*CHRIS KNIGHT – Tickets – World Cafe Live PHILADELPHIA –
Upstairs – PHILADELPHIA, PA – November 20th, 2019 *CHRIS KNIGHT
Wed · November 20, 2019 9:00 pm WORLD CAFE LIVE PHILADELPHIA -
UPSTAIRS $25 ADV / $30 DOS + Fees Tickets available on Eventbrite
Tickets available on Eventbrite
https://www.worldcafelive.com/event/1881840/
[https://www.worldcafelive.com/event/1881840/] Share On Facebook Share
On Twitter Share This Event CHRIS KNIGHT Website Facebook Twitter
Instagram “It’s hard to know how people are gonna react,” CHRIS
KNIGHT SAYS OF ALMOST DAYLIGHT, his ninth album and first new
recording in over seven years. “I’ve written songs about a lot of
different things going all the way back to my first record, and some
folks still think ‘somebody kills somebody’ is all I write about.
Maybe that’s why I was bound and determined to get these particular
songs on this album. If people like them, then we’ll be fine. But I
wasn’t gonna do it any other way.” For the past 20 years, CHRIS
KNIGHT HAS ONLY MADE MUSIC HIS OWN WAY. He’s released eight
acclaimed albums, played thousands of electrifying live shows and
built generations of fervent fans from Texas honky-tonks to Manhattan
rock clubs. He’s been hailed as “the last of a dying breed…a
taciturn loner with an acoustic guitar and a college degree” (The
New York Times) and “a storyteller in the best traditions of
Mellencamp and Springsteen” (USA Today). Bottom line, he’s
hard-earned his reputation as one of America’s most uncompromising
and respected singer/songwriters. And now with Almost Daylight, KNIGHT
DELIVERS THE MOST POWERFUL – and unexpected – music of his career.
Almost Daylight is very much a CHRIS KNIGHT ALBUM, familiarly
featuring vivid pictures of rural characters, desperate men and
hardscrabble survivors. At the same time it’s unlike anything KNIGHT
HAS DONE BEFORE, with formidable testaments to compassion, redemption
and even straight-up love. It’s an album both tough and tender, as
bare-knuckled as it is open-hearted. “I do think there’s a
cohesiveness to this album,” KNIGHT EXPLAINS IN HIS THICK KENTUCKY
RASP. “The title is key, I suppose. Through all these songs, you
could find a theme about seeking shelter.” Produced, mixed and
mastered by Grammy-winner Ray Kennedy – best-known for his 30+ year
creative partnership with Steve Earle as well as producing CHRIS’
Enough Rope (2006), Trailer II (2009) and Little Victories (2012)
albums – Almost Daylight also sounds like no other KNIGHT RECORD,
with scorching guitars by Georgia Satellites founder and two-time
KNIGHT ALBUM PRODUCER DAN BAIRD, rich background vocals by CHRIS
CLARK, Siobhan Kennedy and Lee Ann Womack, and deeper instrumentation
than ever before. “CHRIS HAD BEEN PLAYING SOME OF THESE SONGS ON THE
ROAD AND STARTED DEVELOPING IDEAS BEFORE WE GOT TO THE STUDIO,”
Kennedy says. “He and I talked about keeping the Appalachian factor
with banjo, fiddle, harmonica and mandolin where it felt right. It was
significant that Dan was involved, as he’s the man who can play
guitar with the right feeling for CHRIS. The background vocals really
brought the fire, and this lead to ideas for piano, Hammond B-3,
accordion and Wurlitzer electric piano. Everything evolved from the
performance of each song and I let the songs dictate what they needed
in order to evolve into an album.” “I was determined not to do any
acoustic songs on this album,” CHRIS EXPLAINS. “I wanted it all to
sound edgy and raw, but to feel big at the same time. We kept trying
different approaches until I felt we landed on what worked. The thing
is, some of my songs might take a year of writing before I even think
they’re ready for recording and I fretted about every one of these.
I’ve never put a cover song on any of my records before, but there
are two covers on this one. And I think it all fits together pretty
good.” The album opens with “I’m William Callahan”, a defiant
roar fueled by equal parts pride, memories and searing guitar.
“Crooked Mile” is classic KNIGHT, a piercing take on outsiders
bound by love, while the poignant “Send It On Down” is a plaintive
plea for salvation. There are tales of small-town despair (“I
Won’t Look Back”), ominous rural menace (“Trouble Up Ahead”)
and melancholic break-ups (“Everybody’s Lonely Now”). CHRIS’
cover of Johnny Cash’s “Flesh And Blood” – which originally
appeared on the Dualtone 2002 tribute album Dressed In Black – is a
poignant interpretation of Cash’s ode to devotion. The plainspoken
positivity of “Go On” is one of KNIGHT’s most life-affirming
songs, while “The Damn Truth” is a ferociously clear-eyed look at
our current cultural divide. The title track might be the most
unexpected KNIGHT SONG OF ALL, an unapologetic paean to the power of
love. “That’s probably my favorite song on the album,” CHRIS
SAYS, “because it’s closest to the truth.” He then quickly adds
with a laugh, “I’m killin’ people with love now.” The album
closes with yet another surprise; a joyfully raucous duet between
KNIGHT AND LONGTIME FAN JOHN PRINE ON PRINE’s 1973 classic
“Mexican Home”. “I love that song, but it took me 15 years to
find a way to do it,” KNIGHT SAYS. “I kept playing around,
changing the vocal key and finally landed on the spot. I’ve been
singing it my kitchen table for the last few years, and when we were
down to the last song, I knew this should be it.” With the release
of Almost Daylight, this native son of Slaughters, Kentucky
(population 238) is eager to get back on the road and perform these
songs for the faithful. Meanwhile, the singer/songwriter who was
originally inspired by the likes of Prine and Earle now finds himself
influencing a new generation of artists who revere KNIGHT’s
idiosyncratic talent and attitude. “There’s all kinds of different
ways to make music, but this is the way I chose to do it,” CHRIS
SAYS. “If I don’t have something worth saying I’m not opening my
mouth, which is probably why I took seven years to make this album.”
And for an artist who has always defied expectations, CHRIS KNIGHT’s
next chapter indeed feels like the dawn of a new day. “I haven’t
suited everybody, but every time I get a new fan it tells me I’m
doing something right,” he says. “I think my previous records have
set a precedent, if only for me at the very least. I just want people
to think this one stands up to everything else I’ve done.” Venue
Information: WORLD CAFE LIVE PHILADELPHIA - UPSTAIRS 3025 Walnut
Street PHILADELPHIA, PA, 19104 http://philly.worldcafelive.com/
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