Knightley’s talent for nailing social issues in song is razor-sharp on ‘'Country Life'’ (Hands On Music 2003). It was not just the title track "an anthem on the bleak realities of rural England" that exposed the harshness of local rural life and the album gained mainstream media acclaim – including from Andrew Marr. It landed Show of Hands a spot on BBC Five Live and Farming Today with Knightley becoming known as 'The gravel-voiced spokesman of the rural poor'. The seamless blend of folk, Latin, Celtic and subtle blues influences fuelled their tagline, 'world music from the West Country' and was labeled a revelation by Uncut magazine