Introduction

Biography

Knight be­gan the stu­dy of mu­sic when a child, and at an ear­ly age be­gan teach­ing sing­ing schools in his home coun­ty.

He at­tend­ed his first ses­sion of the South­ern Nor­mal Mu­sic­al In­sti­tute at Jer­sey, Ar­kan­sas, in 1893. He fol­lowed up with ses­sions at Co­man­che and Sun­set, Tex­as, in 1895; and in Per­kins­ton, Miss­iss­ip­pi, and Mon­ta­gue and Sun­set, Tex­as, in 1896.

Knight joined the Bap­tist church in 1886, be­came a stock hold­er in the An­tho­ny J. Sho­wal­ter Com­pa­ny in 1895, and mar­ried Ida Adams in 1897.

He worked in the mer­can­tile bu­si­ness in Zo­na and Pine, Lou­isi­ana, for a num­ber of years, and taught sing­ing schools in Lou­isi­ana and Miss­iss­ip­pi.