8. September 2023 By Walter Price 0

GTC DEEP CUTS: CHARLEY CROCKETT Wasted Days and Wasted Nights

Charley Crockett – Wasted Days And Wasted Nights is available on In The Night, Deezer, Tidal

Prolific Charley Crockett is on the kind of trajectory any artist should admire. Brilliant album after brilliant album, touring relentlessly, staying connected to his ever-growing fanbase, and all the while staying true to his roots and the origins of the kind of country music he cut his teeth on.

And as his highly anticipated new live LP “Live from the Ryman” is set to drop on September 29th, let’s step back a few years and take his cover of Freddy Fender’s seminal hit “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights”. for another spin.

Fender’s name wouldn’t roll off the tongues of many of the younger generations, but, for me, growing up in the heyday of outlaw country, there were a few names outside of that rebellious genre I couldn’t get enough of. Marty Robbins, Ray Price, Flaco Jiménez, and of course, Fender. His blend of rockabilly and Tejano felt right at home in my desert hamlet of Odessa. And, arguably, among his other radio and jukebox hits at the time, “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” was bar none my favorite.

Of course, I was too young at the time to know what version of ‘wasted’ Fender was singing about. And it was much later that I found out that Fender (Baldemar ‘El Beepop Kid’ Huerta) wrote the song while sleeping in a bar’s closet and missing his wife, as the folklore goes. No matter the origins, this song has stuck with me through the years.

When Crockett released it on his much beloved “In The Night” LP (2016), it was a treat to find an artist not only writing his very own nitty-gritty songs but peppering this release with some almost forgotten classics as well. For me, it started my years-long respect for this Texas honky tonk troubadour. If you haven’t heard the album or his cajun-esque version of “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights”, well, you’re in luck! Stream them both, here at the GTC.