{"id":144259,"date":"2026-01-30T16:27:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T16:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/144259\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T16:27:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T16:27:15","slug":"charley-crockett-celebrates-career-defining-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/144259\/","title":{"rendered":"Charley Crockett celebrates career-defining week"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Dallasite Charley Crockett<\/a> is in the midst of what may be the biggest week of his career to date.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, he shared the stage with Dwight Yoakam and other top acts at the Roxy Theatre in Hollywood for a concert benefiting Children\u2019s Hospital Los Angeles. <\/p>\n

On Sunday, he will attend the Grammy Awards, where he\u2019s nominated for best traditional country album for Dollar a Day,<\/a> competing with Willie Nelson, Lukas Nelson, Margo Price and Zach Top. He also contributed to A Tribute to the King of Zydeco<\/a>, which is up for best regional roots music album.<\/p>\n

Then on Thursday, it\u2019s off to the red carpet premiere of his new documentary, A Cowboy in London, at the prestigious Santa Barbara International Film Festival. <\/p>\n

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Despite the stack of glowing reviews and accolades, Crockett downplays the attention, placing more importance on the art itself.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

Crockett has always worked on his own terms. Speaking on the phone from his home in Austin, he discussed his career trajectory and his view of the music industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll that\u2019s going on with country music, I think it\u2019s just a catch-all for people looking for something genuine. That\u2019s what country music is to me,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s an element of country music that speaks to people with rural backgrounds, and I think that\u2019s why it speaks to all of America, because many of us come from a rural background.\u201d<\/p>\n

The early days<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t an easy start for Crockett, now 41. He spent much of his life scraping by,<\/a> beginning with a childhood in a San Benito trailer park in Cameron County \u2014 the southernmost county in Texas \u2014 where he was raised by his single mother. When he was 8, they moved to Irving.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was a teenager, my mama got me this guitar out of a South Irving pawnshop. I taught myself how to play by ear, and played everywhere I could,\u201d Crockett said. \u201cThey used to do this little guitar pull called Irving City Limits, and I played there a lot. <\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the first places I remember walking into were the Sons of Hermann Hall when I was 18, playing my idiosyncratic tunes, and the Balcony Club, when they had that little four-by-six stage by the door. I\u2019d play at the Winedale Tavern, which is now the Single Wide. The smoke was so thick in that place, you couldn\u2019t see the door. Everybody in there looked like they had one foot in the grave, but it was a cool place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crockett attended high school at Carrollton\u2019s R.L. Turner but did not graduate, instead leaving to travel and pursue music. Homelessness was a frequent reality in his teens and 20s as he hitchhiked and hopped trains across the United States and Europe, taking whatever work he could find as a farmhand by day and performing music for spare change at night.<\/p>\n

A well-dressed man<\/p>\n

Today, Crockett is regarded as one of the best-dressed musicians in country music, a far cry from his vagabond days, when money was scarce and his wardrobe showed it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack when I was playing the streets in New Orleans, I realized that I looked like s— and people didn\u2019t want to come near me,\u201d Crockett said. \u201cThe Salvation Army had these brown bag specials on certain days of the week. You could fill a brown paper grocery bag for five bucks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

Over the years, he\u2019s encountered music industry figures who tried to shape him into something he\u2019s not. He talked about one such New York deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey wanted to lock down publishing, bring in an entertainment lawyer and basically to try to mold you into what they want you to be,\u201d he said. \u201cThey were showing music videos of all these groups, and they\u2019re gonna decide your name. I was feeling like I had no voice in the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

He ultimately walked away from the deal. As he did, someone in the management group made a last-ditch effort to keep him signed:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll never forget that,\u201d he said. \u201cI was definitely afraid of going back into the streets and staring down the uncertainty of living hand-to-mouth again. But it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I realized that the less I took control of my own destiny, the more these business types were going to decide it for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moving back to North Texas<\/p>\n

When he moved to Dallas around 2013, he was able to reunite with his mother, whom he hadn\u2019t seen for a couple of years. She\u2019d moved from Irving to East Dallas, and she\u2019d been worried about him, he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cFrom what I remember, the music scene in Dallas had been pretty down and out for a number of years, but it was coming back,\u201d Crockett said. \u201cThere were always open mics, and you could feel that it was a revival. That\u2019s when I first met my lead guitar player, Alexis Sanchez, playing at places like Adair\u2019s and the Free Man.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sanchez introduced Crockett to Leon Bridges<\/a> that year, in Bridges\u2019 hometown of Fort Worth.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

Bridges and Crockett played 16 concerts together last year in a tour dubbed \u201cThe Crooner and the Cowboy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Becoming a bandleader <\/p>\n

Early on, Crockett operated as a one-man band, and it took him several years before he learned how to lead a group. As he traveled the country, he often jumped in with local house bands, learning through trial by fire. Sometimes it clicked; other times it was a train wreck.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I\u2019d get lucky, and the guys on stage could maybe follow me without me saying anything,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd sometimes I\u2019d get banned from the place. They\u2019d tell me, \u2018Don\u2019t come back here until you can lead a band with a blues song and tell everybody what f—ing key you\u2019re in.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Momentum began to build for Crockett in 2014, when he formed the band The Blue Drifters with guitarist Sanchez, a Dallasite. The lineup expanded starting in 2016, releasing albums that blend old-school country with blues and soul.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

Crockett did not use the band on his 2015 debut album, A Stolen Jewel, instead recording the record with Kyle Madrigal, who\u2019s now in the band but was not a member at the time.<\/p>\n

The band took clearer shape in 2016 with In the Night, which featured Alexis Sanchez on electric guitar and added Nathan Fleming and Kullen Fox. Percussionist Mario \u201cMayo\u201d Valdez, a Dallasite, joined at the start of 2018, coinciding with the release of Crockett\u2019s fourth studio album, Lonesome as a Shadow.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

Crockett has performed many in-store sets at Good Records in Dallas. One of those shows, organized by the late co-owner Chris Penn, took place the same week Penn fell, suffering a spinal injury that left him paralyzed from the neck down.<\/a> <\/p>\n

I spoke with Alex Montenegro, the manager of Good Records, about the impact of Crockett\u2019s frequent appearances at the store.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

\u201cI miss that man,\u201d Crockett said of Penn, who died in April.<\/a> \u201cHe became one of my biggest advocates in the record store business, maybe the biggest one.\u201d<\/p>\n

The documentary<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

A Cowboy in London presents an unvarnished portrait of Crockett on the cusp of global stardom. It traces a chaotic week in London marked by three sold-out shows at Hoxton Hall, unscripted media stops, restless city walks and quiet moments with his fianc\u00e9e, Taylor Grace, a singer-songwriter from Alabama, whose personal camcorder footage threads through the film.<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s director, Fort Worth-based Jared Christopher, began his career as a journalist, spending a decade writing for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram before transitioning into documentary filmmaking.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m going to do this, I have to have creative control,\u201d Christopher told Crockett. \u201cI\u2019m totally open to your input and suggestions, but this can\u2019t be a commercial for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

After completing the rough cut of the film, Christopher sent it to Crockett, then waited more than a week without hearing a response.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

While Christopher was waiting to hear back from Crockett, he received a text from Taylor Grace saying the film was \u201clike watching a scary movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not the reaction I wanted,\u201d said Christopher. \u201cBut to her point, it\u2019s so raw when you\u2019re the one in front of the camera. This isn\u2019t what we\u2019re used to seeing, which is usually a very curated thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really hard to watch,\u201d Crockett said. \u201cAnd I had a hard time sleeping, actually. That\u2019s part of why I didn\u2019t answer him for a while.\u201d But ultimately, Crockett didn\u2019t ask to make any changes to the film.<\/p>\n

Crockett admitted to The Dallas Morning News that he felt underprepared for the Hoxton Hall shows, being a little rusty after not performing solo in some time. \u201cI should\u2019ve done a couple of warm-up solo shows before going to London,\u201d he said. He also spoke candidly about having had a little too much to drink before the second night\u2019s performance. <\/p>\n

Before the third show, Jimmy Page showed up and met with Crockett backstage, professing his admiration. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Jimmy showed up, I couldn\u2019t believe it. As we were talking, I kept thinking to myself, \u2018What is he doing here?\u2019\u201d Crockett said. \u201cThen he started kinda whispering in my ear about how Lightnin\u2019 Hopkins was his first and greatest influence, and talking about playing in New Orleans when he was younger. I felt the respect that he had for Texas and Louisiana music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then Page shared another memory with Crockett from his early days with Led Zeppelin<\/a>:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter he said that to stuff me, I was less nervous and I let my guard down,\u201d Crockett said. \u201cDuring the show, it was wild looking up there, seeing Jimmy Page watching me from the balcony. I had my best show of the London sessions that night.\u201d<\/p>\n

While in London, Crockett was fitted for his wedding tuxedo at Davies & Son, a prestigious tailoring house that has dressed the British royal family.<\/p>\n

A few months after the final cut of the film was completed, Charley Crockett donned that tuxedo as he married Taylor Grace on the ranch of his friend and mentor, Willie Nelson. <\/p>\n

Located on the ranch is a historic landmark, the Old West-style town of Luck, built by Nelson as a movie set for Red Headed Stranger.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Michael Hogue<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all here, and it\u2019s just one big jamboree,\u201d Crockett said.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>The Turnpike Troubadours are playing three shows at Billy Bob\u2019s Texas in Fort Worth <\/a><\/p>\n

The band\u2019s concerts feature a mix of heartfelt ballads and high-energy jams that bridge classic country and roots rock.<\/p>\n

\""Napoleon<\/a>Fun things to do in Dallas-Fort Worth for the week of Jan. 30-Feb. 5<\/a><\/p>\n

Highlights include a Groundhog Day celebration in Frisco and shows by comedians Loni Love and Bill Bellamy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Dallasite Charley Crockett is in the midst of what may be the biggest week of his career…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":144260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[6980,59461,102,104,103,3949,1266,21778,278,4661,27],"class_list":["post-144259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-celebrities","tag-charley-crockett","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-deep-ellum","tag-irving","tag-leon-bridges","tag-music","tag-pop-music","tag-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}