Charley Crockett‘s newest album is a tribute to his friend and fellow musician, James “Slim” Hand, but his new music video for its song “Midnight Run” turns the story into his own.
Crockett admits that “Midnight Run” — a cut from Hand’s 2009 Rounder Records release Shadow on the Ground — remains a bit of a mystery to him. “I never did quite figure out what ol’ Slim was getting at,” the artist says.
Prior to releasing his first album in 1999, at the age of 47, Hand was a truck driver, and he’d sometimes share his stories from the road with Crockett. “I could’ve found an 18-wheeler and filmed it all in Texas,” the younger singer says of his new music video, “but just like with James’ songs, I thought I’d better not even try to do it like him. No, sir, I’d better just do something different.”
So, in his “Midnight Run” music video, Crockett finds himself driving all night from motel to casino from motel, delivering a stack of cash. There’s nothing outwardly nefarious about the deal — but there’s also nothing glamorous about it, either.
“[I] just kinda got the idea to film the bright lights of Vegas casinos from inside the cab of my old F250,” Crockett explains. “Motels, slot machines, back pocket money, love gone wrong and a two lane highway: These are the things that make up the life of a honky-tonker.”
“Midnight Run” comes from Crockett’s newest album, Lil’ G.L. Presents: 10 for Slim — Charley Crockett Sings James Hand, a February release in tribute to Hand, who died in June of 2020 at the age of 67. The Waco-based Texas country great and Crockett were friends, and prior to Hand’s death, Crockett had promised him both that he would record his songs and that he would take him out on tour; unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic derailed their plans for the road.
The 2020 Ameripolitan Music Awards Honky-Tonk Male trophy winner, Crockett (yes, a distant relative of Davy) is one of the busiest people in country music: 10 for Slim is Crockett’s ninth full-length album in six years, and he has plans to release another new record later this year. In 2019, he underwent live-saving open-heart surgery, one week after recording his September 2019 record The Valley.
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