Charley Crockett
Stern Grove
July 19, 2026
Photos by Paul Piazza
Charley Crockett played a fantastic set of vintage country and rollicking Gulf-Coast blues during a soulful high-energy set at the Stern Grove Festival on a recent Sunday. Crockett and his band, The Blue Drifters, have steadily grown into a must-see act as they blend killer chops with retro sounds and timeless style. And Crockett is a true showman in every element of his craft.
The Texas native, who grew up near San Padre Island and later spent a fair amount of time in New Orleans, has developed a style that appeals to many retro outlaw music loving fans. Crockett, who currently calls Austin, Texas home, told us that his mom had grown up in nearby Concord. He told a story about visiting out West in his younger days and meeting open-minded people that “showed a Texas boy there was more out there.“
Since then, the singer-songwriter has released 17 studio albums going back to 2015. In fact, in just the short time since 2024, he has released six albums. That’s a pretty damn prolific output. At Stern Grove, he played a fair amount of tunes from his recently re-released record Clovis, which was recorded at the famous Norman Petty Recording Studios in Clovis, New Mexico. The record was produced by Shooter Jennings (son of Waylon), who has become one of the most prolific retro-outlaw country producers. Jennings also played on the record. It’s a great record.
Crockett dipped into some of his more well known tunes as well, such as “$10 Cowboy” and “Welcome to Hard times.” Many of his songs are characterized by narrative storytelling and vivid working class-imagery. On this mild San Francisco summer day, Crockett connected with the Stern Grove crowd from the opening notes of the set and kept that rapport going strong until the end. He did so with passionate vocalizing, tons of cocky swagger, and some pretty slick moves with and without his guitar. It didn’t hurt that the band onstage with him was cooking the entire time.
Many in attendance donned casual Western wear as they danced and sang on this perfect weather. Naturally, there were many outlaw country artist t-shirts represented. Even Metallica’s James Hetfield was spotted in the crowd dancing it up in a pretty sharp black leather jacket with black cowboy hat ensemble. Crockett for his part, was sharp in his signature retro-style glass and wide brimmed Stetson with a mule-kick dent. He also wore a custom-tailored tan brown suede jacket on top of denim and Ostrich boots while his band were sporting an indigo on black denim look. They all played beautiful vintage instruments and they all played marvellously. Crockett brought out and played a late 50s DanElectro U2 guitar midway through the show.
Opening the show was Nicki Bluhm, the former San Francisco resident, who is an impassioned and soulful vocalist. A while back, the tall, talented Bluhm relocated to Nashville to shift her focus to songwriting and ventures out West every so often to perform in select shows or festivals. Bluhm, a former GAP model, is always stylish as well. She wore a vintage Bohemian dress with embroidered lace. Onstage, she was accompanied by two of the members of the band ALO, guitarist Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz on and bassist Steve Adams. Adams has been a frequent live collaborator with her over the years. She also brought along a few of her Nashville friends.
Together they sounded fantastic and got the crowd warmed-up well with an excellent eleven song set that featured many songs from her great 2025 record Rancho Deluxe as well as a few tunes from the To Rise You Gotta Fall record. In fact, she even pointed out the Stern Grove hawk to everyone as it swooped over head.
Meanwhile, Charley Crockett continues his ascent in the outlaw western world and those who were there were fortunate to get a deeply satisfying daytime show from the hard-working artist and his band.
