Evryman For Himself

Daniel Knox is a Chicago musician and composer of dark balladry whose latest album, Evryman For Himself, spins Waits-ian yarns of life’s outsiders, outcasts and would-be iconoclasts with a rich, resonant voice that, unlike Waits’ throaty growl, is a sharp, clear croon that alternates between a deep baritone and a high falsetto. These vaudevillian vignettes are set against a backdrop of Knox’s piano and fleshed out by the bass, drums, horns and miscellaneous instrumentation (kazoo! musical saw!) of a full band that includes Jason Toth, Paul Parts, David Coulter, and Ralph Carney, and as the music bounces and twists and provokes like a circus sideshow barker, the lyrics tell the dark stories of the freaks inside the tent with equal parts wry wit, sorrow, and sincerity.