Bodies of Water: Down The River

Chris Knight - Down The River

[purchase]

In the vapid ‘Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy’ tarted-up world of country music, a songwriter of Chris Knight’s caliber is either a) flat out ignored or b) too deep for the pop with a fiddle Clear Channel country music fan. There are no parties for Chris’s characters, no Honky Tonk or Badonkadonk’s. Chris’ characters are doomed to lives of jail cells, calloused hands, black eyes, beaten wives and unpaid bills, all told by one of the consistently best songwriters I’ve heard since the Drive-By Truckers.

Down The River comes off Chris's 2001 album, A Pretty Good Guy. It may clock in at 7 minutes long but it's worth listening to just for the closing lines.