Customer Reviews

A Pretty Good Guy

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A Pretty Good Guy, the follow-up to Chris Knight's self-titled debut, is nothing short of spectacular. Representing a genre reminiscent of Steve Earle, this album showcases Knight's superb song-writing ability and gravely voice. Set against intricate instrumental arrangements that are stripped down but entirely sufficient, Knight spins tales full of love, loss, and revenge. "Down the River," "If I Were You," and "North Dakota" provide three haunting stories that beg to be listened to again and again. "Oil Patch Town" and "Highway Junkie"(previously recorded by Gary Allan on The Black Dog Soundtrack) portray images of everyday life that are easily relatable. The other six tracks are as equally strong and compelling. A Pretty Good Guy will stand as one of, if not the, best country music albums released in 2001. If you have grown weary of the homogenized country music on the radio, this album will prove to be one quite a refreshing experience.

Knight's hard-scrabble tales play like a darker, rural version of Tom Waits' bowery blues. But where Waits' boozy wink provides an escape valve, and his losers are often lovable, Knight's viewpoint (born and bred in Slaughters, KY, population 200) lends little such release. His songs offer an unblinking view of rural life's roughest edges, couched in folk and country influences that include John Prine, Steve Earle, and Springsteen's "Nebraska"-era starkness. His stories tell of nearly unremitting desperation.

Earle's landmark "Guitar Town" sang of frustrated small-town inhabitants bursting to race beyond the city limits; fifteen years later, Knight's protagonists can't even imagine roads that lead out of town. His characters, weighed down by circumstance, are drawn into robbery, murder and death. Life's balance between awareness and obliviousness, between self-control and fatalism, keeps slipping his characters over the edge of ruin.

The stellar backing band (including superb keyboards from Tony Harrell and drumming from Greg Morrow) follows Knight into the darkest recesses of his lyrics. They crank up rock-tinged country and shuffling road rhythms to mark finely crafted ironic proclamations, and back away, leaving Knight nearly alone for first-person tales of homelessness and retribution.

Knight's lyrical world is a disturbing place to visit, but one whose truth is its own dark beauty. As he says of his work, "I just write about it, not around it."

I discovered Chris Knight when the single " It aint easy being me" camemout off his first CD.
Got that album. And it was sinply awesome.
I cant decide if "Pretty good guy" is better than the first or not. But it makes no difference. They are both truly great albums.
"Down the river" is by far the stand out track on this one. It's an unbelievable tale of revenge. With one of the best lines I have ever heard. " I've been thinking Wilson's cousin better find a place to hide"

"Oil patch town" is a classic tale of small town tennage fun.
"Becky's Bible" is good too. Knight is a great story teller.
But as I read the previous reviews I cant help wonder what people were missing with "If I were you."
This is one of the best songs in the last ten years. Maybe folks just dont get where Knight is coming from. But it is truly powerful. With a real twist. Maybe people arent listening to the whole song. But pay no mind to others who discredit this track.

This is another amazing album by one of the best singer/songwriters I have heard in some time. His first album was excellent and this does not disappoint. As good as Knight was lyrically on the first album, he may be better here. Certainly, he owes a debt to Steve Earle, as well as those who influenced Earle, but he also stakes his own claim. "Down the River" is an amazing song of retribution; in "North Dakota" you can practically hear the cold wind blow across the prarie. Other highlights include "Blame Me" and "If I Were You" both of which are about people who have been pushed so far into a corner that there appears to be only one way out. The songs sound real and Knight's delivery sounds as if he has been there.

I highly prefer Country (incl. AltCountry & Bluegrass) that's NOT cookie-cutter music! Chris Knight is first and foremost a song-writer. I hold those who write AND sing their own material a level or two above the rest. And to have real music sound this good can be a tough find. If you prefer songs that are a little more "real" -- dealing with real life, down-home issues, blue-collar tones, childhood memories of growing up in smalltown USA, etc. -- then this album is for you. The singer-songwriters are too hard to come by, and we need to support them with everything we have. The voice, the 6-string -- I can't get enough! It's so refreshing to hear something like this in place of the "top 40" country hits played over and over on the radio. I like quite a few of those as well, but don't really need to hear them 10 times a day. I wish Chris Knight the best, and hope he has a long and prosperous career/life. I saw him in Nashville while on vacation. I got to see REK (again) the following night. That was a great week!!! I'll definitely see Knight again -- if given the chance. A great guy in person, and an excellent artist.

Chris Knight's CD "A Pretty Good Guy" has a raw, gritty feel to it that echoes strongly of fellow Nashville outcast Steve Earle. Knight's amazing songwriting skills and captivating lyrics don't hint around a subject like other story song singers. He goes right for the jugular of the message he is sending. This is why he is so popular among a fringe group of country music fans. Unlike his first CD, "A Pretty Good Guy" has more passionate and personal lyrics that speak about more than just people' misfortune. They are much more encouraging than previously (except for a couple of songs). Chris Knight would be secured as one of the best songwriters in country music if the industry was not so leary of his take on music. This is a great CD. If you like listening to music with a message, Chris Knight is a singer you should give a chance.

Once again, Chris Knight proves that he is the best thing to come out of Kentucky since Wild Turkey Bourbon...and the really hot chick that works down the hall from me. This guy apparently doesn't know how to write a bad song. I still listen to his first album with the same enthusiasm as the first time I heard it. His second album has proven so far that the same will apply.
From where I stand, there are 5 shiny bright stars in the Knight....ROCK ME!

I first heard about Chris on Fred Eaglesmith's computer list. They love this guy; so I thought I'd give him a try. Glad I did. Where Chris sings he was "Framed" in a great song from his first CD, on this outing, he did the crime. "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" on tv that sees the crimes through the lawbreaker's eyes would find some good soundtrack material here. "Becky's Bible" opens as a driving sentimental rocker, "I wonder if she's waiting for me." The title tune is one of two songs cowritten with Fred Eaglesmith. Chris' version is a little slower than Fred's, "Since you've been gone, I've realized that you were wrong; I'm a pretty good guy." Chris sounds like he's entered in a Mellancamp soundalike contest on "Oil Patch Town," "Another Friday night in this oil patch town, keep the beers out of sight when the state troupers come around." "Send a Boat" is a ballad with prominent acoustic guitar and pretty strings that sings of loss and disappointment, "Daddies come & go; and mama's on a date. While we try to stay afloat, if you would, Lord, send a boat." "Hard Candy" is a slow ballad about a mountain girl gone wrong. "Down the River" is a slow tale of revenge and treachery on which a screenplay could be written. Tony Harrell's harmonium and Tammy Rogers' viola lift this great song about bad guy Wilson. There hasn't been outlaw rock this good since Joe Ely sang "Whenever Kindness Fails" on "Love & Danger." "If I Were You" has finger-style guitar and sounds like advice given to onself & turns out to be a robber with a conscience. The next track has drums mixed ominously loud about a woman who freezes in the North Dakota winter. I loved the Roger Miller reference on "Highway Junkie" and the great lyric, "100 cups of coffee, 500 cigarettes, 1,000 miles of highway & I ain't forgot her yet." A burnin' electric guitar makes this a great road song. "Blame Me," the other song cowritten with Fred Eaglesmith, is a great outlaw ballad. With the electric strum maxed in the mix, Chris sounds a lot like Joe Ely on "The Lord's Highway." This is a great CD I highly recommend.

Finally we get a second album from quite simply the greatest singer/songwriter to emerge in the last ten years. His first self titled album was superb, each cut was a story of heartbreak, redemption, revenge or self-destruction and salvation. The lyrics were better crafted than any other album I've heard in many years.
Now with the second album Knight shows he just keeps getting better - it doesn't have as great a cut on it as say the first's "love and a .45" but every record is excellent, his lyrics and timing just as sharp, the music just as rewarding every time you listen. For anyone who doesn't yet own either of these cd's, buy them now, you won't regret it.

Chris Knight's debut album was a true classic with "It ain't easy being me" becoming an instant all-time great and it seems that he's got plenty more material to draw on as this CD is nearly as good as the first. It features some great melancholy tunes, story songs and a couple of country-rockers. Just great stuff from one of the best singer/songwriters out there. I just hope we don't have to wait as long for the 3rd release.