Charley Crockett has a message for his fans amidst some confusion surrounding the disappearance of his latest album.
It was just last week when Charley Crockett surprise dropped an album titled Clovis. Why was it surprising? Well, even for a prolific writer like Charley, it came just three weeks after the conclusion of his Sagebrush Trilogy – Age of the Ram. Artists typically like to allow for their projects to breathe for a bit, which led to speculation that Clovis – an album he released independently – was dropped to overshadow his final record with Island Records.
If you are reading this, then you are likely aware that Clovis is no longer available, and the reason for its removal from streaming is currently unknown…. but Charley might have hinted at the reasoning in his only post that’s left standing on Instagram.
It was May 6 when Clovis started to go dark on streaming services, which means the 14-track album was only available to fans for around a week. Hopefully other Charley Crockett fans were like me and listened to it over and over again while it was still up on Apple Music and Spotify. As of this afternoon, there’s no option to buy it through iTunes, and the album is not listed under the “Music” tab of Crockett’s website (it’s unclear if it ever was).
When I went to check back in to see if the country singer had provided any updates, it was interesting to see that Crockett had wiped his Instagram clean (his X and Facebook pages still have older posts), and left only one thing that was shared earlier today. The image included in that sole post is a retro “Please Stand By” message that used to come up on televisions, and the song that Crockett chose to pair with it was undoubtedly intentional.
What song did the “Son of Davy” go with? That’d be The Bobby Fuller Four’s “I Fought The Law.” Those familiar with the song – which has been covered plenty of times (even by Hank Williams Jr.) – know that the catchy tune sings about testing authority and paying the price. If you are in need of a refresher, here’s a line that’s repeated over a dozen times within the song:
“I fought the law and the law won.”
Crockett also put the location of the post as “Clovis, New Mexico,” which is where he recorded the now vanished album. But judging by that song selection, one could assume that there’s some sort of legal tie up with Island Records in regards to Clovis being released so close to Age of the Ram.
“Please stand by.”
Only right that an outlaw would be fighting the law.
All we really know about Clovis – besides the fact that it’s no longer available – is that Charley Crockett recorded it at a studio in New Mexico, and that he paid to publish it himself. That’s only public information because of a video that he shared shortly after he dropped the project last week:
“I paid for it. I think I spent about $300,000 on it. And I cut it at Clovis, New Mexico at the old Norman Petty studio where Buddy Holly started out, and Waylon Jennings had his first recording… just released the full record. Completely independent of the label system I’ve been tied up in for 10 years.
Every time I find I signed a deal I don’t like, and I go to these f***ing business people, and I tell them, ‘I don’t like the deal, I don’t think it’s fair.’ They say, ‘Tough luck kid, shouldn’t have f***ing signed it.’ As soon as I hold them to that same standard, I’m the f***ing bad guy.”
All signs are pointing towards the very deal that Charley is alluding to there being what’s complicated the release of Clovis.
I’d imagine there is some kind of language in the contract that would prevent Charley from releasing new music within a certain timeframe after his final release with Island Records. If that is the case, it’s probably not all that long, and it’s also unclear if Charley was even aware of it, but that would make sense as to why the surprise drop was available… until it wasn’t.
Here’s to hoping Charley Crockett figures out whatever situation he’s in and get’s Clovis back into the hands of the fans. If you ask me, it’s quite possibly the most important and impressive album of his entire career.
