Charley Crockett is ready to release his second album of the year, Music City USA this fall, and its first single is a dose of horn-filled soul. The singer-songwriter dropped “I Need Your Love,” along with the details on his new album, on Friday (July 9).
“I like to think of my sound as ‘Gulf & Western,’ and this number here is all Gulf Coast music — something you’d hear out of Southeast Texas recording studios or southern Louisiana,” says Crockett of the slow, doo-wop-influenced song. The chorus may remind listeners of the Four Tops’ “Baby I Need Your Loving,” in part because of its hook: “I need your love, pretty darlin’ / Said I’ve got to have all of your love.”
“I’d been foolin’ around with this song for a while, and when we went to record it, we decided at the last minute to double the length of the chorus,” Crockett shares. “I felt right then that we had something. I’d wanted to bring the horns back for a couple tunes on this album.
“Soul and country R&B from the Deep South is a whole lot of who I am,” he adds. “I hope it shows though.”
“I Need Your Love” is one of a whopping 16 songs on Music City USA, which will be Crockett’s 10th full-length album in six years. Mark Neill produced the record — he also produced 2020’s Welcome to Hard Times — which Crockett recorded at Valdosta, Ga.’s Soil of the South Productions.
Crockett is the 2020 Ameripolitan Music Awards Honky-Tonk Male trophy winner and a 2021 Americana Honors & Awards Emerging Act of the Year nominee. And if you’re wondering: Yes, he’s a distant relative of Davy.
Music City USA is due out on Sept. 17. Fans can visit CharleyCrockett.com for more details, and to see Crockett’s tour schedule, which will keep him on the road through New Year’s Eve.
Charley Crockett, Music City USA Tracklist:
1. “Honest Fight”
2. “I Need Your Love”
3. “The World Just Broke My Heart”
4. “Are We Lonesome Yet”
5. “This Foolish Game”
6. “Round This World”
7. “Music City USA”
8. “Just So You Know”
9. “Lies and Regret”
10. “I Won’t Cry”
11. “Smoky”
12. “Muddy Water”
13. “518”
14. “Only Game in Town”
15. “Hanger On”
16. “Skip a Rope”
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