Country singer/songwriter Charley Crockett has teamed with Willie Nelson for a new duet, “That’s What Makes the World Go Around,” which was co-written with Kullen Fox, Rich Brotherton and Taylor Grace.
As Crockett tells it, Nelson called him while he was recording music at his Texas-based Pedernales studio and asked if he had any songs in need of a guest appearance. “I told him I had plenty,” Crockett recalls. “Hung up the phone, drove out to Billy Horton’s place, and wrote a couple on the spot. We fired ‘em off to Spicewood, where he sang and took a ride on one that very next day. When I heard him come in singing on his first line, I shed a tear.”
Crockett adds that hearing the sound of Nelson’s legendary acoustic guitar Trigger on the recording elevated the experience even further. The artist has been friendly with Nelson for many years, having performed “The Party’s Over” at the latter’s 90th birthday concerts last year at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. He also recorded Nelson’s 1963 track “Home Motel” on his 2022 album Lil’ G.L. Presents: Jukebox Charley.
Crockett begins an Australian tour Jan. 27 in Tamworth. He will also perform this year at festivals such as Stagecoach, Moon Crush, Buckeye Country Superfest and the Avett Brothers’ Avetts at the Beach destination event in Riviera Maya, Mexico.
