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| Chris Knight
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Chris Knight’s 2006 release Enough Rope was a gritty, honest and above all expertly crafted slice of Prine, Earle and Mellencamp influenced Americana. His ability to tap so deeply into the less than pretty truths of blue-collar, middle American life has long been his trump card. Even if the Mellencamp references are well earned and justified — and I almost hate to use the name twice so early in this review — Knight’s delivery often has a road-worn rawness about it that for the most part shakes off any need for comparison.
With Heart Of Stone, Knight’s pervasive scruffiness is in full swing, but the songs themselves reveal more introspection, a need to escape the pains of regret and heartbreak, than the character driven themes of Enough Rope. Not to say that he’s lost any potency in his imagery, and not to assume that all these songs sung in first person are necessarily autobiographical, but out of 12 tracks only a few bear the story oriented writing of his previous album. On all but one of the tracks on Heart Of Stone, Knight is joined by a scrappy band that perfectly straddles the line between tight and comfortably loose. The result? Some of the best earthy, country/rock to come down the pipe this year. |
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| Randy Rogers Band, Casey Donahew Band, Roger Creager, Kyle Park, Johnny Cooper, Bart Crow Band, Jonathan Tyler and The Northern Lights, Bleu Edmonson, Rich OToole, Mark McKinney, Adam Hood, Larry Joe Taylor, No Justice, Cody Johnson Band, Tejas Brothers, Kyle Bennett Band, Buckshot Bradley, William Clark Green, Zack Walther Band, Six Market Blvd, Richard Leigh, Deryl Dodd, Dave Perez, Brandon Rhyder, Ali Dee - 5/17/2012, 5/18/2012, 5/19/2012 |
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Crudefest - Midland, Texas |
| Chris Allbright Band, Curtis Grimes, Billy Joe Shaver, Matt Wayne, Taylor Hodak Band, Jon Wolfe, Shane Howard Band, Chris Low, Darby Ledbetter, Gordon Collier Band, Kayla Ray, Matt Wayne and Company - 5/25/2012, 5/26/2012, 5/27/2012 |
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Moonlight Music Festival - Meridian, Texas |
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