Barb Jungr grew up in Stockport and has never been to Memphis but this doesn't stop her undertaking a metaphorical musical journey from her northern roots to the state of Tennessee.
The lure of the U.S. is also apparent from her choice of material and vocal style.
Six of the thirteen tracks on this album are covers of classic American songs both old and new including Neil Young's Old Man, Hank Williams' Lost In The River and Bob Dylan's Lay Lady Lay. These are subjected to a somewhat bland 'alt cabaret' treatment with slowed down jazzy backing from cello, double bass, drum brushes and trumpet.
Jungr doesn't like to call these 'cover versions' since, for her, this term implies that they are X-factor style copies of the original. They are most certainly not this but, unfortunately, they are not improvements on the originals either.
Her take on Joni Mitchell's River is her boldest move by transforming the song into a blues standard complete with gospel trio and choir. The logic of this I understand. Joni has such a unique voice and River is such a personal song (about her break up with Graham Nash) that there is no point in trying to do a straight imitation. That said, Jungr's rendition is a very poor relation to Joni's peerless performance.
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There are two makeovers of British tunes too with slo-mo versions of The Waterboy's Fisherman's Blues and The Zombies' She's Not There. The Hammond organ on the latter is particularly grating
There's some original material too. Four songs were co-written with Simon Wallace, including the title track. Wallace also produced the album in London and accompanies her on keyboards.
In addition, one song (Sunset To Break Your Heart) was written with Michael Parker, Jungr's ex-musical partner with whom she made six albums before going solo.
Barb Jungr's press release predictably bigs up her qualities as a mature singer of taste and style. Listeners are advised that she has been variously described as "magnificent, mesmerising and magical"; personally, I'd add mainstream and mundane to this M-list.
Barb Jungr's website
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