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Charley Crockett On World Cafe

Charley Crockett (center) and band inside the World Cafe Performance Studio.
Ashley Gellman
/
WXPN
Charley Crockett (center) and band inside the World Cafe Performance Studio.

Meeting Charley Crockettthrough his music, you get the sense he's the kind of guy who, in person, would shake your hand, look you straight in the eye and remember your name. Charley was raised in South Texas by a single mom whose unshakable sense of ambition and perseverance rubbed off.

Charley spent time in New Orleans' French Quarter and hitchhiked his way to New York City, busking on the streets of cities and sleeping in parks, warehouses or rehearsal spaces of people he met along the way. Charley got caught up in a stock fraud scheme with his brother who ended up in prison and they lost their sister to addiction. Charley's had ups and downs and has come out on the other side with a cowboy hat, some amazing songs and a hard-earned version of optimism that's nothing short of inspiring. And oh yeah, Charley is a distant relative of Davy Crockett (as he says many Texans are).

Hear his live performances in the player.

Copyright 2018 XPN

Talia Schlanger hosts World Cafe, which is distributed by NPR and produced by WXPN, the public radio service of the University of Pennsylvania. She got her start in broadcasting at the CBC, Canada's national public broadcaster. She hosted CBC Radio 2 Weekend Mornings on radio and was the on-camera host for two seasons of the television series CBC Music: Backstage, as well as several prime-time music TV specials for CBC, including the Quietest Concert Ever: On Fundy's Ocean Floor. Schlanger also guest hosted various flagship shows on CBC Radio One, including As It Happens, Day 6 and Because News. Schlanger also won a Canadian Screen Award as a producer for CBC Music Presents: The Beetle Roadtrip Sessions, a cross-country rock 'n' roll road trip.