The music business is full of artists who are bigger than life. These exaggerated music icons may sell a lot of records and get all of the press, good and bad, but they don’t have any substantial connection to the people for whom they perform. Unless you consider the consumer/entrepreneur or the celebrity/fan relationship, there's no actual merging of the two distant worlds, which is probably for the best since they reside in a different universe.
This is where singer, songwriter Chris Knight differs. Life is bigger than him and the real life characters who populate his songs, and he isn't ashamed to concede and bear witness to this often unacceptable and unbearable truth. The former strip mine inspector from Slaughters, Kentucky who has several albums under his belt, has spent many years traveling the back roads of this country, chronicling in song the disparity between real world socio-economic survivors and the mirage they chase, commonly known and sold to them as the American Dream.
Knight has inadvertently become a voice for the have-nots and the barely-haves, speaking through his music for those who are one paycheck or downsizing away from having four walls and roof. However, his songs aren’t just about the economic struggle. They’re also about those who have stumbled in their relationships, whether it be romantic, familial, or with day to day friends and acquaintances. His songs portray people living in the mean time, where setbacks seem to outnumber the opportunities, but who are nevertheless still pushing forward and enduring the best they can. These are the folks who are tougher than the times in which they live. Even if they can’t win, they won’t lose. Chris Knight is their knight in weathered armor. He may not be able to single-handedly rescue them, but he can see the “tender hearts” and “sweetest parts” hidden beneath the hard edges of their protective exterior. He can reveal their predicaments to those who will listen and elevate them from the shadows of public apathy and avoidance, and he can connect with them on a personal level because he lives and struggles in the same universe.
This personal connection was readily apparent when Chris Knight recently played Main Street Crossing in Tomball. The audience, for the most part, seemed to personify and make tangible the working class characters who inhabit the world of Knight’s music. The concert was on a week night, so it was attended primarily by those who most likely worked all day, and probably had to be back on the clock early the next morning. They sported their going to town clothes, their nicest, best worn in jeans and collared shirts. Many of the men in the crowd wore baseball caps displaying trucking, automotive, or various other real life working man logos. This wardrobe choice seemed to allow them to keep one foot in their day time work world, their anchor to their identity and security, even if it can get shaky at times. They had come to hear Chris Knight tell their stories and find comfort and validation that their daytime efforts aren't in vain. He was there to remind these real world people that someone is taking notice and spreading the word. There’s work to be done and people are doing it well without any fanfare or reward.
Chris Knight showed the audience he wasn't that different than them in this aspect of life. There was no pretense of flamboyance or joviality in Knight’s performance. Like those in the crowd in the course of their work day, Knight was there to keep his head down, and nose to the grindstone and do his job and do it right. Chris Knight went to work and unsurprisingly got the job done and did it well.
Knight proved to the Main Street audience the best songs are the ones which can’t be neatly packaged into a specific genre. The beauty of this is it discourages preconceived notions about what a song should be for everyone and leaves it wide open to what it can be for each individual. Knight’s music walks the line between various sub genres of country, folk, Americana, and rock and roll. Backed by his full band (Mike McAdam on lead guitar, Drake Leonard on bass guitar, and Herb Shucher on drums) at Main Street Crossing, Knight straddled this line gracefully throughout the night, giving his music the edge and the bite necessary to express relatable and effective stories that grabbed hold and hit close to home with the Tomball, Texas crowd. He went to the well of his past albums and his most recent album, “Little Victories” to recount tales of hard work, hard times, rocky relationships, and the often futile but not entirely hopeless pursuit of something better around the corner. Knight played around twenty songs, including an encore and ended the set without any big fuss or flourish, like one finishes a day at work, with no ceremony or celebration. He thanked the crowd, and maybe it wasn’t just for coming out to see him play, but also for living in his songs and making them real. The show was over at a reasonable hour for a week night, which was to be expected, since most of those in the audience and Chris Knight himself probably had to be back to work the next day.
Thank you to Mike Farley at the Michael J. Media Group for providing a “Little Victories” CD and admittance to the show at Main Street Crossing. It’s always a pleasure to discover quality music, even if someone else has to open your ears to it because it’s under your radar. Click on the links below to open your ears to Chris Knight’s music.