Search - Chris Knight :: A Pretty Good Guy

Country Music at its Best

Jeremy Scott Botkins | Covington, Virginia United States | 09/14/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A Pretty Good Guy, the follow-up to Chris Knight's self-titled debut, is nothing short of spectacular. Representing a genre reminiscent of Steve Earle, this album showcases Knight's superb song-writing ability and gravely voice. Set against intricate instrumental arrangements that are stripped down but entirely sufficient, Knight spins tales full of love, loss, and revenge. "Down the River," "If I Were You," and "North Dakota" provide three haunting stories that beg to be listened to again and again. "Oil Patch Town" and "Highway Junkie"(previously recorded by Gary Allan on The Black Dog Soundtrack) portray images of everyday life that are easily relatable. The other six tracks are as equally strong and compelling. A Pretty Good Guy will stand as one of, if not the, best country music albums released in 2001. If you have grown weary of the homogenized country music on the radio, this album will prove to be one quite a refreshing experience."

Dark tales of rural life observed with an unblinking eye

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 09/11/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Knight's hard-scrabble tales play like a darker, rural version of Tom Waits' bowery blues. But where Waits' boozy wink provides an escape valve, and his losers are often lovable, Knight's viewpoint (born and bred in Slaughters, KY, population 200) lends little such release. His songs offer an unblinking view of rural life's roughest edges, couched in folk and country influences that include John Prine, Steve Earle, and Springsteen's "Nebraska"-era starkness. His stories tell of nearly unremitting desperation.Earle's landmark "Guitar Town" sang of frustrated small-town inhabitants bursting to race beyond the city limits; fifteen years later, Knight's protagonists can't even imagine roads that lead out of town. His characters, weighed down by circumstance, are drawn into robbery, murder and death. Life's balance between awareness and obliviousness, between self-control and fatalism, keeps slipping his characters over the edge of ruin.The stellar backing band (including superb keyboards from Tony Harrell and drumming from Greg Morrow) follows Knight into the darkest recesses of his lyrics. They crank up rock-tinged country and shuffling road rhythms to mark finely crafted ironic proclamations, and back away, leaving Knight nearly alone for first-person tales of homelessness and retribution.Knight's lyrical world is a disturbing place to visit, but one whose truth is its own dark beauty. As he says of his work, "I just write about it, not around it.""

DO NOT HESITATE! Buy this one, and his self-titled CD!

Gordon Merrill | 09/18/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I highly prefer Country (incl. AltCountry & Bluegrass) that's NOT cookie-cutter music! Chris Knight is first and foremost a song-writer. I hold those who write AND sing their own material a level or two above the rest. And to have real music sound this good can be a tough find. If you prefer songs that are a little more "real" -- dealing with real life, down-home issues, blue-collar tones, childhood memories of growing up in smalltown USA, etc. -- then this album is for you. The singer-songwriters are too hard to come by, and we need to support them with everything we have. The voice, the 6-string -- I can't get enough! It's so refreshing to hear something like this in place of the "top 40" country hits played over and over on the radio. I like quite a few of those as well, but don't really need to hear them 10 times a day. I wish Chris Knight the best, and hope he has a long and prosperous career/life. I saw him in Nashville while on vacation. I got to see REK (again) the following night. That was a great week!!! I'll definitely see Knight again -- if given the chance. A great guy in person, and an excellent artist."