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

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is technically stunning but lacks emotion

Photo by Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures

Matt Damon in The Odyssey.

For a story that is 3,000 years old and has been referenced innumerable times since the advent of the moving picture, it’s striking that The Odyssey has not been adapted into a film more often. Christopher Nolan’s new film is, depending on your definition, just the fourth time in film history that someone has attempted to tell the original story (oddly, the third film — The Return — came out just two years ago).

Matt Damon stars as Odysseus, who has been gone from his home of Ithaca for over 20 years. Waiting at home for him is his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and son Telemachus (Tom Holland), as well as a hall full of suitors — most notably Antinous (Robert Pattinson) — who are hoping that Penelope will finally believe that Odysseus is dead and choose to marry one of them.

In typical Nolan fashion, the film goes back-and-forth in time often to show what has happened to Odysseus in the past two decades. His sea voyages with his crew have him attacking Troy using the legendary Trojan Horse; taking on the cyclops Polyphemus (Bill Irwin); trying to escape the clutches of the witch Circe (Samantha Morton); living with the nymph Calypso (Charlize Theron); communing with the vision of Athena (Zendaya); and more.

Nolan, who wrote and directed the epic film, has a clear reverence for the material and, perhaps more than any current filmmaker, has the chops to make the sprawling story feel coherent. With a plethora of characters who have names that take some time to understand for those not familiar with the ancient tale, it’s extremely tough to wrangle everything and everyone together, and Nolan and his team make that trick seem relatively easy.

However, there’s a difference between making the story comprehensible and making it compelling, and Nolan is not as successful on this front. As portrayed in this film, it’s difficult to care whether Odysseus ever finds his way home. His connection with Penelope and Telemachus is tenuous, at best, and his status as a hero is called into question on multiple occasions. Complicated protagonists are nothing new, but in a story where the hero’s journey is the whole point, Nolan fails to make the quest all encompassing.

That’s not to say that there aren’t some standout moments along the way. The sequence in Polyphemus’ cave is tremendous, as are a few other scenes in which Nolan’s reported reliance on practical effects make you wonder how the crew accomplished what they did. Damon has said this is the hardest movie he’s ever made, and that effort shows up in every scene, especially those on the water.

At 56 years old, Damon is getting close to elder statesman status in Hollywood, and he ably embodies the role of the respected and feared leader. Hathaway, Holland, and Pattinson get the next most screentime, and each makes their character interesting if not mesmerizing. The murderer’s row of the supporting cast — Theron, Lupita Nyong'o, Zendaya, Elliot Page, Morton, Jon Bernthal, John Leguizamo, and more — give each scene a nice sheen whether or not their individual arc makes sense.

While the technical achievements of Nolan and his team in The Odyssey are admirable and occasionally awe-inspiring, the story he lays out is not quite as overwhelming. The structure he chose to use doesn’t allow the story to overcome the episodic nature of Odysseus’ brutal journey, keeping big emotions mostly at bay.

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The Odyssey opens in theaters on July 17.

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