Pros: Real country music, amazing songwriting, original sound
Cons: Only 11 songs on the CD
The Bottom Line: Chris Knight is a knight in shining armor for us country music fans who are tired of the same old "pop country garbage" polluting the airwaves.
Doodlebug's Full Review: A Pretty Good Guy by Chris Knight
A few months ago at work, while listening to the syndicated John Boy & Billy morning radio show, I heard for the first time the music of Chris Knight. With nothing but his acoustic guitar, Chris Knight performed four songs on that show, Becky's Bible, Oil Patch Town, It Ain't Easy Being Me, and Down The River. I sat and listened to all four songs, amazed. What struck me about Knight's songs were their honesty, each song telling believable stories about equally believable characters, all in a gritty and rough pull-no-punches style. As a country music fan who has become tired of the "pop country" and recycled same-song garbage polluting the airwaves, I was happy to find a musician with real talent, singing real and original songs. I went out that same day to find Knight's latest CD, A Pretty Good Guy.
It took almost two months to find that CD, but it was well worth the wait once I had it in my possession. I took it home and immediately popped it into the stereo. Once again, I was blown away by Chris Knight's music. He is an amazing storyteller, the stories he weaves into his music are never overblown or unbelievable, but are many times dark and harsh. The other thing that struck me about Knight's music is the honesty in which he plays. He is a good ol' country boy, born and raised in Slaughters, Kentucky, and he plays good ol' fashioned country music. Not once on this CD does he attempt to stray away from that. He doesn't aim to please everyone. In fact he admits in interviews that he knows his lyrics may disturb some people, and he does not appologize for that. He doesn't pretend to be "radio friendly" (although many famous artist have covered his songs, as Montgomery Gentry did when they covered "She Couldn't Change Me"), and he never tries to be mainstream. He just does what he does, no compromises. I admire that. For those out there who haven't heard Chris Knight's songs, just take the storytelling of John Prine or Robert Earl Keen, add the musical honesty and integrity of Waylon and Willie, and mix in a deep southern drawl (picture NASCAR legend Richard Petty singing, that's how his voice sounds), and there you have the music of Chris Knight. Trust me, you'll love it.
A Pretty Good Guy opens up with the song "Becky's Bible". The song is told through the eyes of a man who has just shot another man over a card game. It is a rather believable tale, no different that what you hear on the nightly news, and is told in a way that allows you to be both shocked and sympathetic for the storyteller:
"I wonder if Becky's Bible is still in the glove box, cause I'm sure gonna need it if that boy dies. I don't want to see the day light, but my Becky's alone tonight. I wonder if she's waiting up for me".
The third song on the CD, "Oil Patch Town", is a song that many of us can relate to. It's the story of some small town teenagers out looking for something to do on a Friday night, and pretty much all they find is drinking and fighting. I relate well to this song, it pretty much sums up my teenage years:
"We got 6 bucks, that's enough for a beer run. Now all we need is someone to do the buying. My buddy Lyndall, he ain't never got no money, but he drinks up most of the beer every time".
The gem of A Pretty Good Guy is track number 6, "Down The River". In this dark and disturbing story, a young man tells of the day his brother was shot and killed while out fishing on the river. The story then continues to the night the young man takes revenge on his brother's killer. This is a pretty creepy song, but at the same time is quite beautiful with the honesty and emotion that Knight puts into the song's delivery:
"One night I floated down, right above Wilson's shack. I hid in the woods, till I saw him walk out back. I put a bullet in his head, and dropped him in his tracks. And we went down the river. Down below the trestle, where the water runs slow, I chained him to an anvil and then I let him go. And 5 years later, I ain't told a soul".
Another creepy, yet beautiful, little song is track number 8, "North Dakota". This song revolves around a man in his North Dakota cabin. The song takes place in the middle of a terrible snow storm, and the man doesn't know where his girlfriend has gotten off to. Knight does a remarkable job in conveying the emotion of what the man is going through, and you'll sit captivated until the end of the song, when the man finds out what happened:
"I found her on the first warm day, the rain had washed the snow away. She'd gone for wood and lost her way back home. Now I ain't the kind that believes in ghosts, but some nights I get pretty close when the North Dakota winter moans".
By these few examples, you can see that Chris Knight is not your average country music singer/songwriter. He is a man who is sometimes brutally honest in his music, simply because that's what he does. Again, no compromises. For those out there, like me, who are tired of the same old-same old country music out there, tired of the unoriginal, boring, and uninspired crap on country radio these days, might I suggest trying Chris Knight's A Pretty Good Guy. He's bold, he's different, he's not for everybody, but he's without a doubt a breath of fresh country air. He's a country music fan's Knight in shining armor, so to speak.
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