Charley Crockett’s $10 Cowboy: A Romantic 50s Country Tune with a Modern Sensibility

The 1950s in American country music marked a romantic era of country music with lush guitar, strings a hypnotic vocal twang. Think Buck Owens, Roger Miller, Charley Pride and Patsy Cline singing into a big chrome mic and flanked by excellent studio musicians in frilly pearl snap shirts with horse shoes embroidered on them. Charley brings this era of country music back with some modern production glitter and current themes of identity.

First off, Crockett nails that 50s early 60s country music aesthetic with some lush country electric guitar, a leisurely and meandering 4/4 time and that twangy vocal that era of country music is known for. Let’s get deep into the mix right now…What works about the vocal is how it mirrors that era’s vocal by being up front in the mix, as well as Charley throwing a post-production effect on it that gives it an old dance hall echo vibe. The guitar echos off of every corner of the track and harkens back to that old romantic country sound. Moreover, the organ really fills the space and gives the track a needed warmth. The music is fairly stripped back, but it is done well and does not come across as empty nostalgia.

The vocals and lyrics is where this 50s / 60s country structure gets a modern lick of paint. Even though the vocals are fairly traditional, they are in the same vain as Chris Stapleton and Luke Combs…to an extent…in that Charley’s vocals are both traditional, but still play well in a modern setting. What is very modern are the lyrics about identify and what it means to be a “$10 Cowboy.” What does a cowboy look like? Doe he look like you? Does he look like me? Should we even be using ‘he’ and ‘she’ anymore? What role does race play into what’s a cowboy? All of these questions race through your head as Charley sings about how cowboys look like him and like you. Charley’s identity as a person of colour within country music…a traditionally very straight and very white genre…gives these lyrics about identity added weight.

Country music continues to broaden its narrow tent to more people of colour and women artists, which is long overdue. Artists like Charley, Beyoncé, The War and Treaty and Yola are giving country music a shot in the arm and some much needed excitement. I thought that the pop country of the 90s and 2000s put country music in this rut that it could not get out of; however, the last 5 years have really gotten me excited about modern country. Let’s hope this trend keeps going and country music continues to be on the rise.

Listen to $10 Cowboy