Chris Knight returns to Indy’s Hi-Fi with his full band for a night of his Kentucky back woods inspired music.

Chris Knight returns to Indy’s Hi-Fi with his full band for a night of his Kentucky back woods inspired music.

 By: Kevin Vickery

On March 2nd singer/songwriter, Chris Knight performed at Hi-Fi, located at 1043 Virginia Avenue in the part of Indianapolis commonly referred to as Fountain Square with opening act, Tim Lynch. 

The show was originally scheduled for January 20th but had been postponed due to extreme cold temperatures at that time.  I was lucky enough to see his acoustic performance there in August 2023 and it was well worth the wait to see him return, backed by his full band this time. The band includes Austin Cunningham on guitar and harmonica who co-wrote crowd favorite, “Enough Rope” and several other songs with Knight. Isaac Frost delivers a wonderful twang on the lap-steel guitar, while bassist, Brian Zonn and drummer, Shakey Fowlkes round out the band’s sound as a strong and solid rhythm section.

I was unfamiliar with opener, Tim Lynch before that night and even embarrassingly approached him during Chris Knight’s sound check and asked him if he was their Tour Manager, Jason who I was scheduled to meet.  Fortunately, he was cool and pointed me in the right direction. Lynch hails from Eastern Kentucky and once he took the stage, I was instantly impressed with his authentic country voice and songs that were catchy and cleverly written. My favorite was “Wish” which is available along with more of his songs on Amazon Music and he has additional music on iTunes as well. 

Prior to the show, I had the opportunity to spend a little time with Chris Knight and chat with him for a bit. He told me that his newest album, “Almost Daylight” was actually released in late 2019 but that, “In 2020, when Covid slowed everything down to nothing, I never really got a chance to play shows to promote it”.  Now that he’s back in full swing performing 8-10 shows per month, he’s basically treating it like a new release and the material “seems to be going over pretty good”.

My favorite cut off this new album is his cover of Johnny Cash’s “Flesh and Blood” which he originally recorded for a Cash tribute album titled, “Dressed in Black” in 2002. I asked him why he decided to bring it back and include it on this new album and Knight said, “I was pretty proud of that one and I don’t think enough people got to hear it.” He added that “We got that one in one take and we had Chuck Meade (BR5-49) on guitar.”

When asked about his earliest musical influences, he said, “I grew up listening to my older Brother’s records like ZZ Top, Skynyrd, and The Eagles but I remember the first song that ever really hit me was Black Water by The Doobie Brothers ‘cause I’d never heard nothing like that on the radio before”. 

He also mentioned admiring singer/songwriters like J.J.Cale, Dan Folgelberg and particularly John Prine and said, “I learned to play guitar by listening to John Prine’s albums”. He went on to meet Prine and played several shows with him before his death in 2020. Prine sang on Knight’s, song, “Little Victories” from his 2012 album of the same name and when Chris Knight decided to include a cover of John Prine’s “Mexican Home” on the recent “Almost Daylight” album, Prine made his way to the studio to include vocals on that track as well. As a big fan of both these artists, I would highly recommend giving these two songs a listen.

As I’ve previously written, I enjoy seeing shows at Hi-Fi and think it’s one of the best club sized venues in Indianapolis. The acoustics are fantastic, the staff is always cool, the food at the adjoining Easy Riders restaurant is delicious and this time I actually scored a chair so my old man knees got a break while watching the show.

I asked Chris his thoughts on Hi-Fi and the Indy crowd and he said, “I’ve always had good crowds at Hi-Fi.  It’s a good rock ‘n roll club where you can do about whatever you want to.  You can be an acoustic singer/songwriter or you can rock it out if you know how.”  His Tour Manager, Jason Knight echoed the sentiment saying, “We’re all always in a good mood when we play here.  Everyone here is professional, polite, and on time which I can’t always say about some of the places we go”.

For more information about Chris Knight’s music and tour schedule, you can find him on Facebook or at his official website at chrisknight.net

To learn more about Tim Lynch, you can find him on Facebook, and YouTube.

To see the schedule of upcoming events at Hi-Fi, you can also find them on social media or at their official website at hifiindy.com

Henry County resident and Ball State alum, Kevin Vickery, is bassist and lead vocalist for The Cousin Brothers. He spent several years working in Nashville for some of the biggest names in Country Music before taking over the reins at his family business. If you have a story idea or an event that you think Kevin should cover, contact him at kevin.makesomenoise@yahoo.com