co-written with Evan Felker of the Turnpike Troubadours, is next, and its energy is maintained even in the slower swing of the following song, ‘I Need Your Love’. When the next song strikes up, it gets one of those roars of recognition from the crowd: ‘Welcome to Hard Times’, from the album of the same name. By this point, both band and audience have found the night’s groove, and the number is a high point of the night. When it’s followed up by ‘Name on a Billboard’, another from The Man from Waco album, the new song shares the familiarity of the songs around it, rather than the jukebox delivery from earlier in the show. The night is becoming special.

The next song, ‘Jamestown Ferry’, is a special moment. The fan favourite is given a warm, singalong welcome and is enlivened by a surprise trumpet solo from Blue Drifter Kullen Fox. It’s a great reminder of how Charley and his band seamlessly incorporate other American sounds into their country music, a fact then confirmed by their bluesy cover of ‘I Feel for You’. Reportedly Matthew McConaughey’s favourite Charley Crockett song, it sees Charley without his guitar as he takes the microphone from the stand. Pressing his bejewelled hand against the silver phoenix hanging around his neck, he delivers the slick lines of Jerry Reed.

The growing confidence and looseness of the night is becoming apparent, and we stray a bit further from the well-honed country sound with the Sixties groove of ‘Travelin’ Blues’, before snapping right back with the folksy ‘Lilly My Dear’. Sounding like a traditional song unearthed from the dirt, ‘Lilly’ is in fact an original co-written with fellow Texan artist Vincent Neil Emerson. It’s the second song from Welcome to Hard Times performed on the night – and it’ll be the last. To my disappointment, there are no more songs from my favourite Charley Crockett album. At the very least, it seems like a missed opportunity to not play ‘Rainin’ in My Heart’ when in Manchester (of course, it’s raining outside). But Charley’s stable of strong tunes has grown so fast that it’d be impossible to play everyone’s favourite. The frantic delivery of such catchy songs tonight reveals a hidden truth: the music might seem disposable at first, until you realise you can’t bear to throw it away.

The banjo which Charley donned for ‘Lilly My Dear’ serves well on the next number, the quick tempo of ‘Round This World’. The lyrics speak of a “banjo-pickin’ man”, but it’s the electric guitar of Blue Drifter Alexis Sanchez which steals the song. The Blue Drifter provides a tasty Tex-Mex solo which takes the song to another place, and he’s certainly a bigger hit than the last Alexis Sanchez to rock up in Manchester. ‘Round This World’ is a raucous number, and the perfect lead-in to what will prove the finest moment of the night.

The band continues the beat between songs and then, to another anticipatory roar from the crowd, Kullen Fox begins the mariachi horn riff that announces ‘Trinity River’. ‘Trinity River’ is a jewel stolen from Charley’s first album and re-recorded for The Man from Waco, but neither version is as good as the one performed tonight. It’s the perfect number to play live and puts the night at fever-pitch: Charley in his groove, the crowd enrapt, and the Blue Drifters able to show their musical dexterity in moving from country to blues to Tejano and Louisiana soul. It’s Charley embracing the ‘Gulf’ part of his distinctive ‘Gulf and Western’ sound: ‘Trinity River’ might not be country, but it’s got so much soul you want to tell the purists to go hang.

Charley revels in this new soulful groove, following up with ‘I’m Just a Clown’. This new tune is arguably out of place among the country songs on The Man from Waco, but with its Bill Withers-style vibe it’s perfect for where Charley’s found himself at this late point in the night. The momentum is carrying us all now, and while Charley’s enough of a professional to thank Manchester for coming out, it’s Texas where his heart is. In the final number, ‘Goin’ Back to Texas’, he’s the consummate showman. The music’s as good as it’s been all night and Charley’s dancing; foot-stepping carefully across the small stage, twirling in place and going down low to move spaghetti-legged before the front row of the crowd. The fierce, soulful end to the show proves the jukebox was never broken, not even in that slow, steady sequence of The Man from Waco numbers at the start of the night. Charley Crockett’s played it perfectly.

He leaves the stage with his band to cheers, cheers which continue so passionately that an encore is unavoidable. Charley returns alone, behind his guitar, to sing one of his new pure country songs, ‘July Jackson’. The band also deserves an encore, and they return for the Seventies soul vibes of another original, ‘In the Night’.

It’s been a heady, breathless sequence of music from Charley and his band. It’s been far removed from my previous concert experience, the mesmeric aural spellcasting of Sierra Ferrell in Liverpool, but Charley’s hard-and-fast approach has provided an experience no less memorable.

“I’m Charley Crockett – that’s Charley with an ‘E-Y'”, he says before he leaves the stage, an honest hustler to the end. But the hustle would be for nothing if the music didn’t back it up. And it does, emphatically: tonight has been a potent cocktail of showmanship and musicianship. The merchandise table is busy as the room empties; it’s where the real tour money is made, and why the showman is an important part of the artist. But it’s the music that proves most memorable. As I leave, I hear someone humming that horn riff from ‘Trinity River’. The jukebox’s possession is spreading, out into the Halloween night.

Setlist:

(all songs from the album The Man from Waco and written by Charley Crockett, unless noted)

  1. The Man from Waco Theme (Crockett/Kullen Fox)
  2. Cowboy Candy
  3. Time of the Cottonwood Trees
  4. Just Like Honey (Crockett/Fox)
  5. Black Sedan (Crockett/Fox)
  6. The Man from Waco (Crockett/Fox/Taylor Grace/Bruce Robison)
  7. Lonely in Person (Tom T. Hall) (from Lil G.L. Presents Jukebox Charley)
  8. Odessa (Crockett/Nathan Fleming)
  9. Jukebox Charley (Johnny Paycheck/Aubrey Mayhew) (from Jukebox Charley)
  10. Music City USA (Crockett/Mark Neill) (from Music City USA)
  11. The Valley (from The Valley)
  12. Midnight Run (James Hand) (from 10 for Slim)
  13. Lesson in Depression (Hand) (from 10 for Slim)
  14. Don’t Tell Me That (Hand) (from 10 for Slim)
  15. Borrowed Time (Crockett/Evan Felker) (from The Valley)
  16. I Need Your Love (Crockett/Neill) (from Music City USA)
  17. Welcome to Hard Times (from Welcome to Hard Times)
  18. Name on a Billboard
  19. Jamestown Ferry (Mack Vickery/Bobby Borchers) (from Lil G.L.’s Honky Tonk Jubilee)
  20. I Feel for You (Jerry Reed) (from Jukebox Charley)
  21. Travelin’ Blues (Eddy Owens) (from Lil G.L.’s Blue Bonanza)
  22. Lilly My Dear (Crockett/Vincent Neil Emerson/Colin Colby/Tyler Heiser) (from Welcome to Hard Times)
  23. Round This World (from Music City USA)
  24. Trinity River*
  25. I’m Just a Clown
  26. Goin’ Back to Texas (from Lonesome as a Shadow)
  27. Encore: July Jackson (Crockett/Grace)
  28. Encore: In the Night (from In the Night)

* ‘Trinity River’ is from The Man from Waco but was originally recorded on 2015’s A Stolen Jewel