Welcome to Hard Times

It could be argued that Charley Crockett is productive to a fault. Welcome to Hard Times is his second album of 2020 and his third in less than a year, an output that can be excused as a reflection of his knowledge of the fleeting nature of life. Unlike its predecessor The Valley, Welcome to Hard Times wasnt written with the prospect of his own mortality looming over his head. By the time The Valley hit the stores in September, Crockett survived the surgeries correcting a congenital heart condition, which leaves Welcome to Hard Times as the album he wrote in its wake. Death still rears its ugly head, but its often in scenarios as picturesque as Black Jack County Chain, a throwback to doomed cowboy songs that experienced a revival in the middle of the 20th century. The key to Crocketts appeal is how he melds flinty storytelling with music so colorful, it feels cinematic. Welcome to Hard Times, like its predecessors, easily swings between country, blues, swing, and folk; rock & roll is never heard but felt in the passion and grit of the performances. This easy eclecticism is Crocketts calling card, also evident on his covers collection Field Recordings, Vol. 1, and its burnished by a production that cannily recalls the echo-drenched LPs of the 1950s and early 60s without ever succumbing to nostalgic fetishism. To Crockett, this sound is as timeless and telling as old folklore, which is why the retro vibe of Welcome to Hard Times feels so vital: its not a revival, its part of the continuum of great American music. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine