Charley Crockett Review

Texas crooner Charley Crockett covers King George at RodeoHouston debut

Charley Crockett

Courtesy of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

If Zach Top looked and sounded like he was transported straight from the rodeo lineup in 1995, Monday night’s headliner Charley Crockett would have been perfect in 1972, holding his own during an afternoon matinee with Glen Campbell in the Astrodome.

Turning in a career-spanning set, an introduction for the newbies and a heart hug for the diehards in the crowd, Crockett’s cinematic sound translated effortlessly inside NRG Stadium. You know when Bob Tallman -- the voice of RodeoHouston -- says he loves that you’re in the right building.

One of RodeoHouston’s most esoteric picks in some time, the San Benito-born Crockett has released 14 albums since his debut in 2015. Crockett’s latest album is Lonesome Drifter, and it comes less than a year since 2024’s $10 Cowboy and its direct sequel Visions of Dallas. On Crockett’s last few records, he’s dipped into genteel, countrypolitan shades of sound: gorgeous strings, angelic backing vocals, Elvis Presley-style gospel flourishes. Sporting production by outlaw royalty Shooter Jennings, Lonesome Drifter is his first on major label Island Records and a definitive career statement.

Just before 9:30 pm, Crockett drove his damn self out to the starred stage in a classic Ford Thunderbird to meet his band, the Blue Drifters, kicking off with the world-weary “Game I Can’t Win,” the opening cut from Lonesome Drifter.

Crockett’s striking voice diverted into country music after he explored blues and soul textures early in his career. That was most evident on Monday night’s “I’m Just A Clown” and “Hard Luck & Circumstances,” two early standouts. Like kindred spirit and RodeoHouston alum Leon Bridges, Crockett bridges the gap between classic soul and country. He followed up James Hand’s rockabilly rave-up “Don’t Tell Me That” by riding one of the points of the starred stage into the air for “Life Of A Country Singer,” one of the most biting songs from the new album.

Crockett may have become the first man on Earth to cover Link Wray’s feral “Juke Box Mama” in a football stadium on Monday night. The latter has been in his live repertoire for the past year. The cowboy swinger “Trinity River” has been a constant in Crockett’s discography, debuting back in 2015 on A Stolen Jewel and reappearing on 2022’s The Man from Waco album. We’d like to see him revisit it in 2029 if he can.

Seeing Crockett on such a large stage was surreal for an avowed fan like myself. I’ve seen him in venues smaller than an NRG Stadium men’s room, the late Montrose honkytonk Goodnight Charlie’s, and at music festivals in Georgetown, Texas. Just a year ago, Crockett headlined the backstage patio at the Armadillo Palace and returned to play the 713 Music Hall in the early fall.

There have been many George Strait covers in 2025 at RodeoHouston, including efforts by Brad Paisley and Zach Top. King George’s influence looms large here, where he’s played in front of millions of people. Earnest and swaggery at the same time, Crockett ended his debut rodeo appearance with “Amarillo By Morning.”

This cowboy (and his bride) rode away not on a horse but in a Thunderbird.

Setlist
Game I Can’t Win
One Trick Pony
Good At Losing
I’m Just A Clown
Sidewinder
Hard Luck & Circumstances
Spade
That’s How I Got To Memphis
The Valley
Jamestown Ferry
Don’t Tell Me That
Hold It
Life Of A Country Singer
Juke Box Mama (Link Wray Cover)
$10 Cowboy
Welcome To Hard Times
Trinity River
Lonesome Drifter
Run Horse Run
Five More Miles

Amarillo By Morning (George Strait cover)

charley crockett rodeohouston concert review

Movie Review

Great actors keep adult spy thriller Black Bag in top form

Photo by Claudette Barius/Focus Features

Michael Fassbender in Black Bag.

There is no director currently working who’s quite like Steven Soderbergh. He bounces back and forth between mainstream fare and artsy stories. He’ll occasionally dip his toe into big-budget filmmaking, as with the Ocean’s series, but typically gets by on a fraction of what others spend. And he moves quickly, with an affinity for innovation that has not abated after 35 years of making feature films.

Just two months after his excellent Presence hit theaters, he’s back with the flashier — but still intimate — Black Bag. Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett play husband-and-wife English spies George Woodhouse and Kathryn St. Jean. Their bond is built on love and attraction, to be sure, but they also have a healthy mutual suspicion of each other that comes part and parcel with their line of work.

When someone within their agency is suspected of being a traitor, George is tasked with rooting out the turncoat, even if it happens to be his wife. Two other couples within the agency — Freddie Smalls (Tom Burke) and Clarissa Dubose (Marisa Abela), and Dr. Zoe Vaughan (Naomie Harris) and Col. James Stokes (Regé-Jean Page) — get roped into the investigation, with everyone seeming to have something to hide.

Soderbergh, teaming up with Presence screenwriter David Koepp again, upends expectations at almost every step in the film. While there is plenty of intrigue and a few scenes featuring suspenseful spywork, the film is heavily focused on dialogue. In fact, George and Kathryn’s fancy London house is the epicenter of the story, with the two feeling each other out while preparing for the day, or hosting tense and revealing dinner parties with the other spies.

George is the main character of the film, and he is seemingly an all-knowing individual, whether it’s about the inner workings of the agency or his fellow agents’ personal lives. Soderbergh and Koepp funnel almost all of the story’s twists and turns through him, an effective tactic that works well since he is close to emotionless, rarely betraying his inner feelings.

Koepp’s crackling dialogue is what carries the day, taking the place of any gunplay while being no less powerful. There are no extraneous conversations between the various characters in the compact, 90-minute film; every interaction is laced with meaning and serves as a conduit toward the next turn of events. The relative lack of action in the film makes the rare moments when violence does rear its head especially impactful.

Fassbender and Blanchett are two of the best actors in the world right now, and they prove it in every scene. The way they banter is a masterclass in subtlety, saying a lot with an economy of words. Burke, Abela, Harris, and Page each put in strong performances, and Pierce Brosnan complements them well in a small role as the agency director.

Black Bag is an adult spy thriller, eschewing the typical pyrotechnics of the genre for a story that makes people simply talking seem riveting. It’s yet another example that Soderbergh has a talent for making compelling movies in almost every genre he chooses, an ability that’s enhanced by the film’s stellar cast and writing.

---

Black Bag is now playing in theaters.

movies film

Charley Crockett Review

Texas crooner Charley Crockett covers King George at RodeoHouston debut

New study confirms Houston remains one of America's 'unhappiest' cities

Bun B's smash hit burger joint picks Westheimer for new location

Texas drivers are the 2nd worst in the nation for road rage, study finds

Movie Review

Great actors keep adult spy thriller Black Bag in top form