Charley Crockett Says ‘Clovis’ Disappeared Because of a Contract He’s Already Left

Charley Crockett has spent the last few weeks watching his 17th studio album slip into a strange limbo. Clovis, a surprise release that arrived in late April, vanished from streaming platforms early last month. Even the companion documentary, A Cowboy in London, was removed from YouTube. At the Bear Shadow Music Festival in North Carolina last weekend, Crockett didn’t dodge the subject. He walked onstage, acknowledged the album’s absence, and played its opening track anyway. “They took this record down, but I’m going to play one, anyways,” he said, before launching into “The Hallelujah Trail.”

Backstage, he told Rolling Stone that the decision to pull Clovis wasn’t his. “That’s above me,” he said. Though the record was self-released, it ran afoul of Crockett’s prior arrangement with Island Records, the Universal Music Group imprint that put out his Sagebrush Trilogy. He is no longer under contract. “I’m out now,” he confirmed. The label didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Clovis was recorded earlier this spring at Norman Petty Studios in New Mexico, co-produced by Crockett and Shooter Jennings. It’s his first independent album since the April release of Age of the Ram, which closed the trilogy. Crockett recalled turning down major label deals for years before signing with Island, a move he eventually made because the contract offered creative and release control. He thinks the pace of his output didn’t align with the label’s typical two-year cycles. “I don’t think they expected me to put records out that quickly,” he said.

The situation remains tangled in legal back and forth. Crockett described it as “complicated” and shrugged off the red tape. He intends to get Clovis back into circulation. Last week he announced that his street team would distribute free CDs of the album during CMA Fest in Nashville. “I’m gonna get it out,” he said. For now, the music is there if you know where to look.