(Dualtone) Chris Knight once again re-teams with Dan Baird for his second Dualtone release, The Jealous Kind. Chris proved his mettle as a master of musical narrative songs in the vein of Steve Earle, John Prine, Bruce Springsteen and Robert Earl Keen with his first two acclaimed releases, and he doesn't veer off course with this one. The Slaughter, Kentucky native delivers another outstanding set of hard-hitting, gritty songs telling the tales of his small town characters' struggles, either solely written by Chris or co-written with songwriters that include Gary Nicholson, Matraca Berg, Chuck Prophet and Stacy Dean Campbell.

Chris provides country twang with the energy of rock in the outstanding title track, "The Jealous Kind" which conveys a man's desperation at the possibility of losing the love of his life and his surprise at being in that state of emotion. On "Banging Away," he shows brief glimpses into the lives of people who just keep plugging away on the road to survival, while the tale of a wild, passionate modern day Bonnie and Clyde is told in "The Border."

Chris explores various family relationships in a few songs. The aftermath of a man who's beyond being hurt by his cheating lover is delivered with slightly bitter resignation in "Staying Up All Night." He shifts to a dark Christmas tale of abuse and the ultimate revenge in one of the disc's highlights, "Carla Came Home." Chris looks at a stormy father-son relationship in the story of a wayward son's homecoming that results in an ironic discovery, with "Hello Old Man"  

The struggles of trying to work the land, failing and the dreams of a better life are told in bleak, yet poignant tales. "A Train Not Running," is a man's plaintive and sorrowful expressions to his wife about their hard life and how he wishes he could promise her an easier life. The outstanding, mournful "Broken Plow," tells the tale of a family who's lost their farm and the tenuous hope that a better life can be found in California. "Me And This Road" finds a man struggling at working the family land, but dreaming of a bridge that will take him far away to a better life. The hard luck "Devil Behind The Wheel" tells of a man looking to save himself from going down. The disc closes out with another standout, the dark, fatalistic story of a friendship that ends up going terribly awry.

Chris Knight is known for the depth and emotion of his songwriting, and his ability to flesh out his songs with amazing detail- his songs playing out like short stories. The stories told on The Jealous Kind are seldom pretty ones with happy endings, but rather are filled with hardscrabble honesty, the emotions of real life that include despair and pain, but also strength, hope and dreams. Chris delivers them with a gritty, hard-hitting, uncompromising honesty. With that, The Jealous Kind now makes Chris Knight three-for-three as he's delivered his third outstanding release in a row. 

www.chrisknight.net

AnnMarie Harrington TakeCountryBack September 2003