The Country Artist’s Past Trouble With The Law Leads To Cancelation Of Shows Planned In Canada
Tonight, Monday, Feb. 23, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, the prolific country artist Charley Crockett was set to perform the second of several shows he had lined up in Canada.
However, he announced on social media this morning, mere hours before his concert, that he was canceling the entire Canadian leg of his tour.
Presently, Crockett’s website still has eight shows listed in Canada, going from Feb. 23 to March 6.
His first show in Canada was set to occur on Feb. 21, but was canceled “due to unforeseen circumstances.”
These shows, the artist says, have been canceled after two failed attempts to enter Canada from the United States.
“Full refunds will be issued at the point of purchase,” Crockett wrote online, adding:
“I know this doesn’t begin to make up for y’all’s time and hard earned money. I apologize to everyone affected. I know I let y’all down. Canada’s such a beautiful country full of some of the best fans in the world, and I’ve had the time of my life playing shows for y’all. I ain’t one to quit and I aim to be back one of these days real soon.”
The reason for this difficulty goes back to Crockett’s past trouble with the law in the United States…
“Everybody’s Got A Past” – Why Charley Crockett Was Barred From Entering Canada
Posting on Instagram on Feb. 23, Charley Crockett revealed he had attempted to enter Canada twice within 24 hours, first at Vancouver and then at Kelowna.
Of this second attempt, Crockett said, “I’ve been advised that it would jeopardize my freedom to try and enter again.”
From that second stop, Crockett shared a photo on social media of a document drafted by Canada Border Services Agency, which was forwarded to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship in Canada.
The document states that Charles Crockett, a male of the United States, “is a person who is a foreign national who has not been authorized to enter Canada and who, in my opinion, is inadmissible … on grounds of serious criminality for having been convicted of an offense outside Canada that, if committed in Canada, would constitute an offense under an Act of Parliament punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 10 years.”
The crime in question is detailed at the bottom of the document, citing Crockett’s 2016 conviction for possession with intent to sell/give/distribute more than five pounds of marijuana.
According to a 2024 article in the Cardinal News, titled “How a drug bust in Wythe County pushed Charley Crockett into a country music career,” Crockett was pulled over in 2014 because the windows on his car were tinted too darkly.
When he was pulled over, the arresting Virginia state trooper recalled that Crocket was “unfailingly polite,” and that he asked if he could play his guitar as his vehicle was searched after the trooper noticed the smell of marijuana.
“It was just funny, I’d never had anybody playing the guitar while searching,” the trooper said of his interaction with Crockett during this stop.
When the trooper grabbed the suitcase that the marijuana was being transported in, Crockett memorably started playing Willie Nelson’s “The Party’s Over.”
“We unzip the suitcase; it has 6 pounds of marijuana,” the trooper recalled, noting it had 6.6 pounds of marijuana in it, exceeding the minimum for a felony in Virginia by 1.6 pounds. “Now it makes sense why he changed the song.”
The next year, in 2015, Crockett released his first album, A Stolen Jewel. Since then, he has released 15 albums in the span of 10 years.
Notably, the document Crockett received from Canadian border authorities goes on to say that such an offense would be punishable with “life imprisonment” if committed in Canada.
See Charley Crockett’s full comments on the situation the post, here:
See the preview for Crockett’s upcoming 16th studio album, Age of the Ram, which will be released on April 3, here:
Here’s a post from Feb. 23 by Jake Vaadeland, who was set to open for Crockett during the Canadian stint of his tour, here: