At Saturday night’s concert at Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Goleta — the 71st concert in its Song Tree Series and the second in its new room designed in part with the concert series in mind — singer-songwriter Jill Knight introduced her song “Carolina” by telling the audience that she was born and raised in the South and joking that her first name has two syllables: “Jee-yill.” The song is about childhood memories of riding in the car in the South.
Although unsaid at the concert, there is much more to the story of Knight’s upbringing. In a clip from the upcoming documentary For Such a Time As This on the gay community and Evangelical Christianity, we learn that Knight was raised Southern Baptist near Savannah, Ga., and moved to San Francisco to escape the judgmental attitude by her family and others toward her lifestyle.
Knowing this back story brings an added depth to Knight’s songs. For example, in “For the Better,” she sings wistfully of “coming home for the holidays,” and that there is “no need to worry about the past.” In the same song, she poignantly sings, “I’ve been trying to get my life together” and “I changed, but only for the better.”
Even more powerful is “All Good Girls,” which she wrote for her older sister, who Knight said “really made me mad one day. She judged me, and this is what she got.” One trembles when Knight sings, “If it’s true I’m going to hell for my ways / I’ll save her a seat by the fire” before repeating the chorus that “all good girls go to heaven.”
Although all of this suggests a somewhat depressing and draining evening, it was actually an enjoyable, uplifting concert. Knight’s music — with personal, heartfelt lyrics and rich, expressive, emotion-filled singing — captures the best aspects of the sometimes maligned singer-songwriter genre. I would compare her favorably to vintage Joni Mitchell, Melissa Etheridge or a solo Indigo Girl. She accompanied herself with bright, strummed acoustic guitar, and was joined by Eric Williams on bass guitar and smoking amp.
Smoking amp, you ask? Between songs in the second set, Knight and Williams amusingly discussed the smell of something burning onstage, imagining that the origami birds that formed the backdrop would go up in flames “like a phoenix.” They ultimately determined that the smell was coming from Williams’ amplifier, but he persevered.
As in “All Good Girls,” Knight’s lyrics often evoke religious imagery, with phrases such as “every day with you was like Judgment Day,” “it’s not your demise, it’s not your fall from grace” and “those angels that are watching over me are watching over you.” Her songs are not religious; they typically reflect on relationships, but with an edge. She laments that “nothing is as lonely as being in love alone,” that “I need love, baby, stronger than words,” and “sometimes I think I’m looking for someone like me / oh what an awful mistake that would be.”
After her you-get-what-you-deserve song “Loneliness,” which ends with “I used to feel sorry for you,” Knight quipped that “music has always been my anger management.” It must work, because she truly seems at peace, even after delivering some heavy lyrics. Between songs, she wore a big smile, and often joked or told stories, such as telling that she co-wrote songs with author Christopher Moore before he was famous, and reminiscing about Moore having to borrow her cut-off shorts to play Frisbee on the beach.
After a standing ovation at the end of the second set, Knight’s encore was “Don’t Make Me Cry.” It abruptly stopped in the middle when she started coughing, and she joked that the crowd should talk among themselves while she drank some water. After the “dramatic pause,” the crowd roared its approval when she restarted. Overall, Knight seemed genuinely appreciative, and perhaps a little embarrassed, by the crowd’s enthusiastic response. But she deserved it.
Click here for more information about the Song Tree Concert Series.
— Noozhawk contributor Jeff Moehlis is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at UCSB.