Charley Crockett’s Neo-Classic Country Hits the Arlington in Santa Barbara

Rising Star Kicks Off Arts & Lectures Season with His Own Kinda Twang

Charley Crockett’s
Country Hits the Arlington

Rising Star Kicks Off Arts & Lectures Season
with His Own Kinda Twang

By Josef Woodard | September 29, 2022

Rising star Charley Crockett kicks off Arts & Lectures’ season with his own kinda twang on October 2. | Credit: Bobby Cochran
Read all of the stories in our “Fall’s Cultural Harvest” cover here.

For some of us 805-ers, who might be a bit behind the hipster curve, our first exposure to the neo-classic country sensation Charley Crockett came on the airwaves of the San Luis Obispo public radio station KCBX last year. The airplay rotation occasion was a promotional warm-up for Crockett’s big show in the San Luis Obispo venue Alex Madonna Expo Center last November.

His proudly retro yet distinctively now-ish approach to songwriting and production triggered a certain delicious cultural-historical mind-melt, especially for those of us favoring “classic” country over the modern stuff piped over the country airwaves. Touches of archival blues, old school soul, Ray Charles–style, and pinches of Paul Thorn–like drawl and irony are among the other features in the San Benito, Texas–born Crockett’s special musical world.

On Sunday night, Crockett makes his debut splash as a headliner in the picturesque expanse of the Arlington Theatre, and in the high-profile position as opening event of the UCSB Arts & Lectures season. In some way, the choice of Crockett as season launcher may seem a brave maneuver for the series, tipping the curatorial hat toward an artist relatively little-known in the usual A&L circles. In another way, the timing is ripe, catching a distinctive artist in a strong career upswing. He was recently interviewed on NPR and is landing in finer venues around the land. Take the Arlington, for one.

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