Charley Crockett’s Age of The Ram -the final installment of his Sagebrush Trilogy – is finally here. It’s been a year-long process for every portion of the three-part project to be released. It was in March of 2025 that Crockett first released Lonesome Drifter. He then followed that up last August with the second chapter – Dollar a Day. And now, in April of 2026, the 42-year-old country artist wrapped the interconnected trilogy all up with Age of the Ram. Or as he put it: “Just a lonesome drifter making a dollar a day in the age of the ram.” View this post on Instagram From the jump, there’s an immediate sense and presence of cinematic storytelling. The album even starts out with a narrator stating, “And now for our feature presentation.” If that doesn’t get the audience ready for a sprawling story, I don’t know what will. Age of the Ram focuses in on the life and times of an outlaw named Billy McLane… a man on the run that Crockett can certainly relate to. For those Marty Robbins fans out there, you might recall that the name “Billy McLane” is used in Robbins’ song “Old Red.” Charley Crockett has previously said that song, among other things, helped act as inspiration for the fictional outlaw his third installment is based upon. Pedal steel and piano, as well as plenty of interludes, move Age of the Ram along. There are some big swings in musical momentum throughout, but I suppose that’s only fitting for an album depicting the life of an outlaw on the run. Each song acts as it’s own chapter, which makes sense considering the trilogy itself was inspired by The Borders Trilogy. In a recent video posted by Crockett, he explained why he set out to release this three-part story, and also shared the existing project that inspired the Sagebrush Trilogy: “I had been wanting to make a country concept album for a long time. The first time I tried my hand at it was ‘Man from Waco,’ and I didn’t quite all the way around. I went to Island Records and one of the guys there came up with the idea. He said, ‘You ought to release three records in a series like the Cormac McCarthy Border Trilogy.” For the uninitiated, Cormac McCarthy’s Border Trilogy was actually a series of novels that told the story of young cowboys out on the American frontier. The three books were titled All The Pretty Horses, The Crossing, and Cities of the Plain. Like Crockett’s Sagebrush Trilogy, the trio of novels all connect more so in theming than shared characters. Though there aren’t as many standout songs in this project, Crockett’s stellar writing is still on full display. In “My Last Drink of Wine,” an existential line of Charley’s sticks out: “All of us here, we were made to die, while watching the world go by.” And all in all, Age of the Ram has a certain magnetism to it that best comes through when you listen to it front to back. If you like musical storytelling, this new project leans on the old practice of laying out an entire, musical chronical. If you like listening to Charley Crockett’s more upbeat songs, this album might not be for you. I’d personally rather revisit Lonesome Drifter or Dollar A Day, but that being said, Age of the Ram is still a fine album. You have to commend Crockett for going after an expansive project like the Sagebrush Trilogy in the first place. And when you are trying to bring three different projects to a close, it can be challenging to stick the landing. But as the old saying goes, sometimes it’s more about the journey than it is the destination… and Charley Crockett’s Age of the Ram definitely provides an enjoyable, cinematic journey. “My Last Drink Of Wine” “Billy McLane” “Cover My Trail Tonight” The post Charley Crockett’s New Album ‘Age Of The Ram’ Is Cinematic, But Fails To Live Up To The Previous Two Installments Of His “Sagebrush Trilogy” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.