Show Review: Chris Knight and Chris Jones with Isaac Stalling and Ken Pomeroy at Tower Theatre

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If there was ever an example of a songwriter trapped in a novelist’s body, it’s got to be Chris Knight. The tales and stories the man has written are about are as vivid as any James Lee Burke, Rick Bragg or Flannery O’Conner novel. But Knight’s approach to his Southern anthems, are perhaps even more of a direct lifeline to the those he sings about. The harder, even darker aspects of life; the struggles of daily life for the blue collar family and the temptations and hopes they hold. Knight’s a troubadour’s troubadour. He’s one that’s scraped by. Perhaps even still does from time to time. There’s a rare honesty to songs he records and carries with him out on the road. This past Wednesday evening, the Tower Theatre in OKC was lucky to provide a forum for many of those songs.

Kicking off the night with “Becky’s Bible,” Knight and his three musical companions wasted little time by subsequently delivering a personal favorite, “Rural Route.” Next, we got a sample of Knight’s forthcoming October 11th release, “Almost Daylight,” via the restless,“I Am William Callahan.” Only after this third track in did Knight address the crowd, only to be met with a slew of song requests hollered back his direction. Knight jokingly (perhaps) simply replied, “I knew I shouldn’t have said anything to ya’ll.” That dry, sly humor would return a few times over the course of the evening, with comments about Oklahoma’s recent venture into refrigerated six point beer, and to indicate he had copies of his forthcoming album available for sale. Rather than a lot of chatter, Knight and band focused on what they do best, which was to deliver some of the best character based songs out there. “Hello Old Man,” “Framed,” the new “Crooked Mile” and “Up From The Hill.” Though perhaps the standouts of the evening were “Oil Patch Town,” “Down The River” and the exquisitely rendered “Hard Candy.” Chris Knight is a truly gifted songwriter, and one that purveyors of country or Americana would do well to check out. Thankfully, Knight has returned to the forefront with this new album and extensive tour. Don’t miss either. Catch up with everything by visiting his website here: https://www.chrisknight.net/

Warming things up and setting the evening’s tone was the talented, Chris Jones. The Norman, Oklahoma based singer-songwriter can typically be found fronting his group of talented musicians, The Flycatchers. Tonight he provided us with a special treat, a stripped down performance accompanied by fellow Flycatcher, Isaac Stalling on guitar and the simply wonderful Ken Pomeroy on harmony vocals. Running through their all to brief set, Jones’ songs struck me as full of substance and incredibly meaningful. Paired with the two talented individuals of Stalling and Pomeroy, it made for one of my favorite support sets of the year. Jones’ approach is a bit of Americana, a bit of Rock and a whole lot of quality songwriting aptitude. The trio performed 8 songs, including a wonderful version of Jason Isbell’s “Traveling Alone”. Other songs that caught my ear were, “Try” and “In The Throes”. Interestingly enough, Isbell was the easiest artist for me to compare Jones to from a songwriting approach, and as he delivered his version of the song, the comparison became even more apparent. Stalling is a guitar virtuoso, who I definitely want to hear more from and Ken Pomeroy’s talent and confidence defies her young age. Jones and Stalling along with the rest of the Flycatchers are reportedly finishing up work on the band’s debut album, hopefully to be released this fall. Ken Pomeroy continues to promote her Horton Records debut, “Hallways” and win over new fans.
More information on Chris Jones and the Flycatchers can be found here: https://www.chrisjonesandtheflycatchers.com Information on Ken Pomeroy can be found here: https://www.kenpomeroymusic.com