CD Review – Chris Knight “Little Victories”
Grizzly politicized and hard hitting Alt- Country at its best
After 15 years in the crazy world of Rock and Roll it would be understandable if Chris Knight chose the easy, commercial path for his 8th album; but that’s not how this guy rolls and LITTLE VICTORIES is as hard edged as anything he has recorded and possibly more so; as America and the World lurches from one crisis to yet another with the working man, who Knight champions, taking all of the punches.
LITTLE VICTORIES opens with the line ‘sometimes I wonder where my next dollar is going to come from’ and the song it comes from; In The Mean Timeserves as a punch to the stomach as Knight lets us know how hard things are for the poorest members of our Society and their/his Government ain’t doing much to help them.
Americana Legend Buddy Miller makes two guest appearances –Missing You and Nothing on Me; which uses a barroom fight and a dog with its ‘wont back down scars on its face’ as a metaphor for the downtrodden who still have some fight left in them and boy is it effective!
Just when you are thinking about taking your tin hat off and breaking cover Knight slides in Jack Loved Jessewhich is a Bonnie and Clyde style love story with some crashing guitars from Dan Baird, emphasizing each and every anthemic chorus.
It’s a similar story with the end of the affair love song You Lie When You Call My Nameonly this is more folk tinged than the rest of the album, but still angry; none the less.
Knight sounds incensed throughout LITTLE VICTORIES and the band manages to keep pace with the singer’s ire making this the rockingest protest album I’ve ever heard.
This is the album Neil Young, Steve Earle and probably even Springsteen have all been trying to make in the last 5 years……I urge you to buy it and play it LOUD!