Northeast Kingdom
Cheri Knight's singing voice is deceptively simple: there's a straightforward soulfulness to her, even though she never seems to do anything fancy with it.The Northeast Kingdom, the second solo effort from this former Blood Orange, is all over the map stylistically--there's an Irish air, a jangly pop number, a honky-tonk shuffle, even something of a southern rocker--but it's that haunting voice that makes everything here feel of a piece. Of course, the swinging, Steve Earle-produced arrangements and Knight's beautiful, impressionistic songs of love and betrayal (like the emotionally risky "Crawling") don't hurt either.--David Cantwell