Charley Crockett announced Monday that his controversial 17th studio album, Clovis, will drop this Friday, July 3, via Atlantic Outpost — three months after it vanished from streaming platforms.
Crockett released Clovis independently in April through his $10 Cowboy Records, three weeks after his Island Records album Age of the Ram dropped. On May 7, the album was pulled from streaming with no explanation. He had split with Island Records.
Now he is making his independence official. In an Instagram post comparing the album's re-release to America's 250th birthday, Crockett wrote: "On this 250th birthday for America, I'm reminded that freedom is something you continue to fight for. A war that never ends. Today, we win one battle. Clovis is out 4th of July weekend on Atlantic Outpost. Let's ride."
"You gotta stick to your guns, man. The agents and the lawyers and the label people and all that, I am not here to crucify any of those people. You need them. But, fuck, man, once they're driving, that's when you're in trouble."
The 14-track record was recorded at the legendary Norman Petty Studio in Clovis, New Mexico, with producer Shooter Jennings and Crockett's band, the Blue Drifters.
"I don't care if it's Waylon Jennings or Jimi Hendrix," he told Rolling Stone. "All of my favorite artists, they reach back in the past, they bring it back, and then they do something new with it."
The Friday release marks Crockett's most dramatic label move yet.
