$10 Cowboy | Charley Crockett

A bargain at any price, $10 Cowboy is Charley Crockett’s latest product to hit the sales racks, and it’s flying off the shelves. Just ask the disappointed hopeful (myself included) who waited in never-ending lines for a chance to see the cowboy singer at one of his album release shows across some of central Texas’s most iconic venues, only to watch those dance hall doors swing shut at max capacity. Better luck next time folks, but the album itself is no shabby consolation prize. 

Sitting at 12 tracks and a 39 minute runtime, $10 Cowboy is classic western swing sprinkled with the unique flavor we’ve come to associate with Charley Crockett. Here, country’s twangy lead guitar and lazy pedal steel meet the horn and rhythm sections better associated with the sounds of New Orleans for an unusual marriage that becomes more engrossing with every listen. So pop the tab on that cold one and get ready to feel down-right-no-good-and-low with the album’s second single, Hard Luck & Circumstances.

Why stop there? Keep it going with some more of the album's highlights:

With his latest installment to an already extensive backlog, the San Benito native showcases a propensity for captivating melodies and empathetic lyrics that transport the listener to his side on that lonesome trail. Perhaps even more alluring is Crockett’s distinct croon that delivers the fresh additions to time-worn sentiments fundamental to western music. With his ode to Tyler, Texas, Crockett's City of Roses puts these qualities on full display.

Of course, no cowboy album is complete without a good story, and Crockett is not one to shy away from spinning some yarn. In his western, Spade, the storyteller delivers an epic run-in with a card thief set against a discordant rhyme scheme and haunting guitar motifs. A few tracks later, Ain’t Done Losing Yet goes on to illustrate an amusing encounter with an elderly woman at the casino and her misfortunes playing the roulette wheel. 

Not to be lost amongst the track listings, Diamond in the Rough stands out as the album's sole romantic ballad, melancholy as it may be. 

Bookending either side of the album are the two cowboy anthems. With the album’s namesake track and lead single, $10 Cowboy, Crockett takes a rousing guitar hook and examines the image of the modern cowboy singer compared to the life of the traditional cowboy, before eventually concluding both to be “highly hazardous occupations” in the song’s spoken outro. Finally, the singer leaves us with Midnight Cowboy, the parting track full of wistful melodies and kerouac-esque imagery sure to satisfy the traveling bone.

In $10 Cowboy, Charley Crockett encapsulates the gloom of the lonesome cowboy contrasted with the redemptions found in traveling across the American land. Equipped with compelling lyrics and a captivating voice, the imposing character continues to spread his self proclaimed "gulf and western" music across a wider audience, one two-step at a time. Let this then serve as your warning to get an early spot in line should you ever be so lucky to have the cowboy and his band of blue drifters pass on through your town’s dance hall anytime soon.