Something Worth Standing For

Something Worth Standing For (FM-1050), 2008
A coherent and compelling musical portrait of modern America, while drawing inspiration from legendary musicians - Robert Johnson, The Carter Family, Woody Guthrie - who became icons of their own difficult times. 16 cuts and over an hour of music.

Something reflects the maturity of a veteran songpoet and seasoned musical artisan. At times he evokes the literate melodic darkness of Richard Shindell, at others the white blues and soul influences along the Mississippi Delta, while still sounding like the familiar rustic poet from the Blue Ridge foothills. He focuses on threads in the American tapestry through the lens of illegal immigrants, of ordinary people clinging to lost treasures of their past, and of those praying for loved ones to safely return from war.

Notable are the rollicking Cajun-meets-Clapton title cut, “Times We’re Living In,” a haunting indictment of the forces that coalesced behind Katrina, “Wind Whispers Your Name,” an a cappella elegy for a fallen soldier, and “Bridges,” a beautiful meditation on the cycles on parenthood co-written with Mary Chapin Carpenter’s keyboardist Jon Carroll. And honoring the “folk process,” McKnight updated lyrics to the traditional “Worried Man Blues” as well as to Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads,” the spooky solo slide blues that closes the album.

"Stretching across the landscape of American folk music is a highway paved by Guthrie and Dylan... now Virginia native Andrew McKnight takes his turn smoothing down the blacktop" - Performing Songwriter

"has complete command of a variety of styles, but his overall approach brings to mind the Indigo Girls: impassioned, acoustic, rooted in folk but influenced by rock. He’s got an instant classic in 'These Shoes,' a sharp appraisal of how mainstream America treats the immigrant worker." - Victory Review

"can also evoke spooky backwoods Appalachian ghosts with his bluesier numbers...adds up to one fine album of insightful music" - The Muse's Muse