Cat Power – Jukebox

Eight years after the release of her previous homage, The Covers Record, Cat Power (nee Chan Marshall) returns, this time with a fuller band and her own smoky and emotional vision of the vocalist who’ve influenced her. The names you’ll mostly recognize: Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, James Brown, Hank Williams, and Joni Mitchell. But her selection raises the profile of previous under acknowledge gems: the love and pain of Billie Holiday’s “Don’t Explain”, the open sky freedom of The Highwaymen’s “Silver Stallion” and the gospel blues redemption of Jessie Mae Hemphill “Lord, Help The Poor And Needy”, all of which she embeds with breathy phrasing nuanced with emotion (from chocked-up heartache to vampy eroticism) than power. With a backing band that bridges from her indie roots (Dirty Three drummer Jim White played on Moon Pix) to the Memphis soul of her last album The Greatest (Al Green’s guitarist Teenie Hodges guests), Chan Marshall puts her beautiful hazy take on some timeless classics.