Diving into the journey of creating $10 Cowboy and uncovering the heart and soul behind the album. From the iconic Sunset Sounds of Hollywood to the roaring mountains of Vancouver, experience the mix of influences and inspirations that have shaped Charley’s body of work. Get ready to immerse yourself in tales of resilience, introspection, and the timeless allure of genuine, unfiltered music. Every note tells a story, and every chord resonates with truth.

Can you elaborate on the journey of creating $10 Cowboy and how the themes and narratives of the album unfolded during the writing process?

Charley: Yeah, sounds funny to say this, but I’m making a record in Hollywood next week at an old place called Sunset Sounds. Bill Withers cut some of his songs there back in his heyday and I’d always wanted to record there. I’ve been wanting to cut a record in California because I’ve been doing everything in the south. The $10 Cowboys recorded right in Austin at a real famous studio there called Arlyn. I’ve been avoiding big studios for a long time. I just was afraid to record it and I couldn’t have gone into a room like that, even a couple of years before last year when I did it because I’d just been all in my head, felt like I didn’t deserve to be in there or wasn’t prepared. This time it all lined up and it worked really well because in each record I’m trying to carry all the things with me that I felt like worked from the previous sessions, and in a sense; I’ve always been trying to get back to the first album that I recorded, called ‘A Stolen Jewel’ from the kind of relaxed feeling and vibe recording the album. I’ve been going through all these voice memos, getting this new record together and I found the very first time I’d recorded the idea of $10 Cowboy. I remember I was down on South Padre Island and somebody had called me a $10 Cowboy in a not so flattering kind of way. It inspired me and I’m good at turning an insult into a song

Is this how your real life experiences inspired the songs on this album? Is there anything else that may have inspired other songs on the album?

Charley: You know what, I love the storytelling aspect of folk music, blues, and country music. So I’m always trying to become a good storytelling songwriter. I spent my life trying to do that. For the most part, I write from a very personal place, even if it’s a story that I’m making up about an imaginary figure, it’s all personal.

Do you think this album follows the same themes and storytelling approach as your other albums do?

Charley: I’ve only really got one song, and I just keep finding different ways to sing. They want people to categorize you, people classify you, and it’s a natural thing that people do. I’ve always been bringing all of these influences with me a long way and I always try to keep them there, so the blues and the soul and the folk in the country and the jazz sound, I try to keep them there. I’m just always trying to find a way to present them with all of those kinds of variety shows. I got to meet and see Dolly Parton play back in 2016. I was really struck by the variety of styles that she presented and how she was able to present them in a 2 hour show for her audience. I was really impressed because she had an old time kind of banjo storytelling and then full band pop songs, kind of everything from country music to pop. I don’t wanna lose the blues because they call me country, and I don’t want to not represent the elements of country music that I am really proud of.

$10 Cowboy was recorded live to tape with a diverse group of musicians. How did recording live to tape with a group of musicians contribute to capturing the essence of old country music on it?

Charley: You know, there’s a saying that it’s not the old tape machines that make those really classic records sound good. Back then, the limitations of tape meant that everybody in the studio had to be really good. You couldn’t fix it and post, you couldn’t just record a million times, fix it, auto-tune it and all that stuff. I’m not knocking that stuff, but it was the limitations of the technology and the limitations of money that made it not the tape itself though. Tape sounds good. When you have really good players in a room together that can rise to the occasion when they know that red light is on, I just think that’s the magic of the performance.

So you’ve worked with a range of talented musicians on this album. Can you discuss the dynamics of the collaboration in the studio and how it finally felt when you heard the final sound of the record?

Charley: Yeah. I recorded in many ways, from four-track tape machines to phones, even on voice memos while on the street, burning CDs off laptops and pushing them in subways. Some of my favorite recordings were made this way, like ‘Get Up Out of Texas’ on my first smartphone in 2014. I love recording live, aiming for authenticity. On ‘The Man from Waco’, we recorded outside Lockhart, Texas, with around 6 to 8 people. This time, we chose an old studio in Austin for its larger space to accommodate up to 11 or 12 people playing live together, a first for me. While some may not care, I believe authenticity resonates with listeners, even if it’s different from mainstream. This honesty, captured on tape, is what connects with people enough for me to sell tickets.

Like you said, that honesty gets to people and your music often resonates deeply with your listeners. So how do you hope that the audience connects with your new work and what messages and feelings do you aim to convey through your songs?

Charley: I don’t remember who said it, but somebody said, ‘travel is the enemy of ignorance.’ And I’ve been a traveling musician since I was a teenager. When you spend your life traveling around America, it’s difficult not to see the differences in people’s struggles. One of the most eye-opening things I’ve seen is that even in places where people have it tough, there’s always someone facing a great battle. It’s fascinating to me that everyone, whether a billionaire or a single mother working multiple jobs, sees themselves as fighting something. At this point, I encounter both kinds of people. I’ve met billionaires who listen to me and young people in public housing who want to play music because of something they heard me do. It’s wild to see so many different stories and struggles.

You have several tour dates scheduled in Canada coming up including places like Vancouver, Calgary Winnipeg, Toronto Montreal. So how does it feel to bring your music to a Canadian audience? And what are you looking forward to the most about these upcoming shows?

Charley: Mostly, I’m looking forward to them letting me in at the border. It took me five years of trying and getting better known to finally get in. But I don’t want to put the horse before the cart because I know just because you get in the first half doesn’t mean you get in the second half. So I’ll be really grateful for that. And I really had a great time. Every town was really good. The crowds were amazing. I was really surprised. It’s a really beautiful country. Getting up there in the Canadian Rockies, I got to see those. Where are you based?

We’re based out of Toronto. So there aren’t too many Rockies around us, but I have been out west and it is gorgeous.

Charley: You can’t even compare it to anything I’ve ever seen before. Yeah, it looks different even than our mountains. So that was cool. We played Toronto, I guess. Is that where I’m playing? Yeah. So, I knew about that place even when I was younger just because of all the famous recordings from there. So that’ll be a lifetime bucket list thing I’m doing there. I never thought I’d play Massey Hall, honestly, trying to get into the damn country.

Charley Crockett is touring. Click here to find a concert near you. 

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