Charley Crockett has returned with another new single, “I Won’t Cry”, released on Friday. This comes as the latest track off the singer-songwriter’s forthcoming album, Music City USA, out on September 17th via Son Of Davy/Thirty Tigers.

Crockett’s music has many moods, though one of the most familiar is his down-and-out love songs. It’s a comfortable role that fits Crockett like a cowboy hat as he traverses the Western mountains, alone, singing of his eternal solitude. Though Crockett’s voice and light acoustic guitar sit at the forefront of “I Won’t Cry”, a sparing horn section adds some authenticity to the Western blues feel.

Beyond the music, however, there is the music video. Those following Crockett’s upward trajectory since 2020’s Welcome To Hard Times have seen the country revivalist commit himself as much to the cinematography of his music videos as he does the music itself, with Crockett sharing credit for several videos with Bobby Cochran.

Related: Charley Crockett Goes “Round This World” In New Video [Watch]

The red rotary phone prominently featured in “I Won’t Cry” has been a recurring theme of his past dozen videos, but this latest work drops more breadcrumbs. Dominos figure heavily into the iconography of the song—along with the phone–but the most puzzling and possibly significant Easter egg comes in the final frame as the camera zooms in on Crockett holding a copy of The Penitentes of Sangre de Cristos. Published in 1966, Bill Tate chronicles The Penitentes, “a secret and sacred Spanish-American brotherhood who live in the mountains of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado who have pledged themselves to Christian devotions without completely withdrawing from the daily world.” What a devout order of Spanish-American Christians has to do with Crockett’s unique Texas country revivalist sound is a mystery that will hopefully be unraveled in future videos.

Watch the new music video for “I Won’t Cry” by Charley Crockett below or stream it on your preferred platform.

Charley Crockett – “I Won’t Cry” (Official Video)

[Video: Charley Crockett]

“I Won’t Cry” Lyrics

If the water, water should run dry
All of my friends, they leave me here to die
That would be a hard fact baby, hard fact to deny
Oh but still, little darlin’ I won’t cry
I won’t cry

If my brother, refused me at his door
And my lovin’ mother, she don’t want me anymore
I would have to ask myself, “what are you livin’ for?”
But still, little darlin’ I won’t cry
I won’t cry

If you ever wonder, bout the shape I’m in
Well you know I wonder, why you never come around here then?
The fate that I’m facing not like other men
Oh but still, little darlin’ I won’t cry
I won’t cry

I won’t cry
No I won’t be afraid
No I won’t shed a tear
No I won’t cry, I won’t cry, I won’t cry

View Lyrics