Charley Crockett – Lil G.L.'s Blue Bonanza

Charley Crockett's Lil G.L.'s Blue Bonanza arrived in 2018 as the second entry in his Lil G.L. covers series, following Lil G.L.'s Honky Tonk Jubilee. Framed as a tribute to his busking years, it pulls together 15 songs from across the American songbook and shows how naturally Crockett moves between country, blues, soul and honky-tonk. That range matters: this is less a stylistic detour than a clear statement of the traditional roots at the centre of his music.

The selection is broad but purposeful, moving from George Jones and Tom T. Hall to Jimmy Reed, T-Bone Walker and Charles Brown. Rather than treating those writers as museum pieces, Crockett plays them with the looseness of a working band and the instincts of someone who learned these songs out in the world, not in a classroom. Versions of “That’s How I Got To Memphis,” “Good Time Charley’s Got The Blues” and “Bright Lights Big City” help map the album’s mix of barroom country feeling and after-hours blues.

It also landed at a productive moment in Crockett's career, coming the same year as Lonesome as a Shadow. AllMusic heard the album as proof that he sees “no border” between great American roots styles, and included it in its Favorite Blues Albums of 2018. For anyone coming to Crockett through his later records, Blue Bonanza is a strong way to hear how his repertoire, voice and sense of swing were already fully taking shape.

Reviews

• it sounds like the best Tuesday night gig you've ever stumbled upon. - AllMusic.com