Charley Crockett Readies ‘$10 Cowboy,’ an Album He Says Was Written in Truck Stops, Casinos, Alleys

It’s been a full 16 months since Charley Crockett has released a record. It’s barely a fraction of a typical album release cycle for most artists, but not Crockett: The Texas singer-songwriter released a whopping nine records over the five year span between 2018 and 2022.

The marathon wait is just one reason that $10 Cowboy, Crockett’s forthcoming album, is the most anticipated collection of the 39-year-old’s career. In a statement, Crockett explained that the record is a wandering tribute to his home country.

“This material is written at truck stops, it’s written at casinos, it’s written in the alleys behind the venues, it’s written in my truck parked up on South Congress in Austin,” he said. “A ramblin’ man like me, a genuine transient, is in a pretty damn good position to have something to say about America.”

America is a long-running theme for Crockett, who told Rolling Stone in 2021 that the U.S. was also the lurking subject of his song “Music City, U.S.A.”

Written with Billy Horton, Crockett’s title track to “$10 Cowboy” is the type of rough-edged working-class portraiture that has come to define Crockett’s writing in recent years. Crockett and his band will debut the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday night.

“Being out on the road gives you a first-hand experience of how different kinds of Americans see themselves as going through some kind of great struggle,” Crockett said in an accompanying statement. “The roughneck working the oil and gas fields in West Texas. The single mother raising kids by herself. The young man working a street corner because he thinks it’s his only option. I would be dishonest if I said I couldn’t see the thread. Each of ‘em feel invisible. I am struck by the battles they are fighting internally, and the ways they have been entrapped by what America says they are.”

$10 Cowboy will be released April 26. Crockett will support the album with a tour that includes a lengthy run in Australia in February and festivals throughout North America.

Charley Crockett’s North American Tour Dates:
Jan. 23 –  Park City, UT @ Marquis Park City
Feb. 22 – San Antonio, TX @ San Antonio Stock & Rodeo
March 1 – Tempe, AZ @ Extra Innings Festival
March 7 – Miami, FL @ Wynwood Marketplace
|April 5 – Memphis, TN @ Grind City Fest
April 11 – Riviera Maya, Mexico @ Avett Brothers at the Beach @ Hard Rock Hotel Riviera
April 19 – Miramar Beach, FL @ Moon Crush Festival
April 20 – Biloxi, MS @ Crawfish Music Festival
April 21 – Georgetown, TX @ Two Step Inn Festival
April 27 – Indio, CA @ Stagecoach Festival
May 20 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
May 21 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
May 23 –  Calgary, AB @ Grey Eagle Event Centre
May 25 –  Enoch, AB @ River Cree Resort &Casino
May 27 –  Winnipeg, MB @ Burton Cummings Theatre
May 29 – Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall
May 30 –  Montreal, QC @ MTELUS
May 31 – South Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
June 1 –  Portland, ME @ State Theater
June 3 –  Albany, NY @ Empire Live
June 5 – Hampton, NH @ Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom
June 6 – Port Chester, NY @ Capitol Theatre
June 7 – Hartford, CT @ XFINITY Theatre*
June 8 – Mansfield, MA @ Xfinity Center*
June 14 – Bonner, MT @ KettleHouse Amphitheater
June 15 – Whitefish, MT @ Scout + Gather
June 17 –  Great Falls, MT @ The Newberry
June 18 –  Emigrant, MT @ The Old Saloon
June 19 – Cheyenne, WY @ The Lincoln
June 20 –Telluride, CO @ Telluride Bluegrass
June 22 – Columbus, OH @ Buckeye Country Superfest
June 23 – Columbus, OH @ Buckeye Country Superfest
June 28 – Pendleton, OR @ Jackalope Jamboree
July 20 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount
July 28 – Check, VA @ FloydFest
Aug. 3 – St. Charles, IA @ Hinterland Music Festival
* w/ Hank Williams Jr.