Michael J. Media > Services

For Immediate Release

September 15, 2009

CHRIS KNIGHT'S TRAILER II RELEASING TODAY

Album Climbs to #20 on Americana Charts after Debuting at #27

"The first time I saw Knight perform it was a cold December night and he played in the basement performance space of New York City's Knitting Factory. A man with only his acoustic Gibson guitar, and one man backing on guitar, spun dark gems and kept the city crowd rapt in silence for nearly two hours. This is that man in all his brilliant, simple, glory."--Baron Lane, Twang Nation

"There is a rawness and primitive streak in these recordings that reflect the dirt roads, small town, and a hardscrabble existence that is often reflected in rural lower middle class America."--Bob Gottlieb, Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange

"The vivid detail and emotion of his songs already rivals the best alt-country has to offer."--Chris Parker, Houston Press

Nashville, TN--Chris Knight's Trailer II had a strong debut at #27 on the Americana charts, and climbed to #20 this past week with 172 total spins. Considering the strong impact on the Americana community in general of The Trailer Tapes in 2007, this has surprised no one.

Like its predecessor, the twelve songs on Trailer II (releasing today September 15) were recorded in the summer of 1996 inside of Knight's sweltering singlewide in a field just outside of Slaughters, Kentucky (population 238, including Chris). Knight, then an unknown singer/songwriter who was still months away from recording his major label debut album, had begrudgingly agreed to record a batch of solo acoustic tracks on his own terms. For a week, Knight, along with producer Frank Liddell and engineer Joe Hayden, crowded around two microphones and laid down thirty of Knight's original songs on ADAT tape. Over the next ten years, the stark and stunning recordings - via a combination of bootlegs, leaks and legend - would become one of the most talked-about sessions of the decade.

Trailer II is far more than just a sequel to The Trailer Tapes. Where the majority of the first album were songs that had never appeared on any subsequent Knight disc, Trailer II features original versions of what would become many of Chris' most popular tracks. Songs like "It Ain't Easy Being Me", "Love And A .45", "Send A Boat" and "The River's Own" crackle with the unprocessed honesty of a young singer/songwriter finding - and delivering - his own startling voice.

The tapes would eventually find their way to renowned producer/engineer Ray Kennedy, a long-time Knight fan best known for his work with Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams. Kennedy spent months painstakingly cleaning - but never sweetening - the tracks to their raw purity. To the surprise of many - especially Chris - the official 2007 release of The Trailer Tapes would become one of the best-selling and acclaimed albums of Knight's entire career. Critics hailed it as everything from "as stark and brutally honest as Springsteen's Nebraska" (The Philadelphia Inquirer) to "the sound of Hank Williams with a gun and a Vicodin 'script" (The Houston Press). "Chris Knight's not-to-be-missed Trailer Tapes lets nothing get in the way of a great singer and his songs," wrote Ben Sisario in The New York Daily News. "This is a record no lover of great American music should miss." Almost immediately, fans and critics alike began asking about the remaining tapes from the trailer sessions.

For more information, please visit www.chrisknight.net