Age Of The Ram
Charley Crockett
Age of the Ram is the third and final installment of Charley Crockett's Sagebrush Trilogy, released on April 3, 2026 via Island Records. Co-produced by Crockett and Grammy Award-winning producer Shooter Jennings — who helmed all three entries in the trilogy — the album was recorded at the venerable Sunset Sound Studio 3 in Los Angeles and marks Crockett's third full-length release in just over a year, following Lonesome Drifter (March 2025) and the Grammy-nominated Dollar A Day (August 2025). The trilogy was conceived as a deliberate homage to Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger, and Age of the Ram functions as Act III of a three-act narrative arc: where the first album introduced the protagonist Billy McLane as "The Drifter" and the second saw him become "The Rustler," this final chapter transforms him into "The Outlaw," pursued by bounty hunters working for the fictional Santa Fe Ring as he escapes into the Crazy Mountains to become a legend. The character of Billy McLane draws loosely on Marty Robbins' song "Old Red" as a founding mythological source.
Across its 20 tracks — structured with recurring instrumental themes that function as a film score might, including three variations of "Life & Times of Billy McLane" and two versions of "Rancho Deluxe" — the album showcases the full range of Crockett's Gulf-and-Western style alongside his touring band The Blue Drifters. Songs range from honky-tonk ("My Last Drink of Wine," "Fastest Gun Alive") to blues-inflected and funky ("Kentucky Too Long," "Cover My Trail Tonight") to bare-bones acoustic sketches ("Border Winds," "Remembering Pat"), while "I Shot Jesse James" — released on the historical anniversary of the outlaw's death — narrates the killing from the perspective of Robert Ford. The instrumentation expands beyond Crockett's usual guitar and pedal steel to incorporate piano, harp, and keys, lending the album the cinematic, dream-like hue that reviewers have noted as distinctive to this final chapter, drawing on the legacies of Waylon Jennings and Gram Parsons while remaining unmistakably Crockett's own.
Age Of The Ram
Charley Crockett
Age of the Ram is the third and final installment of Charley Crockett's Sagebrush Trilogy, released on April 3, 2026 via Island Records. Co-produced by Crockett and Grammy Award-winning producer Shooter Jennings — who helmed all three entries in the trilogy — the album was recorded at the venerable Sunset Sound Studio 3 in Los Angeles and marks Crockett's third full-length release in just over a year, following Lonesome Drifter (March 2025) and the Grammy-nominated Dollar A Day (August 2025). The trilogy was conceived as a deliberate homage to Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger, and Age of the Ram functions as Act III of a three-act narrative arc: where the first album introduced the protagonist Billy McLane as "The Drifter" and the second saw him become "The Rustler," this final chapter transforms him into "The Outlaw," pursued by bounty hunters working for the fictional Santa Fe Ring as he escapes into the Crazy Mountains to become a legend. The character of Billy McLane draws loosely on Marty Robbins' song "Old Red" as a founding mythological source.
Across its 20 tracks — structured with recurring instrumental themes that function as a film score might, including three variations of "Life & Times of Billy McLane" and two versions of "Rancho Deluxe" — the album showcases the full range of Crockett's Gulf-and-Western style alongside his touring band The Blue Drifters. Songs range from honky-tonk ("My Last Drink of Wine," "Fastest Gun Alive") to blues-inflected and funky ("Kentucky Too Long," "Cover My Trail Tonight") to bare-bones acoustic sketches ("Border Winds," "Remembering Pat"), while "I Shot Jesse James" — released on the historical anniversary of the outlaw's death — narrates the killing from the perspective of Robert Ford. The instrumentation expands beyond Crockett's usual guitar and pedal steel to incorporate piano, harp, and keys, lending the album the cinematic, dream-like hue that reviewers have noted as distinctive to this final chapter, drawing on the legacies of Waylon Jennings and Gram Parsons while remaining unmistakably Crockett's own.