Elam McKnight: Press

REVIEW from SKUNK MAGAZINE
August 2007
9 out of 10 STARS

If you listen closely to the end of the first track,” Devil Minded Woman”, you can hear Elam McKnight say, "I think that got it." This player is dead right. This disc has it from beginning to end. Cut after f*#$@!^ cut of dirty, sweaty, nasty, kick-ass blues. This CD sounds alive with wailing harmonica, boogie piano, deep southern slick guitar picking, horns from the heavens, raw energized vocals and of course, don't forget the Browning semi-automatic 12 gauge shotgun (even if Elam believes the shotgun needs more reverb) which ends "I Buried a Black Cat." This piece of work is one of the greatest perks of this job; the ability to bare witness to a master bluesman in the making.
SUPA GOOD should have been named SUPA GREAT because that's exactly what it is...f'n great. Elam McKnight supplies the soundtrack; the smoky room and whiskey is up to you. I promise you, it doesn't get much better than this. This review is over now. Rush out and score this incredible slice of blues.
ML

Monday, March 19, 2007
Elam McKnight is Supa Dupa Good!

Elam Mcnight's music is filled with shoutin' and singin', fat flat foot stompin' and leering dirty preachin' grooves that roll and tumble and crawl their way thru fifty-some years of red dirt, swampy, back porch blues, basement funque, rattle trunk hip-hop haze, deep woods hunch, small town 'tonk n' juke and big city rock and swagger. Mr. Mcknight filters it through well worn rough cotton sugar and grit sacks and tennesee sun and sweat to deliver up a sound that's both familiar, full bodied, refreshing and fine. It's good time any night party music as well as sitting home drinkin' and thinkin' music. Even when Mr. Mcknight gets all goofy and lecherous as on his ode to Pam Grier you'll still raise your cell phone (the new lighter) and rocks glass in agreement and respect. You'll do the same for his tributes to Junior Kimbrough,R.L. Burnside,Othar Turner, and other important mighty men. Mr. Mcknight's thing just gets bigger, hotter, deeper and heavier with each album and this release is far better than the title suggests. Is it perfect? Hell No. Note to Mr. McKnight: The Rap game might not be your forte. But who'd want to listen to perfect anyway? Not me. At 16 tracks it's a full grown-ass big man hungry dinner plate with some lumps in the taters, some burned edges on the meats (but plenty of bacon and salt in the greens!), and xtra greasy gravy plus dessert,baby. Get yrself some extra napkins buddy. It's gonna get on y'all.

Disclosure: Mr. Mcknight gives me a shout out alongside many others on the last track Big Daddy's Lament. I had no idea of this until I heard the album but in no way does that colour my opinion. If it sucked I gar-on-tee you would not be readin' this on account of I do not write about suck.

Supa Good and Elam McKnight is the future of the Blues! And don't let the skin color fool you as he is real deal old time Mississippi Blues with a modern touch. The music is in good hands with the likes of Elam.

Robert Lynn
Host of the Back Alley Blues Show on KSPQ

Fantastic effort from young generation roots music master...
This album is great, highly recommended to blues fans, roots afficianados, hill country blues devotees, etc. Elam has put a great deal of effort into this CD, and it shows...Walk, don't run, to your nearest music retailer and purchase "SUPA GOOD."
4 out of 5 Stars

Supa Good.
While it's one thing to call your latest CD Supa Good, it's another matter entirely to live up to that claim.
But like a (in)famous cornerback in the NFL with the marquee-grabbing moniker of Prime Time used to say, "It ain't bragging if you can back it up."
And while it may seem like Elam McKnight must have a huge set of stones for labeling his third CD Supa Good, let me tell you, it ain't bragging, cause McKnight and his troops certainly back it up.
In Spades.
After releasing his first two discs, Braid My Hair and Last Country Store, the latter an acoustic-type effort that paired the dynamic young bluesman with UK harmonica great Keith Carter, McKnight seems intent on shaking up the establishment with Supa Good.
Wound throughout the 16 tracks that make up Supa Good is an underlying theme of revolution, paved by looking back in order to see the future.
McKnight, while obviously a historian and keeper of the flame for those that came before him, has no intention of hitching his wagon solely to the past, rather he seems determined to roll up his sleeves in search of something that is anything but the "same-old, same-old."
Brilliant.
But knowing that McKnight considers R.L. Burnside's 1996 CD A Ass Pocket Of Whiskey to be the Holy Grail of the blues, (as well it is) it's no surprise that Supa Good should find its own spot on the great, big book shelf of the blues, adding new chapters along the way.
For not only does McKnight freely channel the sound of the late, great Burnside along with fellow Hill Country Godfather Junior Kimbrough, he has honed in on the attitude also,sounding like he just stepped out of the backdoor of a Holly Springs BBQ joint straight into the recording studio. Equipped with not only his Silvertone guitar, but with a Browning semi-automatic 12-gauge shotgun, to boot. One can almost imagine Kimbrough burnishing such a firearm to quell an unruly crowd at his famous juke joint on a Sunday night, as McKnight ends the third track on the disc, "I Buried A Black Cat" by letting fly with some hot lead from said Browning, and then exclaiming, "I think the shotgun needs more reverb."
Vocals, guitars, mandolin, tambourine, snare and Browning shotgun, McKnight seems at home whatever instrument rests in his hands.
Revolution, indeed.
McKnight and his West Levee Phantoms, including the red-hot Carter on harp, along with legendary skin-pounder Ringo Jukes on drums and Dano Shaw on bass, deliver a most satisfying blend of old-school Delta blues with a sort of 22nd-Century feel, mixed with a DIY punk-kind of ethos. Jumping from a straight-ahead shuffle to a breakneck, out-of-control, 4-4 on-the-floor rock thing, sometimes within the same song, McKnight and crew keep things interesting from the get-go.
The disc opens with "Devil Minded Woman," starting out like a Burlington Northern engine gathering steam as McKnight fires the opening salvo - "I think I hear a change gonna come." That change does indeed come as the locomotive rattles on, chugging along like a train bound for Clarksdale, Miss. But that train also sounds like might just jump the track at any second, building speed as snippets of fife music - ala the late Otha Turner, show up to speed things along. In the end, however, conductor Carter keeps the train firmly on pace with his outstanding harp work, giving the tune an element of danger missing from a lot of contemporary blues.
Such is Supa Good.
And just when you think you've heard it all, McKnight calls up the Coup De Gras via the disc's closing track.
All 5:39 of "Big Daddy's Lament" are heartfelt minutes, as McKnight rap-sings-talks his way through a litany of people who not only have influenced his work, but also have supported him on what at times has been a rocky road to where he is at today. Most notable in McKnight's thanks is the afore-mentioned Burnside, the "Big Daddy" in the title of the song. McKnight shouts Burnside's praises of the very top of the church spire, saying "I call him Teacher, 'cause he took my soul to school."
All-in-all, whether showing much love for Hill Country legends, or "Pam Grier," or just flat getting down on Son House's "Pony Thang," McKnight's Supa Good is just that, Supa Good.
And like the man says, "It ain't bragging if you can back it up."
Here's hoping McKnight finds the bright spotlight of Prime Time in the near future of what looks to be a long career in the blues. For as McKnight says, quoting the immortal Red, owner and operator of Red's Lounge in Clarksdale, ""This music game is on for life."

NEW REVIEW FOR SUPA GOOD Music City Blues by Don Crow - September 6, 2007
Elam McKnight Review.....
Written by Don Crow
Thursday, 06 September 2007

SUPA GOOD

ELAM MCKNIGHTElam McKnight

DESERT HIGHWAY RECORDS

DHR-44-1002

DEVIL MINDED WOMAN--LOVE ME--I BURIED A BLACK CAT--KUNG FU POWER--HOLD YOU CLOSER--LONG CURLY HAIR--WAY YOU BEEN LOVING ME--MY BABY DON'T SEE ME--PAM GRIER--YO MOMMA TOLD A TALE--WHAT IN THE WORLD IS WRONG--IF THAT DON'T GET 'EM--PONY THANG--JUNIOR I LOVE YOU--MIGHTY MEN--BIG DADDY'S LAMENT

Just like the flame-shrouded voodoo woman rising out of the mists of a Mississippi cotton field on the album's cover, Elam McKnight's "Supa Good," on Desert Highway Records, is full of music that will reach down and grab your spirit and shake your soul to its foundation. It's been our pleasure to know Elam since his first recording, "Braid My Hair," and his talents have only gotten better. On this smokin' set, he pays homage to those from whom he has learned the meaning of the blues, greats such as R. L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, and Othar Turner, among others. Check out "Mighty Men" for his tribute to them. Also, he's backed by a sho' nuff band of rogues named the West Levee Phantoms, and they include Ringo Jukes and Sam Carr on drums, Dano Shaw on bass, Ronnie Godfrey on keys, Kim Morrison on backing vocals, and Elam's recording partner on their acoustic sets and at the IBC, Britain's Keith Carter, on harp.

Elam's maturity as a writer and performer show thru markedly on this disc. He's got that certain swagger that seems to carry these tunes from the Delta juke joints right into your CD player. A good woman that's got "Kung Fu Power" starts off slow, then builds to a searing finish, featuring a fine solo at the bridge. Elam's mandolin takes the lead in the acoustic-themed "Long Curly Hair," with Keith's harp the perfect complement. "Hold You Closer" has a cool, soulful vibe, and with the punchy horn section and backing female chorus, gives this one a STAX feeling. A brilliant slide rolls over Keith's harp as Elam gets down with "What In The World Is Wrong," while everybody has a good time on "Pony Thang," rolling it like a locomotive thru the Clarksdale night.

We had two favorites, too. When a black cat comes after you, the best thing to do is bury it, so, complete with blasts from Elam's Browning 12-gauge (that, sadly, "lack reverb") we have "I Buried a Black Cat." And, Elam professes his intense adoration of Seventies "blaxploitation" film star Pam Grier, noting that "Foxy Brown is the sweetest woman I've ever seen!!" This one is punctuated by some killer "ho' house piano" from Ronnie Godfrey, too!

The very opening line of the CD, from "Devil Minded Woman," has Elam telling us that "a change is gon' come--a music revolution!"--and by the end of "Big Daddy's Lament," that closes the set, this prophecy is brought to fruition. Elam stresses that he's not merely following in the footsteps of the past masters, but looking "to see what they saw" and interpret it in his own way. Young men such as Elam, Richard Johnston, and the surviving members of the Burnside, Kimbrough, and Turner families, have a firm grasp on the meaning of the blues, and, more importantly, what the blues means to them. Elam, we tip our hats to you, young man....."Supa Good" is just that!!! Until next time...Sheryl and Don Crow.

Graham Clarke
Blues Bytes
also submits to Blues Matters

Strap in. Elam McKnight has returned to the recording scene with a vengeance. After his more sedate acoustic team-up with Keith Carter, McKnight has roared back with Supa Good (Desert Highway), a wild and wooly gumbo of 21st Century Hill Country Blues that grabs you by the throat from the first track and hangs on for a solid hour.

Dedicated to the memory of Hill Country Blues godfather R.L. Burnside, Supa Good carries that form of music to a new level, with help from Carter, drummer Sam Carr, guitarist Rick White (Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies), and keyboardist Ronnie Godfrey (Marshall Tucker Band).In addition, the rhythm section, the West Levee Phantoms (former Rock City Angel Ringo Jukes on drums and Dan Shaw on bass) really tear the house down in support.


The opening cut, “Devil Minded Woman” starts fast and then speeds up, with Carter threatening to blow the back off his harmonica. “Love Me” features a Hill Country backbeat combined with backup chick vocals and more of Carter’s harp. “I Buried A Black Cat” is a rough and grungy rocker, while “Kung Fu Power” is more of a Delta Blues number. “Hold You Closer” is killer Memphis soul, complete with horn section. “Long Curly Hair” sounds straight out of the Burnside repertoire. Other highlights include “Pam Grier,” a lecherous and hilarious tribute to the sexy 70’s film star, “Yo Mama Told A Tale,” and “If That Don’t Get ‘Em,” another rocker.

Closing things out is a wonderful stripped-down tribute to Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, Othar Turner, and other influences in McKnight’s life and career, and “Big Daddy’s Lament,” a spoken-word/rap honoring Burnside, which ends up being an extended “Thank You” shout-out to all of McKnight’s friends and fans, sort of taking the place of the usual liner note acknowledgements.

Supa Good is a thrilling ride from start to finish, and Elam McKnight’s best release yet. R.L. would be proud.

"Every Day I do my King Biscuit Time Show I hear, see and meet new faces in the blues field. I don't like to single any one person out, but in this case there's no way for me to skip one of the most up and coming guitar and harmonica players that will make you sit up and take notice. His name is Elam McKnight and featuring Great Britian's Mr. Keith Carter.”
---Sunshine Sonny Payne, King Biscuit Time

Follwing is a review from livecity.it. It describes Elam's performance on Dec 10,2006 at Club La Palma (Rome's premier Blues Club):

Elam McKnight enters therefore in scene with a great atmosphere already created from the group Pap Leg. What puts to us in more? Clearly l’anima. It is that he is been born in Tennesse and, tells, feels deeply legacy to us nearly to level of blood with the black ones (“we’re brothers”), he sees blues thanks to his deep understanding of these places, where he has grown, where he has lived, where continues its life between difficulty and uneasiness, marginalization and abandonment. Because it is above all this his America. That one of the poor ones, of leaves you their destiny, of which music is indeed l’unica availed again opportunity of, to manifest the own emotions, to join in of the outcries of anger but also of incosciente joy.

"Blues rock all the way. Elam McKnight's song writing talent is more than evident and take this CD release to the room of fine listening. Elam sings with everything he has to offer. Blues never felt so good. (4 out of 5 stars)"
---Roots Music Report

“Great Blues harmonica players are becoming very scarce. Keith’s abilities, particularly in the realm of acoustic blues are practically without peer. Acoustic blues is one of our great American art forms, an art form that is gradually becoming extinct.”
---Kenny Mullins has fronted for and toured with legendary performers such as Chuck Berry, Bonnie Raitt, Doc Watson, Willie Nelson and Iggy Pop.

"Catch Elam now before a big label signs him and smooths him out too much!”
--Dave Drury, BLUES MATTERS, The most read blues magazine in Great Britain

“Keith Carter is a fine sensitive harp player recalling the low down and swinging East Coast piedmont style ala Sonny Terry, Buddy Moss and Jordan Webb and moans with the best of them! Keith listens and plays with his fellow musicians like a true Rural Blues man, a rare quality indeed in today’s climate of blasting extended electric guitar solos."
---Mississippi Max Haymes, Blues Historian, Lancaster, England, Author of
I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom

Here is what Roger Stolle of Clarksdale,MS has to say about Elam McKnight and Keith Carter's "The Last Country Store" Release Date May 7,2005
“Their newest CD captures much of that excitement and sense of discovery. Fittingly, "The Last Country Store" owes as much of its sound to the bright, rolling hills of Tennessee as it does the dark,flat fields of the Mississippi Delta. Much of the CD centers around bad love and moving on, mixing traditional blues themes with touches of gospel and country roots. And there are many highpoints. For fans of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, there are numerous guitar/harmonica duo numbers. For fans of updated blues and even Americana music, there are a handful of more orchestrated, band cuts somewhat in the vein of Chris Whitley or maybe even John Mellencamp. The Last Country Store" is more heartfelt and unvarnished than many of today's slicker, big studio releases. That's not to say that the production standards aren't high. They are. But the energy level and spontaneous feel of the album is certainly boosted by the "future primitive" approach that Jimbo Mathus' studio employs. In the end, the CD accurately portrays an up-and-coming blues duo worth watching. Check it out.” ---Roger Stolle---Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art---www.cathead.biz

Elam McKnight is the Real Deal
Reviewer: Chris Cotton
Listen: If you are making an informed buying decision based on reviews, then read this one. Elam McKnight & Keith Carter are the real deal. No they are not going to lend creedence to the current wankin' rock blues genre of today. They are also not going to give credit to the cheap imitators that play note for note renditions of Charlie Patton, Blind Willie Johnson, and the more famous Robert of the same last name. Elam and Keith are also not going to roll over and play cover songs that would be ear candy for the masses. Thats the first three stars that I give them. The most important thing to remember(for me) when listening to traditionalists that they must have enough good sense to make the music their own and whether playing traditional blues standards in a more creative and modernized way, or writing original tunes with one foot deep in the genre(I'm talking really deep, not 40 years ago deep) is to do it with the spirit of the founders, and that in itself an anomolie, to say the least. That takes guts. Thats my 4th star to thier effort. The reason I give them the full five star rating is because they are genuinely good folks, from TN, and are doing thier best to make great music, in light of all of the pitfalls of the music bizness, and they are doing it selflessly, and would more than likely take you into there home, give you a cold one, and play you some good live music on thier porch, if they thought you would like it. These qualities are rare at best, and although I know Elam personally, this is not a cheap attempt at trying to endorse him because I am acquainted with him. I honestly feel that you should add this record to your collection. It is great. Chris Cotton

After threatening to steal the show at the 2005 International Blues Challenge, regional blues duo Elam McKnight & Keith Carter cut The Last Country Store at Kid Laster's Eaton, Tennessee, grocery. Fans of hill-country and hellbent acoustic blues will love the gritty title track as well as songs such as "Going Away" and "Ain't Gonna Plow No More"

ELAM McKNIGHT & KEITH CARTER: The Last Country Store
Here is a CD based on the delta and blues roots style of blues. Elam handles acoustic guitar and vocals while Keith takes care of the harp, with some tracks also having backing. The CD has the deep southern feel of blues and both players come together to form a well rehearsed, tight unit. All 12 tracks are well produced and the CD represents a true example of moving delta blues.
This CD is available from Big Black Hand Productions

Elam McKnight & Keith Carter’s latest release, The Last Country Store (Big Black Hand) features more of that great Hill Country sound McKnight gave us so well in his previous release, Braid My Hair. Though hard as it may be to imagine, McKnight’s songwriting chops have improved since the last time out as have his vocals and guitar. Carter’s harmonica work is sublime and adds much to the overall sound of the album. Of the twelve tracks, eight are original compositions, still in the Hill Country or Delta vein, and the standouts include “Ain’t Gonna Plow No More,” the title track, “Cadillac Woman,“ and “Going Away,” which is featured in two versions; the first produced by Grammy-winner Jimbo Mathus and featuring his now-familiar “post-modern primitive” style, and also in a killer acoustic version to close out the disc. The covers are a couple of traditional tracks (“Mamma Killed A Chicken” and “Another Man Done Gone”), Blind Boy Fuller’s “Pig Meat,” and an impressive cover of Robert Johnson’s “Me And The Devil.” As impressed as I was with McKnight’s last release, I think this one tops it with room to spare. He and Carter both have a bright future ahead. If you like acoustic blues or roots music in the vein of the recent Chris Cotton disc, you’ll enjoy this one. Go to www.bigblackhand.com or www.cdbaby.com to pick this one up.

Elam McKnight: The Last Country Store

Tennesee deep blues artist Elam McKnight's second album is out and
it's bona fide Saturday-night-on-through-Monday-afternoon-country-
man-city-boy-blues spectacular. Mr. McKnight did not slump to round
two but rather rolls out a full album's worth of his own powerful
vision of (to use his phrase) "Future Primitive" blues based music.
Remember when artists attempted to present a solid body of work
rather than some sliced/diced/smothered/covered and microwaved meat-
free sausage factory music-style product? Mr. McKnight never worked
at the sausage factory. I gotta believe he's worked the counter at
The Last Country Store. "Say Elam give me one of those sexy soul
blues folk songs to play at 1am when she's left me again" you'd
say. "Sure," he'd say "here's Going Away produced to a Clarksdale `T'
by who else but Jimbo Mathus. It'll cure you up!" All the while over
in the corner England's Keith Carter is stokin' the stove with
harmonica runs `til it's hotter than slow dancin' with the devil's
daughter all night long. Oh, they feed you so good at The Last
Country Store. With a dose of Blind Boy Fuller's Pig Meat you'll be
back on top of the food chain. You'll need it after after McKnight
and Carter's Cadillac Women have you hanging black crepe on your
front door. No time later you'll be "rollin' outta Georgia gonna
sneak back home to Tennessee" after the sad cry and low moan of
Leaving Five Points. "Please, Mr. McKnight! Please, Mr. Carter!" you
might be cryin' now, "I've been down too long!" So they start in
goofin' on the ever so sooper rockin' Mama Killed a chicken and you
commence to runnin' around in circles like a head with yr chicken cut
off. But listen folks, Y'all remember a couple years back when "They"
sponsored the "Year of the blues"? It was a nice warm puppy of an
idea, to be sure, but an utter bust. It didn't matter. Any art that
needs a government decree is as dead as forty acres of kudzu and a
cross-eyed sway-backed mule. Thank heavens artists like McKnight
recognize that. He knows too well his music is all about rump shakin'
dirty dancin' all saturday night and then wakin' up righteous on
Monday- a righteous vibe which might last `til all of Wednesday when
you start feelin' bad again. He knows that the simple country blues
power and full gospel beauty of a piece like Another Man Done Gone
can rise above and transcend all that. Young artists like Elam
McKnight, Mark Lemhouse, Chris Cotton and others this year have given
us some of the finest neo-traditional blues based music since the
North Mississippi renaissance began. Thanks to Mcknight and Carter we
have one more reason to be excited about the blues again.

-Rick Saunders 11.11.05 2:57am

Elam McKnight & Keith Carter
The Last Country Store
Big Black Hand Records
This one caught my eye immediately when it hit my desk. It was extremely generic…no fancy artwork, no dynamic posters, just a plain blue paper envelope and a short sheet of facts introducing the band. I was intrigued and impressed. Either this band had what it takes to make it without a major promotional push or they were two jokers just out for a good time. Too often, the louder the racket surrounding a band’s debut, the more painful the CD. The Last Country Store was a real treat…a breath of fresh air. The pairing of guitar and harmonica can be a beautiful thing when done well, and this duo does it very well. Still, what I liked most about this piece was the spontaneity. This one is pure, unrefined and powerful. This has a down-home comfortable feel that I found irresistible. I was left with memories of my own impromptu jam sessions. True, nothing earth shattering happened there, but we had lots of fun. The Last Country Store is just that…fun, comfortable and real easy to listen to. -Bill Wilson

Sorry about that premature e-mail. Here is the review:


Elam McKnight and Keith Carter-The Last Country Store 2005 Big Black Hand Productions





Right off the bat you will get hit by a freight train of sound. The opening number, “Ain’t Gonna Plow No More” Starts with strong harmonica and quick strumming. The Last Country Store is an album that pays respect to the deep roots Blues and McKnight and Carter hook up together like great acoustic Blues duos of the past (Brownee McGhee & Sonny Terry come to mind). The CD was actually recorded in an old mercantile deep in the rural Delta community of Eaton, TN. This shop, in fact, is the same one that McKnight grew up hanging out in. When he learned that it was going to be torn down he made arrangements to do the recording there. Better yet this recording was done while the store was open for business. The entire episode gave birth to not only an album but also a documentary about the store and it’s owner.



This CD contains different flavors of acoustic Blues. Rollicking Delta on “Ain’t Gonna Plow No More”; traditional Delta-“The Last Country Store” & “Cadillac Women”; Hill Country on “Leaving Five Parts”; field hollering on “Another Man Done Gone” and a new stab at Blues on “Going Away”. The music here is reminiscent of the gritty tunes of Son House and Charlie Patton but with great harmonica solos by British-born Carter. This CD is pure dirt roads and bare feet. I don’t often listen to acoustic Blues but this CD makes me want to make more time to do so. More info at www.bigblackhand.com



3 ½ Onions (this is on a rating scale of "1" being worse to "5" being best)