The album explores a stripped-back, minimal English folk sound, similar to that of early Show of Hands.

[2] Knightley spent the majority of his musical career in the 2000s touring and releasing music with Show of Hands, occasionally releasing solo collaboration albums along the way, namely Faith, Folk and Anarchy (2002) with Martyn Joseph and Tom Robinson, Western Approaches (2004) with Seth Lakeman and Jenna Witts, and Bridgerow Sessions with Martyn Joseph (2005).

[5] Released only a year after Show of Hands' Witness, Iain Hazlewood of Cruel River said that the album was recorded as Knightley was in a "particularly creative and productive phase.

"[6] The album showcases Knightley's vocal strength against stripped back instrumentation,[6] with Grem Devlin of Living Tradition said that most of the tracks contain "the simplest of acoustic accompaniments to his dulcet tones.

"[1] Grem Devlin of Living Tradition said that, with Knightley never being one "to skirt difficult issues," the songs on the album cover "multiple child drownings in the River Dart, the heroin trade, village miscreants, the Iraq War, cattle rustling, faux existentialism," but noted that "despite all the potential for depression in the subject matter, the delivery is uplifting and soothing, especially on the covers.

His mother ran the village Post Office in Poundsgate, on Dartmoor and we spent many a hot summer's afternoon swimming in the icy waters of the Dart.

The opening song, "Raining Again", was inspired by when Knightley moved back to Devon from London in 1986 but soon felt the implications of "living eight-hundred feet up the side of a north facing hill".

"[6] "All Quiet on the Western Front" was written when Knightley "came up with this little guitar passage" on his newly David Oddy-restored, vintage Harmony Sovereign.

[8] The fourth song, "Tall Ship Story", seen as epitomising this minimalist ethic of the music, is a tale of the seas sung against a single mandocello and "a bit of fuzz guitar".

[9] Knightley noted that he "had to check" with his "learned pal", Simon Emmerson, whether the seventh track, "The Rock", "actually constituted an 'existential' love song or not.

The title track of Cruel River was re-recorded by Show of Hands for their sixteenth studio album, Wake the Union (2012).

Grem Devlin of Living Tradition wrote a positive review, saying that "this collection of songs is a well-balanced showcase of Knightley’s writing talents, with mostly the simplest of acoustic accompaniments to his dulcet tones.

"[7] He noted that "the total effect is tight and well balanced, as expected from this artiste, and, minor quibbles apart, deserves to further elevate the windswept and interesting one.

Likewise the production is understated yet excellent, play it on a high end hi-fi and the relationship between singer, music and listener is delightfully intimate.