Chris Knight,
The Trailer Tapes

Label: Drifter's Church
Released: 2007

(4½ out of 5)

A couple summers before his major label debut, Chris Knight invited producer Frank Liddell into his home for a series of simple, acoustic sessions. Eleven years and four albums later, The Trailer Tapes makes those original field recordings available for the first time. As with 2006's Enough Rope, Knight again paints a vivid if dour picture of rural life. And the immediacy of the recordings is simply amazing. In re-mixing the DAT originals, Ray Kennedy judiciously enhances the raw emotion in Knight's jagged vocals. With just voice and acoustic guitar, there's nothing to distract from the stark tales and intense delivery. The Trailer Tapes simply adds to Knight's growing reputation as one of the purest chroniclers of small-town America.

Listen: "Something Changed," "Rita's Only Fault," "Hard Edges," "House & 90 Acres"

Buy: Lone Star Music, Amazon, iTunes

May 2, 2007