Ask anybody in country music, anybody who has been around for a minute and knows what they’re talking about, and they’ll tell you that Charlie Worsham is one of the most talented dudes in the whole business. He’s also one of the hardest working.
A phenomenal singer, songwriter, guitar player, producer and all-around musician… the man is just a Swiss Army knife of country music talent who can, and has, played with the best of them time and time again. And I’d venture to guess that if you walked down Broadway right now, in and around all those country music honky tonks, and asked people on the street, most of them probably wouldn’t know who he is. It’s just the sad nature of the beast…
And granted, we all know that life is unfair… the most talented (and/or most hardworking) people don’t always rise to the top in show business, as well as other industries, but lately the music industry seems to be more focused on TikTok views and social media branding, rather than good music. Hell, artists who’ve never even played an open mic night are signing record deals based solely on the number of clicks they can garner on a corny 7-second video clip of them lip-synching in the front seat of their car.
Charlie took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to voice his frustrations, sarcastically (yet honestly) painting the sad picture of just how grim it’s become in the country music industry:
“So glad I spent the first 30 years of my life diligently practicing & honing my skills as a singer, writer, picker, & performer… now that apparently the 1 thing you have to be great (lucky?!) at to get your music heard is clever captions over photo carousels on social media.”
so glad i spent the first 30 years of my life diligently practicing & honing my skills as a singer, writer, picker, & performer.. now that apparently the 1 thing you have to be great (lucky?!) at to get your music heard is clever captions over photo carousels on social media 🤷🏻♂️
— Charlie Worsham (@charlieworsham) May 30, 2024
Another great talent, Hailey Whitters commented with a message of solidarity:
“It’s dark out there.”
it’s dark out there 😣
— Hailey Whitters (@haileywhitters) May 30, 2024
And he’s not wrong. Like I said, there are plenty of artists out there who are garnering serious major label attention, and even signing record deals, without every recording a song, ever playing a live show… who knows if they can even sing. And that’s not to say that there aren’t talented people utilizing social media to get exposure… plenty of good, legit artists have been discovered on TikTok or on YouTube as well.
Craig Campbell recently pointed out the absurdity of this with a skit which he titled:
“The reenactment video you are about to watch is based on a real conversation with a Nashville major label record executive.”
@craigcampbellmusic The reenactment video you are about to watch is based on a real conversation with a Nashville major label record executive. #nashville #recordlabel ♬ original sound – Craig Campbell
Scary, isn’t it…
Anyways, back to Charlie… I’ve seen him perform a number of times, interviewed him a few others, had him on the podcast… and I can say with full confidence that he’s probably even a better human than he is a guitar player. So let’s dive into some of his music…
Charlie released his debut album Rubberband in 2013, and followed it up with another stellar project, Beginning Of Things, in 2017, which was a Top 5 album for Whiskey Riff that year. He’s released a couple EPs in the past few years, including his most recent Compadres project featuring Luke Combs, Dierks Bentley and more. Since then, he’s served as a session musician for some of the biggest names in country music, earning the respect of pretty much everybody in the industry for his insane talent and impressive resumé. He’s spent some time playing with Old Crow Medicine Show and currently has been seen touring with Dierks Bentley.
He’s one of those guys that fans may not know yet, but if you ask your favorite artist who their favorite artist is, and half of them are going to mention Charlie Worsham.
So that being said, here’s a few of my favorites from his catalog:
“Old Time’s Sake”
“Tools Of The Trade”
“Fist Through This Town”
“How I Learned To Pray”
