Little Victories

Chris Knight | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 11, 2012)
• Original Release Date: 2012
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Drifter's Church Productions
• ASIN: B008OB1QFK
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,928 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. In the Mean Time

2. Missing You

3. You Lie When You Call My Name

4. Low Down Ramblin' Blues

5. Nothing on Me

6. Little Victories

7. You Can't Trust No One

8. Out of This Hole

9. Jack Loved Jessee

10. Hard Edges

11. The Lonesome Way

Editorial Reviews

Chris Knight doesn't like to say much. Won't chat about his worldview or engage in conversations on his creative approach. For 14 years, 7 acclaimed albums and a hard-nosed career that's been hailed as "where Cormac McCarthy meets Copperhead Road", Knight has always let his music do most of the talking. His first album of new material in 4 years, Little Victories is a record of blunt honesty, elegiac truths, and the raw rural poetry of an artist who's come into his own and intends to stay. And for a performer who's been compared over the years to Cash, Prine, Earle, and Nebraska-era Springsteen, Knight now stands alone as a singer/songwriter that has carved his own idiosyncratic sound and sensibility out of the dirt road American dream. LIttle Victories not only sounds like a Chris Knight album, but the best Chris Knight album yet.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Knight At His Best September 16, 2012

By Scott O

Format:Audio CD

Chris Knight, the patron songwriter of hard luck, uses this long-awaited release to focus on the brisk realities of a lethargic economy. Its lyrics contain heavy doses of skepticism about humanity and trust in guns over government: the only one who can actually help you is yourself. However, his pessimistic tone belies a sense of comfort in knowing that self-reliance coupled with ironclad inner strength will overcome even the direst of circumstances. Nothing is sugar-coated here; the rugged emotion in his lyrical delivery pulls you in and doesn't let you go until you have been on quite a ride.

The star cuts include the title track, "Little Victories," which features John Prine, one of Knight's primary songwriting influences. When times get hard, there is a certain resignation to celebrate even mundane accomplishments like making it to the store to buy junk food.

"Nothing On Me" may be the best song on the album. It is an anthem of unyielding bullheadedness in the face of adversity featuring the tagline, "Times are tough, but they ain't got nothing on me." He colorfully brings to life a three-legged dog that picks fights with bears as an allegory of the never-give-up spirit that defines so much of the America you don't see on TV. "Out Of This Hole" mirrors that spirit and adds a contrite decision to overcome poor life choices.

He polishes "Hard Edges" from his Trailer Tapes release with some instrumentation. It inserts itself seamlessly into the theme of this album, but the rawness of the original is hard to beat.

Chris Knight thrives as a singer-songwriter because his lyrics and their delivery are as authentic as it gets; you are convinced the characters he depicts in his songs are actually singing them. In other words, you believe him. That is the hardest thing for a songwriter to do and it is what separates a great songwriter from a good one.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Chris Knight ... October 16, 2012

By R. Kesler

Format:Audio CD

Chris Knight has never been a man who's done much talkin', and to that end, on this his first release in nearly four years, he continues to let his music do the talking. Good alternative country music is as much about a believable attitude as it is the heartfelt notes, and if it doesn't cause a buzzing in your ears, and an itching at the bottoms of your pockets, then it ain't the real deal. Little Victories is nearly prophetic, it's filled with enigmatic truths, rural sensibilities, and visionary road weary enlightenments ... picking up right where Springsteen left off on Nebraska. Though it wouldn't take much to convince me that perhaps Bruce was channeling something he hadn't actually heard yet, because there's no way music with this much power and dirt road honestly can conform to the physical laws or space and time.

Knight's perfected his own organic approach to music, following in the footsteps of his legends, John Prine, Lucinal Williams, and Steve Earle, recording this outing, except for a couple of overdubs, completely live ... and to my way of thinking, laying it all on the line is the only way to capture an honest spirit, and breath life into a series of chords laced together by lyrics that conjure hidden magic. Little Victories isn't about the usual country fluff, Little Victories is both a step back and a step forward, delivering urgent social commentary through songs with stance and character.

Review by Jenell Kesler

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Chris Knight - Little Victories October 20, 2012

By Nokindadancer

Format:MP3 Music|Amazon Verified Purchase

First of all I am a huge Chris Knight fan. I first started listening to his music about 1994. "Little Victories" is a good record. It's not his best. I would recommend it to anyone, but I was a little disappointed. I will buy his next record as soon as it is available. I think the songs were a little stonger on the prior 2 records. I'm a big fan of the "Trailer Tapes". Chris Knight is still one of the best singer/songwriters in the business today.