INTERVIEW: Cheri Knight
- Al Muzer
More than a little bit country and the unmistakable owner of a rock n roll soul, former Blood Oranges bassist and present-day yall-ternative chart hopeful Cheri Knight comes up Aces with her second solo shot, The Northeast Kingdom.
One of the richest, fullest, most emotionally grounded, genuinely felt collections of real-life stories set to melodically-compelling hooks since her own contributions (All The Way Down, Shine, Hells Half Acre, Crying Tree, Shadow Of You) to the Blood Oranges catalog or her 1996 solo debut, The Knitter Knight's latest song cycle (recorded for country music outlaw Steve Earle's E-Squared Records) twangs when you think it should, soothes when it needs to, shouts when you want it to, hooks when it has to and hits you where you hurt each and every time you smack the play button.
A Massachusetts (Hatfield, population 3,390) flower farmer and, with Blood Oranges, a genuine No Depression architect and next generation inspiration, Knight's new release comes hard on the heels of years of bad luck (1996s The Knitter and all three Blood Oranges efforts were on the no-longer-in-existence East Side Digital imprint) and bad breaks (radio barely recognized alterna-twang until just a few years ago) that left a lot of truly great music pretty much unheard.
Recorded in two whirlwind weeks in Nashville with contributions from Earle (on harmonium, guitar and bouzouki), Emmylou Harris (vocals on two tracks), former E Street bassist Gary Tallent, fiddle wizard Tammy Rogers, one-time dBs drummer Will Rigby and former Blood Oranges members Jimmy Ryan (mandolin) and Mark Spencer (guitar) throughout; The Northeast Kingdom and E-Squared should be able to do for Knight what four previous releases couldn't do - get brilliant songs such as "All Blue", "Rose In The Vine", "If Wishes Were Horses", "Black Eyed Susie" and "White Lies" played on the radio.
Although that, in turn, presents Knight and the amazingly eclectic The Northeast Kingdom with yet another dilemma. What radio station? What radio format? Rock? AAA? College? Pop? AOR? Country?
"I don't really get much action on the college stations or anything like that," Knight says during a phone call on a recent day off ("I was out on the road for six weeks and I just got home the night before now I have to go out, buy a van and somehow get it on the road before Tuesday.") between East and West Coast tours.
But, "It's not a country record," she adds quickly. "It's a songwriters' record. I think that, basically, is the direction, in terms of marketing, they're [E-Squared] going with. Triple AAA, Americana and public radio," Knight laughs. "Wherever the market for, say a Lucinda Williams or a Steve Earle is is where they're trying to take my record.
"I'm really surprised, I have to say, at the response the album's gotten so far," Knight ventures somewhat awkwardly. "The reaction to The Northeast Kingdom is just so beyond anything I imagined."
"I'm just so glad that people get it," she adds with a hint of pride mixed with genuine relief, "that they enjoy it. Because this record is so much more me than any project I've ever done before. When you put that much of yourself out, and that much of yourself in, to something - let's just say that it's nice to get a little feedback for a change. I'm someone who has to really believe in what they're doing - so it's kind of reassuring to know that I followed the right track."
"I've spent my entire life trying to get to the point where I can do cool things, have those things be something I could use to support myself and have those things be what I love doing," Knight says when the second half of her tour is mentioned, "I love playing live. We're in a van. Touring around. Four musicians and a tour manager. Town to town. The old fashioned way. [laughs] What more could I possibly want?
Look for Knight on the road with guitarist Eric Lewis, guitarist/vocalist Marlee MacLeod, Rigby and, if the night and location are just right Jimmy Ryan sitting in on the mandolin ("Jimmy's coming out on the road with us again!," Knight insists. "We did a bunch of East Coast dates - New York, Boston, North Hampton - and he's gonna hook up with us again in the Southwest for a bunch of shows.") on tour at a large, but not too darn large, club near you later this summer.
For more information, check out E-Squared Records on the web at http://www.e2records.com
