{"id":2409406,"date":"2026-05-09T20:09:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T20:09:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2409406"},"modified":"2026-05-09T20:09:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T20:09:05","slug":"whats-likely-going-on-with-charley-crocketts-new-album-clovis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/whats-likely-going-on-with-charley-crocketts-new-album-clovis\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s (Likely) Going On with Charley Crockett\u2019s New Album \u201cClovis\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Charley Crockett\u2019s latest album Clovis<\/em> was surprise released<\/a><\/strong> on Tuesday, April 28th, and then was surprise pulled off<\/a><\/strong> of streaming platforms on May 6th. Crockett pulled no punches talking about how after releasing his \u201cSagebrush Trilogy\u201d of albums through Island Records (Lonesome Drifter, Dollar a Day, Age of the Ram<\/em>), he was unhappy with the label, and alluded to how releasing Clovis<\/em> just three weeks after Age of the Ram<\/em> was a way to undercut the label. <\/p>

In a now-deleted Instagram post, Crockett said, \u201cEvery time I find out I signed a deal I don\u2019t like, and I go to these fuckin\u2019 business people, and tell them I don\u2019t like the deal, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s fair, they say \u2018Tough luck kid, you shouldn\u2019t of fuckin\u2019 signed it<\/em>.\u2019 As soon as I hold them to that same standard, I\u2019m the fuckin\u2019 bad guy,\u201d (laughing).<\/em><\/p>

As Crockett released Clovis<\/em>, Island Records was still promoting Age of the Ram<\/em> to radio, the press, and the public. In fact, the album currently sits at #1 on the Americana Radio Albums Chart, while the album\u2019s single \u201cKentucky Too Long\u201d sits at #2 on the Americana Singles Chart. <\/p>

The next morning after Clovis <\/em>disappeared from streaming, Crockett posted the image of an old TV test pattern<\/a> to his social media accounts, along with the song \u201cI Fought The Law\u201d written by Sonny Curtis of The Crickets, and made a hit by Bobby Fuller. The song holds some significance to the situation since The Crickets were Buddy Holly\u2019s backing band, and they recorded at the same Norman Petty Studio in Clovis where Crockett\u2019s new album was cut. <\/p>

But that\u2019s not the only thing the use of \u201cI Fought The Law\u201d tells us. Some wondered if the album disappeared due to some technical issue. After all, since Crockett was not working with a conventional record label to release Clovis<\/em> and instead used independent service TuneCore, this could have caused some sort of glitch. TuneCore has been linked to artists having their albums pulled<\/a><\/strong> due to fictitious claims of streaming fraud in the past. <\/p>

But now that seems unlikely to be the case with Charley. This is likely a legal issue with Island Records, which is the reason the album has not returned, Crockett has said nothing, and he\u2019s pulled his previous social media statements about the album and his former label as well. <\/p>

So what exactly got Charley Crockett on the wrong side of the law? <\/p>

We don\u2019t know for sure since nobody is talking in either the Charley Crockett camp, or at Island Records. But talking to numerous individuals within the music industry, there is a handful of likely reasons that Clovis<\/em> was pulled. <\/p>

Most any music recording contract is going to come with multiple stipulations that Charley Crockett could have violated when he released Clovis<\/em>. The first is called an \u201cexclusive term.\u201d As music lawyer and former Rounder Records CEO John P. Strom explains<\/a>, \u201cTypically it lasts 6-12 months after an album\u2019s release, assuming the contract ends with the last album.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

In other words, even if Charley Crockett successfully fulfilled his contract with Island Records with the release of his last album Age of the Ram<\/em>, he might have been obligated to not release new music that could run the risk of undercutting the label\u2019s promotion and investment\u2014just like Crockett could have been trying to do by releasing Clovis<\/em> so closely after. <\/p>

The second provision that Crockett might have run afoul of might have have to do with the fact that he recorded Clovis<\/em> while he was still under contract with Island. Most major labels will say that irrespective of however many albums the deal might be for, if the artist records additional music while on the label, that music is also under the label\u2019s domain, or they might have a \u201cfirst right of refusal,\u201d meaning they get first dibs on that new music before it can be pitched to someone else or released independently. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Both the \u201cexclusive term,\u201d and the rights to any music recorded while under contract are extremely common, standard copy for most any recording contract. That doesn\u2019t mean all record deals include them. While negotiating with a record label, an artist or their lawyer can request these stipulations be removed, the \u201cexclusive term\u201d shortened, the \u201cfirst right of refusal\u201d struck, etc. Since Charley Crockett is so prolific, this wouldn\u2019t be out of the realm of possibility. But it is likely one, both, or all of these common provisions is what gave Island Records the legal authority to demand streaming services pull the album. <\/p>

Charley Crockett fought the law, and the law won. <\/p>

Charley Crockett could have also been in violation of a non-defamation clause in the Island contract, meaning he couldn\u2019t disparage the label, though this would more likely result in fines and penalties, not the pulling of Clovis<\/em>. <\/p>

Just to underscore, we do not officially know why Clovis<\/em> got taken down. It could be something completely unrelated to Crockett\u2019s Island Records contract. But there\u2019s a good chance it was one of these contractual issues or something similar, and the reason Crockett hasn\u2019t spoken on the matter is because it\u2019s become a legal matter, and people are being told to not speak publicly until its resolved, lest something they say ends up working against them, if a judge hasn\u2019t instituted a gag order. <\/p>

For Island Records, they are running somewhat of a risk coming across as the bad guy by getting Clovis<\/em> pulled. But they\u2019re in an unenviable position. If they simply let Charley Crockett violate their contract and undercut Age of the Ram<\/em>, they set a bad precedent. If another artist in the future decided they wanted to violate their \u201cexclusive term\u201d or \u201cfirst right of refusal\u201d and they didn\u2019t prosecute Charley Crockett, that could be used to claim selective enforcement of the contract stipulations. <\/p>

Nonetheless, Clovis<\/em> was being very well-received by Crockett fans before the takedown, and Charley Crockett remains a pretty popular performer with the type of strong, grassroots fan base that generally doesn\u2019t look kindly upon corporations pulling the art of performers off the internet. It\u2019s not out of the question that Clovis<\/em> could have been headed toward another Grammy nomination for Charley. Now we don\u2019t even know when the album might return for public consumption. <\/p>

What could be the resolution to the Clovis<\/em> impasse? It could be that Island Record claims ownership over the album, or at least the right to distribute it. Crockett might have to wait until the \u201cexclusive term\u201d is up before releasing it again, or any other music he might record in the meantime. Island Records could show Charley some grace and perhaps some sort of fine or revenue share situation could be negotiated so the record could be re-released relatively quickly. <\/p>

But there\u2019s also the distinct possibility that the story of Clovis<\/em> and the legal battle surrounding might just be beginning. As fans trade bootleg copies and those few who actually downloaded the album pat themselves on the back, the album\u2019s true born-on date and where it will rest in the pantheon of releases in the Charley Crockett catalog and albums released in 2026 remains up in the air. <\/p>

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If you found this article valuable, consider leaving<\/em>\u00a0Saving Country Music A TIP<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\r\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source savingcountrymusic.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charley Crockett\u2019s latest album Clovis was surprise released on Tuesday, April 28th, and then was surprise pulled off of streaming platforms on May 6th. Crockett pulled no punches talking about how after releasing his \u201cSagebrush Trilogy\u201d of albums through Island Records (Lonesome Drifter, Dollar a Day, Age of the Ram), he was unhappy with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2409407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2409406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Whats-Likely-Going-On-with-Charley-Crocketts-New-Album-Clovis.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2409406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2409406"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2409406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2409408,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2409406\/revisions\/2409408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2409407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2409406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2409406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2409406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}