It’s hard to think of a young musician today who embodies the spirit of Texas more than Charley Crockett. Not the jingoistic “Don’t Mess with Texas” machismo or Austin’s pseudo-country posturing, but the honky-tonk and western swing of Willie Nelson, Ernest Tubb, and Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. Crockett got his start busking on street corners across the country and getting into various scuffles with Johnny Law before returning to his home state for good in 2015. The 35-year-old San Benito native self-released a pair of country-blues records, followed by a covers album in 2017, but 2018’s Lonesome as a Shadow—with Cajun and soul influences, a crackerjack backing band, and Crockett’s silky southern drawl—marked his debut on the national stage, and was one of my favorite albums of 2018. As Waylon says, Bob Wills may still be the king, but Charley Crockett is quickly proving himself to be a worthy successor.

by Santi Elijah Holley