Americana Singer Chris Knight: From Mining to Honky-Tonks

At 62, Americana singer-songwriter Chris Knight has lived many lives. Originally from Slaughters, Kentucky, in Appalachia mining country, he earned a degree in agriculture from Western Kentucky University before working underground as a mine reclamation inspector and miner’s consultant.

A natural storyteller and guitar player, Knight didn’t start performing until he was thirty, mainly hitting the road and playing whatever places would allow him to set up and strum. At 37, he finally received his first record deal. Since then, Knight has been building a legion of loyal followers by blending sounds of Texas and Nashville honky-tonk and blues music, as he’s told the tales of his roots and upbringing.

“It seems like my crowds are better now. Something’s going on — I don’t know what it is. I guess people are feeling a whole lot better,” he says after a recent four-day run, which included a couple of sellouts.

“That happens every now and then,” he adds in his distinctive Southern twang.

Knight is on the road again and will play the Soiled Dove on Thursday, July 14. He’s playing an acoustic set of songs that covers the entirety of his discography, with a particular emphasis on 2019 album Almost Daylight.

“We’re in the process of changing up the setlist, too, almost every night. We’ll dig a different song out that I haven’t played in a long time and just change things up a little bit,” Knight says. “Sometimes you remember why you quit playing that song, and other times you wonder why you ever quit playing some stuff.”

The New York Times has called Knight “the last of a dying breed...a taciturn loner with an acoustic guitar and a college degree,” while USA Today called him “a storyteller in the best traditions of Mellencamp and Springsteen.”

A man of many stories and a dedicated John Prine disciple, Knight admits he’s not been putting pen to paper too often recently. He has a life outside of music, which he especially enjoys whenever he wants to escape the chaos of current events and the grind of being a touring musician.

“I don’t do a hell of a lot of writing anymore, to tell you the truth. I have a whole other life. I have plenty of stuff to take care of at home. I got land. I got a house, wife, kids, bunch of dogs, cats and a horse. There’s plenty for me to do where I’m at,” he says. “I think I’ve probably written about everything I want to write about. I hate to say that, but people keep asking, and at some point, I have to just say it. I tell people that I haven’t sold enough of my first album yet, when they ask where my next album is. I’ve barely toured on my last one, because all that shit [the pandemic] hit right after my Almost Daylight record came out.”

That's blunt, but Knight isn’t one to sugarcoat anything. He’s seen and done a lot in the last three decades, and his matter-of-fact manner begets his no-nonsense style. But playing live is where Knight still has the most fun. The stage remains a space where the music can take on a different identity depending on who he’s playing with. He admits to rewriting lyrics after they’ve already been recorded on an album, too.

“There are songs that I’m just like, ‘Act like you never heard this song and learn the chords and play the song — don’t lean so heavily on what’s on the record.’ I’ve done that with all my songs. I’ve even rewritten lyrics after I put them on an album. That’s kind of fun — a little more edgy than sitting up there half asleep and just playing what’s on the records. It’s more exciting,” he says. “It’s just a heck of a lot of fun.”

Chris Knight, 8 p.m. Thursday, July 14, Soiled Dove, 7401 East First Avenue. Tickets are $20-$25.