Charley Crockett is the real deal. He's an original, moulded from original country - long before it was the commercial candy that rules the shelves these days.
But along the way of busking from New York to California and points in between like New Orleans and Dallas, Crockett created his own songs and sounds, telling tortured stories of love and adventure, learning the knack of reading an audience, giving them something they didn't even know they wanted until they saw it.
He also collected a band of slick musicians, like pedal steel genius Billy Horton and guitarist Alexis Sanchez, who contributed mightily to the songs and sound.
And damned, it's an explosive chemistry alive on stage, honed by a ferocious and demanding touring schedule. After years of hard work, Crockett's star is quickly on the rise.
In the last 10 days, Crockett appeared on the Jimmy Kimmel show in the US, debuting his new single, $10 Cowboy, followed by a show at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, then a leap to Australia, appearing in a show at the Tamworth Country Music Festival on Saturday.
Crockett kicked off the night with $10 Cowboy, which is the title track of a new album he's got on the way, before pushing into popular originals Black Sedan and Just Like Honey (co-written with his keyboard and trumpet player, Kullen Fox).
Crockett laid down more than two dozen songs over 90 minutes, peppering the enthusiastic crowd with a mix of his own favourites like Music City, The Man from Waco, Run Horse Run, Trinity River and Welcome to Hard Times and covers from country legends like James Hand (Midnight Run), and Jerry Reed (Act Naturally).
Midway through the show, Charley left the stage, leaving his band to fill the time with an uptempo swing number.
Charley returned in a couple of minutes, having shed not only his classy leather jacket, but his country music styling, as he morphed into twisting, funky bluesman, delivering a Link Wray classic, Jukebox Mama.
Sweat was running out of the left elbow of his long-sleeve country dress shirt like a hose in the sweltering summer heat of the night, and he was on fire, shifting and jiving like he was in a Dallas honkytonk.
Crockett backed it up with his own Traveling Blues, another scorcher, before picking up a banjo and changing into bluegrass mode with Lily My Dear.
For the encore, Crockett pulled out two ballads, Jamestown Ferry, a favourite cover of his, and Blackjack County Chain, originally sung by Red Lane.
Almost hidden in the mix was America, played late in the set. It's a new song, destined to be on the new $10 Cowboy album. It feels and sounds like Crockett wearing his heart on his sleeve. Yet another shade of the decidedly unique music chameleon that is Charley Crockett.
