Charley Crockett: Tiny Desk Concert

Jewly Hight | February 24, 2023 Charley Crockett knew what he was doing when he stood behind the Tiny Desk and introduced himself by smoothly dropping three names: Charley Pride, Davy Crockett and Freddy Fender. With those references, the Texas troubadour framed his concert as a shrewd conversation with sturdy, old ways of singing, spinning yarns of folk heroism and drawing freely from the cultural melting pot of American song. In his vintage Stetson, Crockett came off as a seasoned and courtly showman. Here and there he invoked his own colorful lore, from his legal troubles to his street-corner busking days. But what really charmed the intimate office crowd on hand was how much new meaning he teased out of familiar country, folk and blues forms over the course of five songs with accomplished ease. In his version of a murder ballad, “The Man from Waco,“ he dwelled not on the ruthless act committed, but the psychological turmoil radiating from it. His country-blues number “A