Musician Charley Crockett's Road From Busking To The Grammys

Summary

Fresh Air Episode Summary: Musician Charlie Crockett's Road From Busking To The Grammys

Release Date: August 13, 2025

In this captivating episode of NPR's Fresh Air, host Terry Gross sits down with the talented singer-songwriter and guitarist Charlie Crockett. From his humble beginnings busking on the streets to earning prestigious Grammy nominations, Crockett's journey is a testament to resilience, passion, and the transformative power of music.

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Early Life and Beginnings in Music

Charlie Crockett opens up about his challenging upbringing and early struggles, which significantly shaped his musical path. Growing up poor in a Texas trailer park, Crockett faced numerous hardships that fueled his determination to pursue music.

Charlie Crockett [04:08]: "I've been accused of running from the law, but I always feel that I am running towards something, not away from anything."

Crockett's introduction to music wasn't conventional. He learned to perform by busking on the streets of diverse cities like New Orleans, Dallas, Paris, Copenhagen, and even the bustling subways of New York City. These experiences, though financially strenuous—often leaving him broke and reliant on crashing at friends' places—honed his ability to connect with varied audiences.

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Musical Influences and Style

Crockett's music is a rich tapestry of genres, prominently featuring elements of country, rhythm and blues, cowboy songs, and outlaw ballads. Describing his style as Americana, Crockett has garnered acclaim from the Americana Music Awards, winning Emerging Artist of the Year in 2021 and securing multiple nominations two years later, including a Grammy nod.

When discussing his musical influences, Crockett highlights Freddie Fender as a significant inspiration, reflecting his South Texas roots.

Charlie Crockett [06:25]: "My first influence really would have been Freddie Fender."

Crockett's self-taught approach to guitar playing led him to develop unique techniques and chord progressions, setting his music apart from traditional styles. His inclination towards minor keys and "dark" chords adds depth and complexity to his sound.

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Songwriting and Storytelling

A standout moment in the interview is Crockett's performance of his original songs, such as "Santa Fe Ring" and "Driving Nails in My Coffin." These songs exemplify his prowess in crafting compelling narratives within his music.

Santa Fe Ring delves into historical themes, weaving stories inspired by the infamous Santa Fe Ring—a syndicate involved in land disputes in 19th-century New Mexico. Crockett connects these historical narratives to broader themes of conflict and resilience.

Charlie Crockett [04:18]: "The Santa Fe Ring was a loose, shadowy syndicate... pulled into these conflicts as basically mercenaries."

His ability to infuse historical context with personal storytelling resonates deeply, offering listeners both entertainment and insight.

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Life on the Streets: Busking in New York City

Crockett recounts his experiences busking in New York City's subways, particularly Central Park. Initially struggling to attract attention amidst seasoned musicians, he found his niche by performing in less trafficked areas, allowing him to develop his craft without the intense competition.

Charlie Crockett [12:38]: "From the very first time that I sat down in that tunnel, immediately just sitting there messing around with my little Rink a Dink songs, people were throwing change in my case."

However, busking in subway cars presented unique challenges, such as playing music effectively in a moving and often cramped environment. Crockett adapted by focusing on songs that could capture attention quickly, like his rendition of "Driving Nails in My Coffin."

Charlie Crockett [14:41]: "Driving nails in my coffin was one that I had learned on Royal Street... I could still go out there right now with a song like Driving Nails and probably really haul it in."

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Health Challenges and Resilience

A pivotal moment in Crockett's life was his battle with Wolff-Parkinson-White disease, a heart condition that posed significant health risks. In the interview, he shares the harrowing experience of how his condition intensified in his thirties, leading to a life-saving heart surgery.

Charlie Crockett [28:06]: "Dr. Chop said, 'You're dying.'"

Despite the gravity of his health issues, Crockett maintained his commitment to music, even performing through medical crises. His resilience is further highlighted by his decision to undergo a valve transplant, humorously opting for a cow valve—a nod to his cowboy image.

Charlie Crockett [31:56]: "Does that not make me a cowboy?"

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Recent Works and Tour

Crockett's latest endeavors include the release of his sophomore album, Dollar a Day, the second installment in his Sagebrush trilogy. The album continues to explore diverse musical styles, integrating rhythm and blues with his signature Americana sound. A standout track, "Destroyed," written by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, showcases Crockett's versatility and ability to channel his emotional depth into powerful performances.

Charlie Crockett [19:19]: "You got me, baby no good loving, girl it's really got me destroyed."

Additionally, Crockett is gearing up for a significant tour with acclaimed artist Leon Bridges, titled "Crooner and the Cowboy," starting at the end of August. This collaboration promises to blend their unique styles, offering audiences a memorable musical experience.

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Conclusion

Charlie Crockett's episode on Fresh Air is a profound exploration of an artist's journey through adversity, self-discovery, and creative expression. From street performances to Grammy recognition, Crockett's story is not just about music but also about the enduring human spirit. His candid reflections, combined with soulful performances, make this episode a must-listen for anyone interested in the transformative power of music and the stories behind the songs.

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Note: All timestamps correspond to the original podcast's timeline, providing context to the discussed topics.

Transcript

[Charlie Crockett]

This message comes from Capital One. Banking with Capital One helps you keep.

[Terry Gross]

More money in your wallet with no.

[Charlie Crockett]

Fees or minimums on checking accounts. What's in your wallet terms apply.

[Terry Gross]

See capitalone.com bank for details. Capital One NA Member FDIC this is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. My guest, Charlie Crockett, is a songwriter, singer and guitarist whose music ranges from country to rhythm and blues, cowboy songs, outlaw ballads and the song by Mirbastuchene. Now, I don't know exactly where that song fits in, but his version is so much fun, I'm definitely playing it later in the interview. If I had to choose one word to sum up his music, it would be Americana, because I'd be backed up by the Americana Music Awards. He won Emerging Artist of the year in 2021, and two years later, he was nominated for Artist of the Year, album of the Year and Song of the Year. This year he was nominated for a Grammy. He learned to perform while busking on the streets, including in New Orleans, Dallas, Paris, Copenhagen and on the New York City subways. And those passengers can be a tough crowd to win over. That was during a period when he was pretty much broke and crashed in squats and other people's homes. Crockett grew up poor in a Texas trailer park. His new album, dollar a Day, was released last week. It's the second album in his Sagebrush trilogy. The first, Lonesome Drifter, was released earlier this year. He's on tour now. At the end of August, he'll begin a tour with Leon Bridges that's billed as the Crooner and the Cowboy. Let's start with a song from the new album, dollar a Day. The song is an outlaw ballad called Santa Fe Ring.

[Charlie Crockett]

They sold me to the Santa Fe ring. There wasn't any trial where justice was no such thing up on Sierra Hermosa, only the strongest last. But they'll never catch me, I'm too fast. They come riding in just about to break up Dawn Caliche on their jackets for they had journeyed long. I didn't need to ask them I knew the reason, reason why they brought so many meals just to watch me die.

[Terry Gross]

That was Santa Fe Ring from Charlie Crockett's new album, dollar a Day. Charlie Crockett, welcome to FRESH air. Such a pleasure to have you on the show, and thank you for bringing your guitar with you and singing for us soon. So let's start with Santa Fe Ring. What do you love about outlaw ballads?

[Charlie Crockett]

Anytime I run into people, you know, around the country these days, they Say, charlie Crockett, what are you doing here? And I say something along the lines of, I'm running from the law. And they go, really? I say, no, I'm just fooling. I'm running from some people a lot more dangerous than that. And then we take a picture.

[Terry Gross]

Are you really running from anyone?

[Charlie Crockett]

No, I've been accused of that. But I always feel that I am running. But I like to think that I'm running towards something, not away from anything.

[Terry Gross]

So you wrote the song, right?

[Charlie Crockett]

Yeah, I did.

[Terry Gross]

How did you come up with the story? Because good outlaw ballads need a good story.

[Charlie Crockett]

Have you ever heard of the Santa Fe Ring? Do you know?

[Terry Gross]

No, I have no idea what it is. Is it a thing?

[Charlie Crockett]

Yeah, it was a thing. It's historical. The Santa Fe Ring was a loose, shadowy syndicate, basically a bunch of landowners fighting over the New Mexico territory in the 19th century. And I remember hearing when I was younger that Bob Dylan was really obsessed with Billy the Kid. And one of the people that got caught up in that whole. That whole range war was none other than Billy the Kid. So Billy the Kid had been pulled into the fight. You know, these cowboys, these outlaws, were really pulled into these conflicts as basically mercenaries. And maybe, you know, it's partly fact, partly fiction, but I had kind of realized or thought that maybe Dylan's interest in Billy the Kid maybe had to do with the forces that he was dealing with as he rose to prominence as a folk singer in America in the 60s. And I like to take stuff like that and turn them into stories.

[Terry Gross]

You've. You. You play in many different styles. You do cowboy songs, country, western, rhythm and blues. What music were you most exposed to growing up in South Texas? A little bit of everything.

[Charlie Crockett]

Yeah. Terry, you know, I wish I could tell you I came out of the womb playing Hank Williams songs and, you know, could pick up Dylan songs by ear, hearing them one time. But I'd just be lying to you. You know, I didn't learn how to play banjo until I was, you know, in my 20s. But so, you know, who could escape the ubiquitous dominance of corporate radio? But so I was just, you know, inspired by all, kind of. Just everything. I guess my first influence really would have been Freddie Fender.

[Terry Gross]

And he's from where you grew up, right?

[Charlie Crockett]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we were. So I was born and in the Rio Grande Valley, where the Rio Grande river comes out at the Gulf of Mexico, and in a small town of San Benito, Texas, which only reason most people would know outside of that region is because of. Yeah. Freddie Fender. Born Baltimore Huerta.

[Terry Gross]

Do you want to play a few bars of a Freddie Fender song that influenced you in your formative years?

[Charlie Crockett]

I'm just gonna play this right here for you. Wasted days and wasted nights I have held you on my mind now you don't belong to me, you belong to someone else.

[Terry Gross]

That's a great song.

[Charlie Crockett]

Yeah, it really is. You know, he sold a lot of records. Terry.

[Terry Gross]

Yes. You were self taught on guitar, right?

[Charlie Crockett]

Can you tell?

[Terry Gross]

No, no. It's just that I'm just fooling you, okay?

[Charlie Crockett]

And I know you can.

[Terry Gross]

I just. I just always wonder, like, how people can teach themselves. I'm wondering, like, if you developed unusual habits not having a teacher and if you had to, like, unlearn things in order to have the technique that you needed to do what you wanted to do.

[Charlie Crockett]

Yeah, well, wouldn't be a secret to anybody that knew me well. When I was a kid, I really struggled in school. And when I got a guitar, when I was trying to learn the straight ahead chords, or maybe what I would refer to these days as cowboy chords, like this open C chord, you know, or nice F here and G 1, 4, 5. Took me way too long to learn the number system and all that, but I couldn't hold any of those chords. They hurt my hands. And instead of playing through that in the beginning, like probably most people would, I just didn't have any interest in it. And I started out and I went straight to this. And the reason is I call it choking the chicken. You can't see me, but just imagine if I had my. My hand around a chicken's neck. What I'm doing is I'm with my thumb and my middle finger. I'm choking the chicken on that. On that fifth fret. And I never knew the chords at the time and didn't know a number system or anything, but I slowly figured out if you're playing here in this, say, fifth fret position. Well, if I tried to go here for the next chord, I knew that didn't really make sense. But eventually I found the four chord here, the D minor, you know, and then the five. You wouldn't believe how many people in the music business coming up told me those are not the correct chords. You're playing A major and A minor and you can't do that.

[Terry Gross]

Can you play us a song where you use the chord progression that you just played for us?

[Charlie Crockett]

Yeah, let me think about that. For 13 diamonds round my neck One silver eagle on my chest Been trying to find a wild ace But I still Ain't seen one yet. Lone Star is a man One night riding for the brand Greenback dollar in his hand Lone Star makes his stand. Something like that. Yeah. That's the first style that I ever came up with and really leaned on that forever, you know, I learned all that stuff first, you know, like that or these, these kind of chord. People would see me doing all that kind of stuff on the street and think I had a lot more command over the instrument than I maybe did at the time.

[Terry Gross]

I think it's funny that you started teaching yourself the complicated chords instead of the easy ones.

[Charlie Crockett]

Yeah, I'm sure there's a lot to know about me by that statement there.

[Terry Gross]

Those are darker chords too. I mean, they're more interesting chords, I think.

[Charlie Crockett]

Yeah, I, you know, I like playing in the. Yeah, I like playing in the dark keys. I like playing in the minor keys. People always say I sound flat when I sing, so I figured I'd go ahead and, you know. Flat. My fists, I drink them too.

[Terry Gross]

You learned to perform on the streets, busking in some very non cowboy territory like the New York City subways. I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and would love to hear about when you played in the subways, in the stations and on the trains. What did you learn about how to get the attention of people who just wanted to catch a train and not be bothered?

[Charlie Crockett]

Lord of mercy. First place I played outside in New York City was Central Park. And there were all these incredible musicians who had already figured out where all the money was. And I wasn't any kind of anything at the time. And I remember wandering further and further into the park until I found a tunnel that had very little foot traffic and there was nobody there. And that's where I started playing. And I would continually revisit that spot throughout the years that I'd come in and out of New York, played 100 yards from there with Willie Nelson, not too far back on the summer stage. But from the very first time that I sat down in that tunnel, immediately just sitting there messing around with my little Rink a Dink songs. People were throwing change in my case. And it's not like I was making a mountain of dollars or anything, but I do remember that first two hours that I ever sat down there and just fooling around with one song. Probably oftentimes out of pity or novelty. I think I made $4 or $7 or something. You can really stretch that out, you know, when you're squatting, you know, sleeping on couches or staying up at night and sleeping in the park during the day. And I was really happy for that first $7 or whatever it was.

[Terry Gross]

But on the trains, like, you played the stations, but you also played on the subway cars. Those cars shake a lot. And I don't even know, like, if you're playing, you're probably standing up. It's hard to stand up without holding onto a pole, which you can't do if you need two hands to play guitar. So can you talk a little bit about what it's like to play guitar on a moving train and what material actually got people to pay some attention as opposed to seeing you as a nuisance?

[Charlie Crockett]

Yeah, well, some people still do. Keep in mind, I wasn't in New York constantly. You know, we would move, and it was pretty ideal to move down to New Orleans, you know, when it was cold. It was in New Orleans that I was really starting to get ahold of traditional music and started learning stuff like Worried Man Blues or Driving Nails in my Coffin, stuff like that. My bucket's got a hole in it. Those were early songs that I could get hold of. I brought that with me back from New Orleans, and I remember being there and maybe on the F train, somewhere down on the Essex platform or something. And I noticed visually, people starting to pay more attention to me. Driving nails in my coffin was one that I had learned on Royal street in front of Rouses. I learned the Ernest Tubb version. It was first cut, maybe by Bob Wills, and a lot of people done it, but that one, I mean, I could still go out there right now with a song like Driving Nails and probably really haul it in.

[Terry Gross]

Yeah. So play a little bit of that for us.

[Charlie Crockett]

See, I'm just diving nails in my coffin Every time I drink me and buy a boo I'm just diving nails in my coffin, honey Driving these nails over you. You know, I don't do it too much anymore, but used to play it a whole lot.

[Terry Gross]

That's a good song. Well, I'm going to switch up the musical mood and play something from your new album that's more rhythm and blues.

[Charlie Crockett]

All right.

[Terry Gross]

It's called Destroyed, and it was written by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham. And do you want to say why. Why you chose this for the album?

[Charlie Crockett]

I had. I found out about Dan Penn years back, but he's a Memphis guy. And, you know what I was really struck by is I thought he was a black man when I first heard his songs. And honestly, I couldn't believe he was white. That's probably the first thing that caught my attention about him. And then. And then when I was looking at his catalog, you know, he. Maybe it's a Memphis thing. It's definitely a south thing. You know, he just naturally moved between, you know, rhythm and blues and soul and country music. And Destroyed was a song that I'd found on, like, a bigger box set of his fame recordings that I had never heard before.

[Terry Gross]

Fame? Was it the studio where he worked?

[Charlie Crockett]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Anyways, I found Destroyed, and I thought, man, how is this not a hit? You know? And I guess when you're as prolific as a writer as he. As he is, you know, they can't all be hits. And so I thought I would actually. We just had a little bit of tape left, honestly, with Shooter at Sunset Sound on this last recording just earlier, back in the winter. And we were all tired, and I really didn't have any more gas in the tank. You know, it was all out of diesel. And we were about to hang it up. But we had this. We had Bob Glob, this really amazing, you know, legendary bass player, played with Linda Ronstadt and a number of other people for decades who was playing on those three or four sessions. Because my buddy Kyle Madrigal, he had gotten sick and he couldn't make it. And I just didn't. I couldn't bring myself to leave the studio without doing one more thing with them. And then I remember Destroyed, and we got in there, and it was late night, and I was just far beyond exhaustion, actually. My voice was really blown. But when the band started working it up, I got so excited. It's one of those weird things where you hit gear that you don't know you have. And, you know, it made the record.

[Terry Gross]

It came out good. So let's hear it. This is Destroyed from my guest Charlie Crockett's new album, Dollar a Day.

[Charlie Crockett]

I'm weak as a lamb and my head spinning like a tie oh, what a kiss it felt like an H bomb drive Destroy. Cool Whip, baby Destroy. You got me, baby your good loving girl has really got me destroyed I said something you got has me out of my mind over you and like an old hound dog I'm barking and I'm hollering too Destroy who we, baby? Destroy. You got me, baby no good loving, girl it's really got me destroyed.

[Terry Gross]

Love is a funny thing that was destroyed from my guest Charlie Crockett's new album, Dollar a Day. We need to take another break here, so let me reintroduce you. My guest is Charlie Crockett, and he's got a new album, which is called Dollar a Day. We'll be right back with more of Charlie Crockett and more of his music after this break. I'm Terry Gross, and this is FRESH air. If you're a robot, this might not be the show for you. But if you're a human with hopes, dreams and bills to pay, the Life Kit podcast might be just what you need. Three times a week, Life Kit brings you a fresh set of solutions to.

[Charlie Crockett]

Help you tackle topics big and small.

[Terry Gross]

From how to save money on groceries to how to bring the house down at karaoke. You know, human stuff.

[Charlie Crockett]

Listen to the Life Kit podcast from npr.

[Terry Gross]

Presentado por me Marielle Segarra. Do you ever look at political headlines and go, huh? Well, that's exactly why the NPR Politics Podcast exists. We're experts not just on politics, but.

[C]

In making politics make sense.

[Terry Gross]

Every episode, we decode everything that happened in Washington and help you figure out what it all means. Give politics a chance with the NPR Politics Podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts. Your first album was self released. It was called Stolen Jewel and it has one of my favorite of your recordings because it's just delightful. And your music is usually pretty dark, which I gravitate to, but this is just delightful. The song is by Mere Bistuchene, not a cowboy song. It's a song from a 1930s Yiddish musical and Sammy Khan and Saul Chaplin, who wrote a lot of, like, songs for movies and Sammy Khan wrote a lot of lyrics for Sinatra. They took this Yiddish song, wrote an English lyric for it and made it a little more pop jazzy than it probably initially was, and you turned it into this kind of swing song. Just say a little bit about how, like, what you wanted to do with this song.

[Charlie Crockett]

It's another one that I picked up in that river of bourbon whiskey flowing through the French Quarter in New Orleans.

[Terry Gross]

It's not the place I'd expect you to find a song that was originally a Yiddish song. It was a hit for the Andrews Sisters.

[Charlie Crockett]

I heard that song getting played by different bands. I'd hear them out on the street on Royal. And then one night I was in the Spotted Cat on Frenchman, and the band on the bandstand there was playing it in a swing style that I just really liked and I loved by Mirabe Duchene. I love the swing of it. I was getting a hold of a lot of that stuff. I learned a lot of Jelly Roll Morton songs, a lot of Louis Armstrong stuff. You know, St. James Infirmary was one we used to Play the mess out of. And like I said, I'm not a. I don't ever. I never thought I was a great musician or anything, but that those traditional styles of folk music, which is all these things, that's all New Orleans for me mostly, is where I picked it all up. And as soon as we started playing by Mirabe Duchesne, you know, the whole. The whole thing we were doing, like, took a whole. We leveled up tremendously off the one song and giving you another example of something that when we. Next time we showed up in New York City and some other towns, when we started playing that by Mirror Bis Duchene on the subways, we started turning those subway cars over, emptying out their pockets, and they were glad to do it.

[Terry Gross]

All right, let's hear why. This is by Mir Busta Shane from Charlie Crockett's first album, the album called stolen jewel.

[Charlie Crockett]

1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4. I'm here, Mr. Shane please let me explain I'm here, Mr. Shane ain't that your grand. I'm here, Mr. Shane again I'll explain It means that you're the fairest in the land I could say bella, bella Even bungaba this language using only let you know how grand you are Outside explain my. Misty Shane, Please let me explain that.

[Terry Gross]

Was by Mirvist Duchene from Charlie Crockett's first album, which is called Stolen Jewel. His new album is called Dollar a Day. I'm gonna ask you to do another song. And the song is from your Lonesome Drifter album, the first in your Sagebrush trilogy. And it's this Crazy Life. Would you sing that for us?

[Charlie Crockett]

I'd be delighted. The more I think about it, the less I really show that I know just what I'm doing, any of this fold. But I hold myself together for all the things I love I will try to make sense of this crazy life this crazy life Will lead you down a long and wind and road it will break your heart Tear you all apart but it's the only way to go and, darling, you know I care for you Though I'm not too good with love I will try to make sense of this crazy life.

[Terry Gross]

Thank you. That's Charlie Crockett singing for us. That sounded really good. Speaking of crazy life, you had heart surgery about six years ago. What was wrong? And how did you know you were in trouble?

[Charlie Crockett]

Oh, yeah. I was born down there in Cameron County, Southernmost county in Texas. And, you know, I don't think they knew a whole lot. Be surprised how little they even knew about a lot of things with heart conditions, I guess in the 80s. But I knew I had, I was born with Wolff Parkinson's white disease. Basically it's a. It's like a electrical problem in your heart. And so I knew I had that. And it caused arrhythmia, caused my heart to go out of rhythm and speed up, speed up and speed up and speed up and speed up until you shocked it back into regular rhythm. And those doctors down there told my mama that, you know, it wasn't life threatening, even though it had almost killed me a couple of times the first month I was alive. They were saying that as I grew older that it would be an annoyance, but never life threatening. But as I got older, actually it was kind of strange thing is, like in my 20s, my heart wasn't going out of rhythm or it seemingly wasn't going out of rhythm as much as when I was a kid. And then in my 30s when I turned 30, it started coming back more kind of than ever. And I didn't even really realize what it was. But I would be sitting there on like the back of the tour bus, you know, and I would just be. I was getting dizzy a lot, you know, I'd be blacking out, getting really light headed all the time, you know, And I didn't know even then that it was anything more serious. And I remember one night I was playing at the Shady Grove. There KGSR was the radio station, now it's ACL radio. And my heart went out of rhythm like in the middle of the show. Of course I didn't stop. I played it all the way through the encore. But by the time I ran off the stage, I was, you know, Alexis Sanchez, plays guitar in my band, said I was just truly like the color blue. And it never went. I could never get it back into rhythm for like 24 hours. When I went to try to go see this doctor. I hadn't had health insurance as an adult, still didn't at the time. I went to the doctor there and I ended up going and getting an echo. Dr. Chop, that was his name. And it was like 7:30 in the morning or whatever. And I'm laying there on the table sideways and they're putting that hot gel on your chest and moving the scope around you. And I could see that the lady, I could see the concern in her face. You know, they're not supposed to tell you anything, but it was weird. I knew something was wrong. Then I kind of forgot about it. By the time I got home that morning, about an hour and a half, two hours later, I get a call from Dr. Chop, and he said, hey, buddy, you know you've got aortic valve disease, you know, and that heart's going to shut down on you on any time, you know, any anytime, you know, hey, you're dying.

[Terry Gross]

So you, you needed surgery and you got a valve transplant. Is that what you got?

[Charlie Crockett]

Yeah. They wanted to put a mechanical valve in there. That's all they offered me, actually, at first.

[Terry Gross]

As opposed to a pig valve.

[Charlie Crockett]

They didn't tell me anything.

[Terry Gross]

But you ended up with a pig valve, right?

[Charlie Crockett]

No, not a pig valve. I ended up with a cow valve.

[Terry Gross]

A cow. Oh, I didn't know they do cows. Okay.

[Charlie Crockett]

Does that not make me a cowboy?

[Terry Gross]

That's funny and true, right?

[Charlie Crockett]

It's true.

[Terry Gross]

Literally, part cow, a different car in a cowboy. Charlie Crockett, thank you so much for singing and playing for us and for talking with us about your life. I wish you good luck on the tour with Leon Bridges and I wish you good health.

[Charlie Crockett]

Hey, I appreciate that, Ms. Terry. I'm going to put that in my pocket.

[Terry Gross]

Charlie Crockett has a new album called Dollar a Day. His tour with Leon Bridges begins August 26th. The popular movie Alien now has a prequel in the form of a new TV series called Earth. It just premiered on FX and is streaming on Hulu. Our TV critic David Biancooli will tell us what he thinks of it after a break. This is FRESH AIR. Pop Culture Happy Hour.

[D]

NPR's Easy, Breezy, Laid back pop culture.

[C]

Podcast has brought you the best in.

[Charlie Crockett]

Culture for the past 15 years. That means we spent the last 15 years talking about what exactly? Bad reality TV actually good Marvel movies.

[C]

Actually awful Marvel movies reboots, pop music.

[Charlie Crockett]

Prestige dramas, Netflix slop.

[Terry Gross]

That's 15 years of buzzy pop culture chit chat.

[Charlie Crockett]

And here's to many more with you.

[C]

Along for the ride. Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour on.

[Terry Gross]

The NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Rachel Martin, host of Wildcard from npr. I've spent years interviewing all kinds of people, and I've realized there are ideas we all think about but don't talk about very much. So I made a shortcut, a deck of cards with questions that anyone can.

[C]

Answer, questions that go deep into the.

[Terry Gross]

Experiences that shape us. Listen to the Wild Card podcast only from npr. Noah Hawley has created successful, well received television adaptations of the Coen Brothers movie five seasons to date and counting, and of the Marvel comic book character Legion in a series that ran for three seasons. Now he's bringing another piece of intellectual property to TV by presenting his take on the Alien movie franchise. His new series, a prequel to the original Alien film, just launched with two episodes on FX and it's streaming on Hulu. Our TV critic David Biancooli has this review.

[D]

The first Alien movie, the one with Sigourney Weaver trapped in a spaceship with a mutating apex predator from outer space, was in 1979, more than 45 years ago. Since then there have been several movie sequels and even a few prequels. Alien Earth is a prequel too. It takes place two years before the events of the original Alien film and starts in space on a science vessel that is returning to Earth with five new alien species aboard. But this prequel is different. It's the first entry made for television, and with Noah Hawley, who created the TV versions of Fargo and Legion, in charge, it's bound to be a bold, deep variation on the already established Alien themes. And based on the eight episode first season, Alien Earth is precisely that. In the opening scene of the premiere episode, the science vessel is being overrun by the deadly alien specimens and the ship crashes on Earth. It lands in an area of Thailand now run by one of a handful of mega powerful high tech corporations. Alien Earth delivers the action and the scares and thrills just as effectively as the best of its cinematic predecessors. There even are times when you jump with fright or feel squeamish or very very nervous. At least I did. The action and the visuals are first class and the special effects are a clever mixture of the latest in computer generated imagery and the old fashioned type of practical effects used back in the early Alien days. But clearly Noah Hawley, who wrote or co wrote every episode and directed a few as well, is interested in more than just the scary action sequences. It's not just the evolution of the alien creatures that interests him, but the evolution of humanity as well. One high tech billionaire who calls himself Boy Cavalier and quotes extensively from Peter Pan is weeks away from unveiling a literally life changing new product line. This world of Alien Earth already has developed cyborgs and one of them called Kirsch is played by Timothy Olyphant, who has done such outstanding TV work in Deadwood and Justified. There also are synths which are human like creations installed with artificial intelligence. But Boy Cavalier's new breakthrough, which he's just produced successfully in the lab, is a third new form of life called the hybrid synthetic beings that are downloaded with human consciousness. His first test subject is a Young preteen girl named Marcy who has terminal cancer. He downloads her into a synthetic adult body, gives her as yet undefined mental and physical abilities, and calls her Wendy, after the Peter Pan character who teamed with the Lost Boys once she's a hybrid. Marcy, AKA Wendy, is played by Sidney Chandler, the daughter of Kyle Chandler from Friday Night Lights. And when she joins Timothy Olyphant's Kirsch on a mission to check out the crashed science vessel, he tells her how he sees her and life from his perspective as a cyborg.

[Terry Gross]

Used to be food.

[Charlie Crockett]

You know.

[Terry Gross]

Me.

[Charlie Crockett]

Humanity. Your lives were short and filled with fear. Then your brains grew. You built tools and used them to conquer nature. You built impossible machines and went to school space. You stopped being food. Or I should say, you told yourself you weren't food anymore. But in the animal kingdom, there is always someone bigger or smaller who would eat you alive if they had the chance. That's what it is to be an animal. You're born, you live, you die.

[D]

He's not the only amateur philosopher on this new alien voyage. Billionaire tech inventor Boy Cavalier, played by Samuel Blenkin, tends to take big bites from an apple while pacing his office barefoot and spouting big ideas like this one to his colleague Sylvia, played by Essie Davis.

[Charlie Crockett]

The fear with artificial intelligence is that we will build a brilliant machine that will build an even smarter machine. So on until so long us. What we're doing here, you and me, is exploding human potential. Then we'll see what they build potential before the machines ruin everything. It's an intelligence race.

[Terry Gross]

But if they don't stay human, then what do we win? I'm serious.

[C]

We did something nobody thought was possible.

[Terry Gross]

We ended death. Now we have to make the quality of life better. Otherwise, all we've done is make consumers immortal.

[D]

Downloading the minds of dying children into synthetic adult bodies makes these Lost Boys and Lost Girls very unusual heroes. Kind of like an action film where the immature protagonists are from the movies Big or Freaky Friday. But it's not played for laughs. And Alien Earth has resonant echoes of other films as well, including Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and Stanley Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey and Dr. Strangelove. The cast is mostly unfamiliar, though it's a special treat to see David Ryssdal, who played Dot's husband on the most recent season of Fargo, featured again here after the two episode premiere. The rest of Alien Earth arrives weekly on fx, and season one ends with a stunning finish that provides both closure and exciting possibilities for the future. Here's hoping. As futures go, alien Earth has a long one.

[Terry Gross]

David Biancooli is a professor of television studies at Rowan University. He reviewed the new FX series Alien Earth. It's also streaming on Hulu. After we take a short break, John Powers will review a new mystery novel about a reporter. This is FRESH air. There's a lot of news happening. You want to understand it better, but let's be honest, you don't want it to be your entire life either. Well, that's sort of like our show Here and Now Anytime. Every weekday on our podcast, we talk to people all over the country about everything from political analysis to climate resilience, video games. We even talk about dumpster diving on this show. Check out Here and Now Anytime. A daily podcast from NPR and WBUR.

[C]

Materials scientist Anamaria Coquitlita is creating tech that replicates skin and simulates touch a.

[Terry Gross]

Prosthetic hand would feel if the patient.

[Charlie Crockett]

Is holding a hot cup or a.

[Terry Gross]

Cold bottle of beer.

[C]

Ideas about our skin and how we.

[Terry Gross]

Use it to interact with the world. That's on NPR's TED Radio Hour.

[C]

Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

[Charlie Crockett]

This message comes from Ollie.

[Terry Gross]

Back to school season can take a lot out of parents. Ollie is dedicated to helping you prioritize your wellness with solutions that fit seamlessly into your routine, like Women's Multi and Probiotic Mango for your immune system and Ollie's Sleep Gummies for nighttime rest when occasional sleeplessness occurs. Shop these products and [e-mail] or retailers nationwide. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. The new mystery thriller, the Diary of Lies, is the third volume in Philip Miller's series about a Scottish reporter whose investigations keep making her powerful enemies. In this new novel, she gets a tip about a high level conspiracy and then people around her start dying. Our critic at large, John Power, says it's a gripping book about the kind of never say die reporters who not so long ago were cultural icons.

[C]

Back when Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein helped bring down Richard Nixon's presidency, being a reporter seemed like the coolest, most romantic job in the world. The young flocked to journalism school. Half a century on, though newspapers struggle just to survive, media barons kowtow to protect the bottom line and governments everywhere work hard to muzzle the press. Still, there are some intrepid reporters ready to fight the good fight, especially in fiction. One of these is Shona Sanderson, the Edinburgh based heroine of a crime series by the terrific Scottish writer Philip Miller. The third and latest installment, the Diary of Lies, is now out from Soho Crime, and it finds Shona investigating a mysterious cabal whose aims are more than a little sinister. Far from being one of those cozy British crime stories, this novel offers a lament for a Great Britain that's lost its bearings. Shona is a reporter for the alternative news service Buried Lead, and as the action begins, she's in London attending an awards dinner at which she's a nominee. Always a tad prickly, she's bored and annoyed by the event, even before she's buttonholed by a posh pink faced chap named Reese Proctor. Insisting he has a story for her, he hands her a card with an address on it. Go there, he tells her, and ask for bondage. Although this sounds comical, if not kinky, something about Proctor makes her follow his instructions. Arriving at a sex shop. Yes, that's where he sent her. She dutifully asks for bondage. And then everything changes. Not only is Shona catapulted into murder, but she catches wind of a conspiracy called Grendel. That's the monster in Beowulf, as you'll recall. And Grendel, for its part, catches wind of Shona. She becomes a target. As happens in this kind of thriller, Shona will get help from a clutch of colorful characters. The apocalyptic hacker who's pulling his family off the grid. The famous woman artist whose latest work commemorates the Britons who died of COVID including Shona's father. Meanwhile, back in Scotland, we follow two other key characters, a nervous PR hack named Hector and an embittered ex spy, Mr. Tallis. They both find themselves sucked unawares into Grendel's shadowy orbit. Now, as mysteries go, the Diary of Lies is unsettlingly dark. Of course, when we call a story dark, we can be referring to many different things. The dreamy small town violence of David lynch or the metaphysical evil you find in say no country for Old Men. The darkness of the Diary of Lies is political, closer in spirit to the Handmaid's Tale than to Twin Peaks. As Shona flees killers and digs into Grendel, Miller conjures up a post Covid brexitized Britain that is busy betraying its greatest traditions, even as the country's services are falling apart. The moneyed class bends finance, government media, think tanks and private security to its own ends. When Shona finally discovers Grendel's master plan, it's a social policy so cruel and retrograde that 10 years ago, I would have laughed at its hyperbolic preposterousness. It says something about our historical moment that the scheme no longer seems laughable. Making things even worse, nearly all the characters we meet feel defeated or worn out by what's happening in their country. In fact, some of the book's sharpest moments come when characters like Hector and Shona's old beau Ned, despair over what they've become. Casting off their former ideals, they work for people they detest but feel powerless to resist. Not so the redoubtable Shona, who has so many bees in her bonnet that you half expect honey to start dripping down her forehead. Yes, she's standoffish and impatient, but those qualities help make her a great reporter. She's not one to let things go. She never stops grieving for her father, her journalistic mentor, nor stops being furious that his death might have been prevented if the government had taken Covid more seriously. Once on the trail of Grendel, she keeps working relentlessly on until she gets to the bottom of things. Her sheer doggedness is why, despite all its premonitions of tyranny, the Diary of Lies isn't a bummer. Even when she's terrified, Shona will always risk everything to get the story out. She still has faith that the truth will make a difference.

[Terry Gross]

John Powers reviewed the Diary of Lies by Philip Miller tomorrow on FRESH air. Our guest will be Pedro Pascal. From cartel kingpins to cosmic battles to the end of the world, Pascal has faced them all on screen this summer. Pascal stars in the Fantastic Four, First Steps, Eddington and the Materialists, and he's up for an Emmy for the Last of Us. Earlier he was in the Mandalorian and Game of Thrones. I hope you'll join us to keep up with what's on the show and get highlights of our interviews. Follow us on Instagram @NPR. Fresh Air. Fresh Air's executive producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our managing producer is Sam Brigger. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Annmarie Boldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Teresa Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Yakundi, Anna Bauman and John Sheehan. Our digital media producer is Molly CV Nesper. Our consulting visual producer is Hope Wilson. Roberta Shorrock directs the show. Our co host is Tanya Mosley. I'm Terry Gross. On the Throughline podcast, you have the.

[Charlie Crockett]

Right to remain silent.

[Terry Gross]

It's a staple of cop shows.

[Charlie Crockett]

When I think of Miranda today, I.

[Terry Gross]

Think it's so misshapen now that it's really lost its ability to do much good.

[Charlie Crockett]

The Fifth Amendment and the right to remain silent.

[Terry Gross]

Listen to Throughline in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Charlie Crockett]

Maybe you're wondering, how do I escape quicksand? Or how do I break up with my dentist? Well, season two of NPR's how to Do Everything podcast is launching this fall, and we will attempt to answer your questions sometimes, well, actually succeed. Send us your questions at how [e-mail] that's how [e-mail].