Chris Knight
Trailer II
Drifter's Church
By Al Kaufman
Usually when an artist returns to the well that brought him success, the water does not taste as crisp. For Americana musician Chris Knight, that is most certainly not the case.
When Knight released The Trailer Tapes, solo acoustic demo tracks he laid out in 1996 before he even had a record contract, in 2007, it ended up being the biggest seller of his career.
But really, would the other songs in that batch be as good? Were they really worthy of a sequel? Yup. It ends up that Knight recorded some 30 songs during that hot spell in Slaughters, Ky. in 1996. Many of them, such as "Love and a .45," "Send a Boat" and "Old Man," would end up on CDs throughout his career. But these recordings, made by a hungry artist in a rusty trailer on ADAT tape, cannot be surpassed. Springsteen's Nebraska would have sold a boatload more copies if he had recorded with the E Street Band, but the songs would have lost their intimacy, their slow burning passion. The same is true here.
Knight's voice is a cross between Steve Earle and Robert Earl Keen, but his attitude is all Earle. He's a tough guy who is in touch enough with his emotions that he knows he can be a pig-headed, stubborn, jerk. "I know the words that could bring you back/But I don't say nothing as I watch you pack" he laments on the soul baring "It Ain't Easy Being Me." He's a asshole for whom you can't help but feel sorry.
Three of the songs on here have not been released before, but they are good enough to end up on future releases. Too bad they won't feel this stark and pure.
