Charley Crockett: ‘I don’t look like what a country audience expects’ - The Guardian

“I have such an eclectic, colourful background that I think people get overwhelmed – but truth is stranger than fiction,” says Crockett of a life that also includes its unfair share of tragedy: a sister lost to addiction, an incarcerated brother and his own life-saving heart surgery at the start of 2019.

Of mixed black, Cajun, Creole and Jewish heritage, Crockett is aware that he is a rare presence in old-school-sounding country.

“When Hank Williams started making country music, they said very similar things about him that they said to me,” says Crockett, who last year made his debut on country music’s most famous stage, the Grand Ole Opry

“It’s just the business has changed,” explains Crockett, who says he has more in common with today’s fruitful rap generation