“dont go online i dont watch tv /cause i know all im gonna see/is something stupid goin on
stupids in the water these days/they’re gonna drink it any way/til they dont know right from wrong” or
how about “They chased God and Jesus / Out of our schools
And everybody’s living / By their own set of rules”

Amazing lyrics. There is only a handful of people that can write 1 song as good as good as any of Chris`s. Yet again and again he fills up album after album with awesome songs.

Bottem line here, Chris is one of 3 artist that I think of, that I can buy an album and know that I will like every song on there.

Why Chris does not get more airplay is beyond me.

I understand one might compare an artist to asimilate their sound with the sound of others, but this review and especially the comments that followed is flat out, not that. It is a complete disecting and ridicule of someone’s song writing ability and technique with the added notion that others could or would have written the songs better. One cannot possibly know what Earle or Cash would of wrote had they been writing the same song.

Mike W. said it best, “Even the worst Chris Knight album is better than 99.9% of the rest of the music industry.”

I grew up near what they call The Flats
Ain’t too many people knows where its at
Can’t hear the highway cant see a way out
I guarantee it ain’t nothin’ worth cryin’ about

Regarding “the way out,” it may not be subtle or entirely creative, but it serves it’s purpose effectively. It says a whole lot without wasting any words, and it’s not overtly cliche, so I don’t think he serves as a knock on the song. It’s simple, meaningful, and effective.

There hasn’t been anything to hint at the guy’s way of thinking yet, but as we find out, it’s a place of painful memories. Immediately, all the “cryin’” line says is that the place wasn’t much of anything, but on a deeper level, it tells us that he has no attachments to his past.

Daddy left us all back in ‘91
Left us all wonderin what it was we done
I’d stand in the yard and stare down the road
I guess I must have missed him now I just dont know

I think the “cryin’” line tells us how Knight feels about his daddy leaving. Either that, or it futher underscores that’s he’s lost touch with his emotions. The verse is emotionally detached, but is there a better way of exploring that from the hard ass/apathetic view point? I’m really not detecting much attitude, but rather the way a man has learned to deal with the painful times in his life.

Got the broken promises
Got the broken home
Don’t break yourself on a
Heart of stone

The chorus summarizes the way he views the events defining his life and what they’ve made of him. It is a bit vague, but if we don’t consider the listener to be his audience, but rather a woman, he’s telling her not to waste her time.

I married a girl I met in Tennessee
The baby didnt make it, so neither did we
I still think about her but shes fadin fast
It dont do no good dwellin on the past

The second line is killer, but why exactly didn’t they make it? He doesn’t tell us because he may not know, but considering his demeanor, he was most likely incapable of supporting his wife emotionally in her time of greatest need. The second half again underscores the way he handles emotions and painful memories.

What we’re looking at is a child who has been abandoned by his father and the way he’s chosen to deal with his emotions. In this case, he’s buried them until they’ve become inaccessible to even himself and that’s how he deals with anything painful in his life, and that’s why he might come across as factual and surly. He could have easily become a drunk, but I think Knight has chosen the less common route here. Coupled with the qualities Ben mentioned in the second to last paragraph of the review, I think enough insight is provided to create a pretty sweet song.