Charley Crockett evokes the loneliness and isolation of the present moment in the new video for “Welcome to Hard Times.” Released on Wednesday, the song serves as the title track of the country troubadour’s new album, due out July 31st via Thirty Tigers.
Filmed in the Sierra Nevadas (and observing social distancing guidelines), the video was co-directed by Crockett and Bobby Cochran. It’s both beautiful and desolate, depicting a lone Crockett strolling through wide open vistas of desert against a snow-capped mountain backdrop. In the song, Crockett bemoans the lousy odds of success and well-being for anyone alive, pointing out that the fix is in. “We’ve got lots of gamblin’, oh, and tellin’ lies,” he sings, accompanied by tinkling Nashville Sound-style piano, before dipping down into his lower register to sing the title phrase like it’s a sales pitch for a hotel chain.
Welcome to Hard Times was produced by Mark Neill and includes some songwriting contributions from Dan Auerbach and Pat McLaughlin. It follows Crockett’s 2019 full-length The Valley and a life-threatening health scare that resulted in a diagnosis of a congenital heart condition and heart surgery.
Charley Crockett – Welcome to Hard Times tracklist:
