Chris Knight: Hard edges and honest reactions hits Billy Bob’s Texas

| November 3, 2012

Chris Knight

Story and photos by Mary Jane Farmer. More pix at the end of the article. Enjoy and come back to Scene In Town daily, checking the Live Music Calendar each time you do.

Billy Bob’s Texas got hit with a bolt of blue-collar lightning Friday night (Nov.1) when Chris Knight and his band hit the stage. They also hit the audience right in the spirit, obvious as they sang along with every Chris Knight song, even those from his latest CD “Little Victories,” out only a month now.

Connecting with an audience is hard for some musicians, (Texas musicians seem to do that better than those from that other “T” state) and most accomplish that by talking to the fans between songs, or acknowledging their shout-outs, or smiling for the cameras. Not Chris. He does none of that, hardly makes eye contact with the audience even when the lighting expert at Billy Bob’s (or anywhere else he performs) floods overhead lights over the crowds so he can see them. He also turns a deaf ear to the shout-outs for the fans’ favorites, but instead sticks with his set list.

But he connects. He connects with his weighty lyrics combined with the simplicity of his arrangements. He reaches into the hearts with lyrics that describe what man feels, does, or wishes he could do.

He connected, too, Friday night when the 90-minute set was over. After about five minutes of table pounding, foot stomping, and hard-core hand clapping, he returned to the stage. Not for a one-song encore, not for two additional songs, but for a three-song blast of even more of his stream of hits. The crowd was satisfied!

A great song he did was his  “Cry Lonely,” which Cross Canadian Ragweed also recorded. And yes, to the critics out there who decry cover tunes, he did make his own song his own song! Other apparent crowd favorites were “Framed,” “House and 90 Acres” and, of course “William.”

Chris Knight is on tour now, and will return to North Texas Dec. 5 when he performs at House of Blues in Dallas.

For more Chris Knight photos, click here

Category: *- Features

About the Author ()

In the music production business, including event production, booking, photography, reporting, and other such essentials, since 1980.

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