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(SOLD OUT) Charley Crockett w/ Jesse Daniel
Sat, 22 May, 7:00 PM CDT
Doors open
5:30 PM CDT
3rd and Lindsley
818 3rd Ave. S, Nashville, TN 37210
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Description
The new album from Charley Crockett is perhaps even more potent proof of his literal heartbreak than the scar on his chest. After undergoing open heart surgery that saved his life, Charley says he considered calming down for “just a minute” but once he recovered he did just the opposite. He states boldly with one eyebrow raised, “I wanted to make an album that would change the entire conversation about country music.”
That album is Welcome to Hard Times, an aptly-named collection that perfectly fits these troubled days even though it was made just before the pandemic hit. The music was shaped by his heart issues and producer Mark Neill’s desire to make “a dark gothic country record.” Charley certainly knew how to deliver that. “I think you can hear that deep, dark sadness in this record,” he says, “but I think it’s the kind of darkness that will uplift others.”
Charley says Neill, the acclaimed producer of albums such as The Black Keys’ Brothers, JD McPherson’s Let The Good Times Roll, and many others, is the only person who could have brought his vision to life. “Mark understood where I wanted to take the music. He heard what I had written and he said: ‘This is a movie. We have to tell this story.’”
Welcome to Hard Times is certainly cinematic. In fact, the title song shares its name with a 1968 Western starring Henry Fonda that Crockett admires. Twelve originals and one perfect cover create a world populated by outlaws, prisoners, gamblers—all of them suffering heartbreak. It’s also a sonic feat that strikes that precarious balance of being both retro and contemporary and brings in elements of piano-driven honky-tonk, soul, and blues to complement a sound that is completely country. “I wanted to figure out how to make something Gulf Coast, Country, and Western, simultaneously,” he says. “I think that real country music—in the 50s and 60s, especially—was always eclectic,” he says. “Rhumba beats behind a honky tonk band, incorporations of the blues, soul, Caribbean, cha-cha. Eclectic mixes were going into making those records.”
A native of South Texas, he was raised in an isolated, rural part of the Rio Grande Valley by a single mother in a trailer surrounded by sugar cane and grapefruit fields. As a teenager, he was into free-styling and rapping. He spent formative years living with his uncle in New Orleans where he first became a street performer who discovered a love for folk music. In New York City he played hip hop and blues on street corners and in subway cars. What’s also important to his identity as an artist, he says, is that he has lived the songs he writes and sings. “I’ve always had to work so damn hard to get any little bit of anything,” he says.
Americans have always gravitated to country music in troubled times, and this is the album the nation needs right now. “This scar refocused me,” Charley says, fingers lightly touching his chest. “These songs come from a place of gratitude, but also fierce strength. Because I’m a fighter. I will fight to my last breath for this music.”
Event Information
Age Limit
All Ages
Americana
Jesse Daniel
Jesse Daniel
Americana
Jesse Daniel possesses the hard-won life experience that many sing about, but few have actually lived. Instead of wearing those trials like badges of honor, he has used them to forge the solid foundation from which he has built his career. After overcoming years of addiction and all that comes with it, he set out to make a life in music and hasn't looked back since. This unrivaled determination led to his debut in 2018, Jesse Daniel, which proved to be a major foot-in-the-door for him as an artist. After touring this record extensively he released his second album, Rollin’ On, in 2020. If the first record was a foot in the door, Rollin’ On was a battering ram, making it near impossible to ignore his name in country music. It let the world know that Daniel was here to stay and received national (and international) praise from the likes of Rolling Stone, Sirius XM Outlaw Country DJ Shooter Jennings, American Songwriter and Saving Country Music among many others. It’s success in spite of a global pandemic only highlighted the impact it had.
Daniel used the forced downtime of 2020 to write and record his best work to date; a twelve song album called Beyond These Walls, collaborating again with esteemed Grammy nominated producer, Tommy Detamore at Cherry Ridge Studios. A good portion of its songs were co-written by Jesse’s partner, bandmate and co-owner of their independent label Die True Records, Jodi Lyford, who is heard throughout singing harmony vocals. “I wanted this record to reflect where I’m at in life… a more mature album and version of my sound, but without sacrificing any of the things that make it “Jesse Daniel”. Every song on this record reflects a part of me.” says Daniel.The collection features members of George Strait’s “Ace In The Hole Band” (Ronnie Huckaby), Willie Nelson’s band (Kevin Smith), and even includes a duet, completely in spanish, with Raul Malo of The Mavericks.
Many have praised Daniel as a showman or performer, but less often as the songwriter he truly is. The subject matter on this album shed light onto this side of him that had been there all along, but many have overlooked. “Clayton Was A Cowboy” honors the timeless tradition of storytelling in country music, capturing the simplicity, hardship and tragedy that oftentimes go hand in hand with living truly and completely free. “Gray” is a sad but true glimpse into what addiction can look like. Written from the perspective of a friend, it covers the helplessness one feels while watching someone they love throw their life away. Daniel said, “I’ve been to a lot of funerals in the past few years, most of them were for friends who died far too young. I wrote this song to tell the truth about what it's like, and to try and expose the glamorous image people give addiction for what it is.”
Daniel’s worker's anthem, “El Trabajador”, taps into his upbringing, working the flea markets with his mother and step-father (a native of Northern Mexico), while “Soñando Contigo” covers unbearable grief and heartache in true Ranchera style.In the lyrics to the closing track, “I’ll Be Back Around”, is where the album gets its title. The only true bluegrass song on the album, it features masterful dobro played by Tommy Detamore, fiddle by Hank Singer and flatpicking guitar by John Carroll. While it is about doing time in prison, it transcends that narrative by being relatable to anyone who has been stuck somewhere against their will.
This album is a love letter to country music in its many forms. It will leave you with a sense of knowing Jesse Daniel better, both as an artist and person. He has grown immeasurably as a singer, songwriter, producer and bandleader since his humble beginnings in small town California and Beyond These Walls lays out just how far he has come and will continue to go.