Charley Crockett Announces New Album ‘Welcome To Hard Times’ & Shares Single

Singer-songwriter Charley Crockett announced a new album, Welcome To Hard Times, set for release on July 31 via Thirty Tigers. The genre-bending artist also shared the album’s title track.

Welcome To Hard Times, described as a “dark gothic country record,” features songwriting contributions from renowned Nashville songwriter Pat McLaughlin as well as The Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach. Crockett tapped Auerbach and Mark Neill (who helmed The Black Keys’ Brothers record), to produce the album, which they recorded at Neill’s studio in Valdosta, Georgia. “It was a pleasure to have been involved in what I believe to be the best gulf and western country record ever made,” Neill said in a statement.

Crockett himself also spoke about the album. “This record is for the folks who feel like everything’s fixed,” he said. “If you think you’re playing a rigged game, you’re right. If it seems like all the cards are marked in advance, they are. But you still gotta roll the dice, even when you know they’re loaded.”

The title track to Welcome To Hard Times arrived with an accompanying video co-directed by Crockett and Bobby Cochran. Watch the video for “Welcome To Hard Times,” premiered by American Songwriter, below: