Top

music

Stories

 

Chris Knight

Tuesday, July 18, at McGonigel's Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk. Call 713-528-5999 for more info.

It would be easy to say Chris Knight seems to be standing still. From album to album, his style doesn't vary much, nor does his subject matter stray far from the themes of his first album: the hardships of country living, the desperate tenuous brutality of relationships, the dangers of trot-lining with the wrong people or hanging out with the wrong woman. But whether Knight is standing still as an artist becomes fairly irrelevant once his new CD Enough Rope encounters the laser beam. Sinister songs like the "River Road," "Bridle on a Bull" and "Jack Blue" mark Knight as one of the best tellers of dark stories in Americana today. When Knight sings "the band don't do nothin' but rock n roll / they ain't learned one new song since 'Bad to the Bone,'" the line between singer and song disappears.

We always hear that writers need to write what they know. Well, Chris Knight knows "beer cans filled with .22 holes," "the river is up and the road is low," and "all the lights are out down on the rural route." When he soulfully delivers lines that indict timber companies for "treatin' my grandfather's land like dirt," it is obvious that Knight resides in that elite class of songwriters that includes Fred Eaglesmith, Guy Clark and other lovably irascible, bull-necked hellraisers who dot the high ground of Americana.

 
My Voice Nation Help
 

Concert Calendar

  • June
  • Wed
    19
  • Thu
    20
  • Fri
    21
  • Sat
    22
  • Sun
    23
  • Mon
    24
  • Tue
    25
Houston Event Tickets
©2013 Houston Press, LP, All rights reserved.
Browse Voice Nation
  • Voice Places Houston

    Voice Places

    Find everything you're looking for in your city

  • Happy Hour App

    Happy Hour App

    Find the best happy hour deals in your city

  • Daily Deals

    Daily Deals

    Get today's exclusive deals at savings of anywhere from 50-90%

  • Best Of

    Best Of...

    Check out the hottest list of places and things to do around your city