Charley Crockett returns for his second release of the year and his eighth full length overall: Welcome to Hard Times. Welcome to Hard Times raises the production value considerably from his solo, raw Field Recordings Vol. 1 and also features production by Mark Neil (The Black Keys) and songwriting collaborations with Pat McLaughlin and Dan Auerbach. Crockett went through a serious threat to his health with life-threatening heart surgery for a rare congenital heart condition called Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome, along with aortic valve disease in January 2019. The surgery plus many other hardships in Crockett’s life like growing up in poverty, being homeless, then incarcerated (convicted twice of crimes he didn’t commit) and losing a sister to addiction inspired the album title and his creative vision for a “dark ’60s country record.” To quote Crockett, “This record is for the folks who think everything is fixed. But you still gotta roll the dice, even when you know they’re loaded” while trying “to reclaim the conversation about country music.” Album highlights include: the slow, soulful “Wreck Me”; the honky-tonk blues of “Heads You Win”; in the waltz-time “Black Jack County Chain”; the fatalistic “Paint it Blue”; the piano and the pedal steel driven “Tennessee Special”; and the honky-tonk title-track. With Welcome to Hard Times, Crockett once again strikes the balance between blues, country, folk, and soul, culminating in another great record! – Written by JFelton
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