CHARLEY CROCKETT : DOLLAR A DAY

CHARLEY CROCKETT : DOLLAR A DAY

Dollar A Day
Crucified Son
Woman In A Bar
Ain't That Right
Lone Star
El Paso To Denver
Sante Fe Ring
Age Of The Ram (Theme)
I Stay Ready
All Around Cowboy
Tennessee Quick Cash
Die With My Dreams On
Ballad Of A Lonesome Drifter
Destroyed
Alamosa

Label : Island Records

Release Date : August 8, 2025

Length : 46:53

Review (Saving Country Music) : After announcing his signing to a major label in Island Records, Charley Crockett promised us a trilogy of albums that would weave through an underworld of dirty deals, shadowy characters, and general intrigue coined “The Sagebrush Trilogy.” It was hard to not get a little giddy about the prospects. The first installment released in March titled Lonesome Drifter was entertaining enough, and with the incredible volume of releases from the Texas native, you forgive him if there’s a weak track or two on an album. With a new version of fan favorite “Jamestown Ferry” and a cover of George Strait’s “Amarillo By Morning” among other tracks, the album felt solid, but a little sleepy, and seemed to lack the vision and originality you would expect from the first installment of a cinematic trilogy. With Dollar A Day, the grandiose promises Crockett is prone to slipping into are fulfilled. With 15 tracks, more variety in sound, and a more grand scope, this is everything what you want an album to be, from Charley Crockett or anyone else. It’s country. At times, it’s funky. It takes you places and tells interesting stories. And though it comes with many bold flavors of varying origins, this feels like a Charley Crockett Western overall. You’re fair to wonder if co-producer Shooter Jennings has the same acumen for channeling the classic country and R&B sounds that previous producer Billy Horton did. But what is brought to Dollar A Day is plenty of imagination that takes the album beyond the mundane, infusing it with the thematic scope, while also keeping it just enough familiar and grounded to give it immediately infectious moments. There is some great writing on this record, even if it’s not always Charley’s. When you think to yourself, “Oh, that’s a great concept for a song,” or “That’s a strong lyrical hook,” it sometimes comes from a cover or contribution like “All Around Cowboy,” or “Die With My Dreams On.” Don’t undersell Charley’s gift for finding good songs and making them his own, while “Tennessee Quick Cash” co-written by Charley with Shooter Jennings is perhaps the top banger on the record. With the wild variations in mood and style in this collection, it only feels fair to regard the songs individually as opposed to trying to characterize them as a whole. It starts off a little slow, but overall, the sentiment on Charley Crockett’s Dollar A Day would be strongly positive, with kudos to the boldness brought to the project, and the immersive aspect it achieves.

Review (Dallas Observer) : Charley Crockett’s Dollar A Day marks the return of modern country’s most prolific artist. This is the second installment of Crockett’s Sagebrush Trilogy, three albums produced in collaboration with Shooter Jennings. The first album in the trilogy, Lonesome Drifter, was released by Island Records in March 2025, marking Crockett’s major label debut. Courtesy of Island Records Over the past decade, Crockett’s profile has steadily grown, his fan base swelling. His music is a study in contrast, managing to sound classically country while experimenting, incorporating elements of the blues, jazz and soul music to give songs their own unique flavor. Crockett’s secret weapon is his distinctive voice, which is warm, casual and unexpectedly emotional. He spins tales of down-on-their-luck Westerners of now and yesteryear with humor and compassion and without judgment. Lonesome Drifter was a mixed bag in relation to Crockett’s other recent output. It had its high points (“The Death of Bill Bailey”) but portions felt overproduced, particularly Crockett’s covers of “Jamestown Ferry” (which he covered on a previous album to more success) and “Amarillo By Morning.” Crockett has been effusive about his partnership with Shooter Jennings on the Sagebrush Trilogy, but after Lonesome Drifter, it seemed possible this new era may be one marked by a less authentic sound. All that said, Dollar A Day brings Crockett back to his roots, doubling down on what he does best from beginning to end as he tells his Western tales. At 15 tracks, this is an expansive and varied LP. It may not be quite as progressive as some of Crockett’s previous albums (2022’s The Man From Waco, in particular), but it still manages to incorporate his varied influences to enrich its sonic palette. Songs build on one another and almost carry forward the stories of common protagonists. The album’s title track kicks things off, telling the story of a cowboy reflecting on his profession and the difficulties of making a living from it. It is a gentle, melancholic opener and pairs well with the album’s third song, “Woman in a Bar.” The latter is a piano-forward piece about a man smitten with – you guessed it – a woman in a bar. Similarly, “Crucified Son,” the album’s high-energy second track (and the first released) pairs well with its fourth, “Ain’t That Right.” “Crucified Son” stands in contrast to “Dollar A Day,” telling the story of a man who has had success, been to the mountaintop and found that it just makes him an easier target for the masses. “I walk out the door / they call me friend / and drive nails into my name,” sings Crockett. “Ain’t That Right” presents a similar character talking about what a “dangerous game / where people get abused” show business is. “Santa Fe Ring,” “Age of the Ram (Theme),” and “I Stay Ready” later form their own cinematic triptych. In “Santa Fe Ring,” the narrator is hunted by the titular Ring. “Age of the Ram (Theme)” follows on its heels, an instrumental that marks the album’s halfway point. It plays like a melody that would accompany a montage of the protagonist wandering, on the run. “I Stay Ready” seems to catch up to the same character some time later, considering his life on the run. “I see a vision, all cloaked in red / Those who laid a price upon my head,” sings Crockett. “There’s no promise what tomorrow brings / So I stay ready for anything.” “All Around Cowboy,” Crockett’s story of a man who traded success for good times, seduced by “the whiskey and the women,” is a later standout. It has the feel of a classic country song, no bells or whistles, just Crockett soulfully singing, “Maybe tomorrow things will get better. / If the devil lets loose of his soul / he’ll be an all around cowboy again.” A simple song, and one that highlights Crockett’s strengths as a storyteller, taking time to describe the character rolling a smoke, wiping whiskey from his whiskers, and smiling, thinking about his glory days. That storytelling streak is strong throughout the album. In “Santa Fe Ring” the character calls out the caliche coating his pursuer’s jackets “for they had journeyed long;” in “Ballad of a Lonesome Drifter,” the story of a self-proclaimed Texican, Crockett describes the character’s Mexican boots, his Stetson hat, the way his gun hangs low, “trigger tied back.” These small character moments and their specificity make Crockett’s songs feel real and compelling, the characters tangible. It should be noted that all is not doom and gloom in Crockett’s stories, either. “Tennessee Quick Cash” features a classic Crockett lead, a musician who cannot catch a break, approached by a woman who recommends he get a loan from a local business, the Tennessee Quick Cash, if he is hard up for money. “Now I know what you’re ‘bout to say / About their predatory ways / But, brother, least they let you know it right up front,” croons Crockett on the album’s most straightforwardly entertaining song.

Review (Cowgirlup) : This is the second installment of Crockett’s Sagebrush Trilogy, three albums produced in collaboration with Shooter Jennings. The first album in the trilogy, Lonesome Drifter, was released by Island Records in March 2025, marking Crockett’s major label debut. The first installment was a bi here and there. This one plays it safe and takes things back to his roots. It is essentially what people originally called country and western. Charley has reunited with producer Shooter Jennings. The album can get a bit funktry at times when it isn’t old school. I like Charley and some of his earlier albums are multi playable but this one falls a bit short. There are some standout tracks like El Paso to Denver, All Around Cowboy, Die With My Dreams On, and Ballad of a Lonesome Drifter. Charley’s voice is not that great but it suits his songs. I am a bit disappointed in the album overall as I generally and genuinely admire his music and his authenticity. There’s just something missing. I think sometimes that you can have too much of a good thing. Time to have a refresh, Charley. It is not a bad album, it just could be a whole lot better.

Review (Austin Chronicle) : Seven years ago Charley Crockett graced the cover of the Chronicle, leaning out the window of his car with a wink that suggested he knew how fast that hot rod could run – even if no one believed him yet. At the time, having just settled in Austin, it was clear that the perpetually rambling troubadour had the spirit and talent to make a unique mark, but the San Benito-born songwriter was unsure exactly how he was supposed to fit into the music industry with his defiantly throwback country style, hard luck blues-born rhythms, and soulful Gulf Coast twang. Turns out it was the music industry that needed to figure out how to keep up with him. Dollar a Day arrives as Crockett prepares to launch The Crooner & the Cowboy Tour with Leon Bridges, where the two Texans will revisit their Deep Ellum salad days – now in arenas. The album also serves as the second in a Shooter Jennings-produced trilogy for Island Records that kicked off with this March’s Lonesome Drifter LP. Indeed, Crockett has kept his anachronistic recording pace in releasing 15 albums over the past decade. The thematic thread between Drifter and Dollar seems tenuous, other than Crockett’s continuing fluctuation between casting himself as the downtrodden outsider fighting for a break and the uncompromising star kicking down the establishment doors. That paradox remains one of the most intriguing aspects of his catalog, a distinctly American dream of self-made success that encapsulates both the beaten-down underdog and the bombastic go-getter. Crockett’s drive is compelled by the myth of escape and triumph shimmering just on the horizon – the perceived promises of “Crystal City” or “Silver City,” or even Nashville – that are of course never what they seem. It’s fitting that Drifter closes with George Strait’s “Amarillo by Morning,” an apex of the just-one-more-shot genre. Dollar a Day opens more ruminatively with the title track, the songwriter strumming acoustic and worn down from the grind. But lead single “Crucified Son” immediately punches back with swagger, a classic Crockett anthem updating his evolving origin story now that it's brushing against success. Crockett's pull between hustle and hard luck emerges best in the weary soulful standout “Stay Ready”: “My spirit won’t let me rest/ Always searching for another test/ There’s no promise what tomorrow brings/ So I stay ready for anything.” Jennings keeps the production straightforward and tight, alternating between sparse reflections (“Woman in a Bar,” “El Paso to Denver”), dusty Southwestern ballads (“Sante Fe Ring”), and funky grooves (“Ain’t That Right,” “Lone Star”) that hearkens Waylon’s outlaw country. A mid-album break via the cinematic Western instrumental “Age of the Ram (Theme)” surprises, and emphasizes how much the project’s 15 songs play like Seventies soundtrack classics – from spaghetti Western to Blaxploitation action to Midnight Cowboy drama. What it lacks in cohesiveness it more than makes up for in individually cut gems. The closing double shot of “Destroyed” and “Alamosa” delivers Crockett’s best sound on Dollar, perhaps because they reach furthest from the classic country underpinnings that define most of the album. “Destroyed” rocks out with a horn-blasted Memphis roll, and “Alamosa” grooves gritty blues with basslines cut with sharp string bursts. They end the record with a reminder that Crockett is at his best when he’s pushing expectations and carving his own path, even if success may not be what he imagined.