Many think of him as a storyteller like no other. Now, Americana singer-songwriter Chris Knight is making the Walnut House his home, at least for a night, and one and all are welcome. The local listening room offers Murfreesboro a great opportunity to hear such sounds before the Americana Music Awards and Americanafest descend upon downtown Nashville in September.
Much of Knight’s press tends to gravitate towards the artist’s penchant for being outside the mainstream or only breaking through to the listener via a live show. This is true to some extent, but listeners who’ve been following along for the long haul might still recall 1998-ish. when his videos for songs such as “Framed” or “It Ain’t Easy Being Me” made regular rounds on CMT’s Jammin’ Country. He’s professed to having not recorded some of his songs himself because they seemed too commercial. Whatever the story, Knight’s songs always take the spotlight.
We live in a world of lies / That’s the damn truth, says Knight within “The Damn Truth” from his album Almost Daylight.
As a regular on the playlists of Murfreesboro’s own listener-powered 89.5 WMOT Roots Radio, the Americana mainstay finds himself making new fans every day as he continues to find himself along the way. Almost Daylight was rated No. 24 in No Depression magazine readers’ poll for 50 Favorite Albums of 2019. The album is primarily comprised of original compositions (the title track actually being a love song of sorts), with Knight writing or co-writing all but two notable exceptions—the Johnny Cash cover “Flesh and Blood,” originally featured on the Dualtone tribute Dressed in Black: A Tribute to Johnny Cash, and the John Prine cover—a duet with Prine and Knight, in this case—“Mexican Home.” In addition to Prine, Lee Ann Womack lends guest vocals to the project (the beseeching “Send It On Down”), Chuck Mead plays acoustic guitar on “Flesh and Blood,” and former Georgia Satellite Dan Baird’s appearance as a co-writer (“Go On” and “Everybody’s Lonely Now”) and guitarist wins him the distinction of “Special Helper” in the liner credits. From harmonica to accordion, an assortment of instruments make themselves known on Almost Daylight, many of them coming courtesy of musician Chris Clark.
Chris Knight; photo by Ray Kennedy
“We [my wife Carole and I] are big fans!” Walnut House’s Ricky Martini tells the Pulse in regard to Knight’s music. “Chris is a storyteller. One of the best in the business. It’s a great opportunity to put him into a listening room. The Walnut House Main Hall was once a recording studio [another room in the building now serves as a recording studio] so the acoustics are awesome. There is also a special projection screen. During concerts our bar is downstairs where you can see the show on a TV and hear it over a sound system. So if you have to have a conversation or talk on your phone, you can do that in the bar. When you are in the Main Hall it’s all about the artist and their music without distractions, without interrupting the artist and their music you paid to hear!”
Middle Tennessee native, singer-songwriter and self-described “thinks-too-mucher” Griffin Winton opens the show with his special blend of styles: “they won’t all be sad, but they will all be songs,” he quipped on Instagram.
The June 9 show begins at 8 p.m., doors at 7, and is sponsored by F&M Bank. Tickets are $35–60 and are available at twomartinimusic.com. The Walnut House is located at 116 N. Walnut St., Murfreesboro. Find out more about Chris Knight at chrisknight.net.
